Late last evening, the White House made the announcement that the President will be flying to Dallas on Monday to attend the memorial service scheduled for Eddie Bernice Johnson, which will take place in Dallas.
At the age of 89, she passed away on the eve of the New Year.
However, we are aware of the schedule for a memorial service that will take place over the course of several days, even if we do not yet know which event or events the president is anticipated to attend.
Eddie Bernice Johnson, who is also known by his nickname EBJ, will be laid to rest on Monday in the Hall of State located at Dallas Fair Park. A wake is scheduled to take place at Concord Church on Monday evening. The church in question will be the location of a funeral service on Tuesday morning. The burial of the former lawmaker is scheduled to take place on Wednesday at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin state.
Eddie Bernice Johnson, a nurse who was the most influential Democrat in the Dallas area, was a pioneer in the field. She was instrumental in bringing hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government to the Dallas area. In 1972, Johnson became the first nurse to be elected to the Texas House of Representatives, and in 1986, she became the first nurse to be elected to the Texas Senate.
Following her accomplishments as the first Black chief mental nurse at Dallas’ Veterans Affairs hospital and the first registered nurse to be elected to Congress, Johnson would go on to serve in the United States House of Representatives for a period of thirty years. In the years that followed, she made history by being the first Black woman to chair the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. In addition, she was the leader of the Congressional Black Caucus. After continually postponing her retirement, she finally stepped down from her position in January. She was a member of the Texas legislature prior to her election to Congress.
Her “immense courage” was praised by Vice President Joe Biden, who also referred to her as “an icon and mentor to generations of public servants, through whom her legacy of resilience and purpose will endure.”
