[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 54 (Thursday, March 23, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E667-E668]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                       TRIBUTE TO LORETTA COLLIER

                                 ______


                          HON. JULIAN C. DIXON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 22, 1995
  Mr. DIXON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to my good friend 
Loretta Collier, who retired from the State of California Department of 
Corrections on November 1, 1994. On Thursday, March 30, 1995, Loretta's 
colleagues and many friends, will gather at the Holiday Inn Crown Plaza 
in Los Angeles to honor her for her outstanding contributions to the 
Department of Corrections and the community. Loretta is a very good 
friend of many year standing, and I am especially proud to have this 
opportunity to share just a few of her distinguished accomplishments 
with my colleagues.
  Loretta was born in St. Louis, MO, to Lucy and Raymond Collier. The 
eldest of three children, she graduated from St. Louis' renowned Vashon 
High School in 1957, and in 1961 received her undergraduate degree in 
sociology from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, MO. Loretta 
pursued graduate studies at the Washington University Brown School of 
Social Work. She also attended 2 years at the West Los Angeles School 
of Law.
  Prior to settling in Los Angeles, Loretta worked for the Missouri 
division of welfare as a child welfare worker. In 1966, she moved to 
Cleveland, OH, and was employed as a counselor for the Neighborhood 
Youth Corps.
  Three years later, Loretta moved to Los Angeles and joined the Los 
Angeles County Probation Department as a deputy probation officer. She 
spent a decade with the probation department, resigning in December 
1979 to accept a new position as an administrative hearing officer for 
then-Los Angeles County District Attorney John Van De Kemp.
  In June 1980, Loretta was appointed by then-Governor Jerry Brown to a 
4-year term on the Board of Prison Terms as a parole commissioner. With 
her appointment to this important position, she became only the third 
African-American woman to hold such a position since the board was 
constituted in 1931. During her tenure, she presided over the parole 
hearings of a number of some of this country's most infamous criminals, 
including Sirhan Sirhan and Leslie Van Houton.
  [[Page E668]] In 1989 Loretta was promoted to the position of 
associate chief deputy parole commissioner responsible for a 
geographical area that stretched from Fresno, CA to the Mexican border 
and from the Pacific Ocean to the Arizona border.
  Loretta's last 2 years with the California Department of Corrections 
were spent as the senior administrative hearing officer. In light of 
her considerable expertise in parole matters, she was called upon to 
implement new procedures and policies related to the parole revocation 
process. In addition, she developed training programs for new deputy 
parole
 commissioners, and the staffs of the Parole and Community Services 
Division and the Department of Corrections. She represented the board 
on local television programs and on radio talk shows, as well.

  In addition to her professional responsibilities as an authority on 
parole matters, Loretta served as a member of the California Probation, 
Parole, and Correctional Association. She has served as treasurer of 
the California Democratic Party, and is a former member of the Los 
Angeles County Democratic Central Committee. She is a member of the 
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the New Frontier Democratic Club, the Urban 
League, the NAACP, and the Black Women's Forum.
  In recognition of her numerous and distinguished contributions to the 
Los Angeles community, Loretta has been honored as Los Angeles County 
Democrat of the Year; listed in Who's Who in American Politics; and 
received the Outstanding Community Service Award, presented by the New 
Frontier Democratic Club. In 1993, she was further honored when Vashon 
High School inducted her into the school's distinguished Hall of Fame.
  Although she has officially retired, Loretta has turned her 
considerable energies to other community activities. She currently 
serves on a subcommittee which aids the Rebuild L.A. Project, and 
continues her involvement with the Crenshaw 28th Street YMCA and the 
Crenshaw Corridor Project.
  Mr. Speaker, nearly 60 years ago, the late, renowned French-born 
American author and diarist Anais Nin noted that ``Each friend 
represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, 
and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.'' By her 
celebrated accomplishments, Loretta Collier has made this world a 
better place for all of us. And by her loyal and steadfast friendship, 
she has immeasurably enriched my world. I am pleased and honored to 
have this opportunity to salute her and ask that you please join me in 
extending to her the very best for a future that is filled with great 
happiness, great health, and great prosperity.


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