[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 129 (Thursday, October 6, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2024-E2025]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    A TRIBUTE TO GEORGE DONALD BASYE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DORIS O. MATSUI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 6, 2005

  Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor George Donald Basye, a 
man who through hard work and dedication has become one of the most 
respected and accomplished water and flood attorneys in California. As 
his friends, family and colleagues gather to pay tribute to Mr. Basye's 
remarkable 50-year career with the Central Valley law firm of Downey 
Brand, I ask all of my colleagues to join me in saluting this great 
American success story.
  George was born on June 21, 1926 in Porterville, California. After 
graduating from high school in 1944, George served in the U.S. Navy. As 
an enlisted sailor, George held the rank of Seaman Second Class 
Musician Striker and performed in Navy dance bands.
  Upon honorable discharge from the Navy in August of 1946, George 
enrolled in the College of the Pacific and graduated in February

[[Page E2025]]

of 1948 with a B.A. in Economics. After graduation, George sought to 
expand his horizons and enrolled in a one-year graduate program at the 
University of Stockholm in Sweden.
  Upon returning to the United States in 1949, George took an aptitude 
test which suggested that he was best suited for a career as a social 
science teacher, not a lawyer. As a result, he enrolled in the UCLA 
Graduate School of Education in the Spring of 1950 to take up a career 
in teaching. However, it soon became clear to George that law was 
undoubtedly his true calling. It was in August of the following year 
that George applied and was admitted to the new Boalt Hall School of 
Law at Berkeley.
  Although George was about to pursue a legal education, he could never 
truly abandon his love of music. Thus, in a short stint before law 
school, he fulfilled one of his lifelong ambitions by playing the 
upright bass in a traveling jazz trio known as the Krazy Kats.
  His decision to enroll in Boalt Hall would prove to be a pivotal 
point in not only his career in law, but in his personal life as well. 
It was during his time at Boalt Hall that George began dating Mary 
Alice Johnson, a student at Mills College. They were married in 
December of 1952. Today, more than 50 years later, George and Alice are 
the happy parents of four children, Anne, Jennifer, John, and Paul, and 
four grandchildren.
  George graduated from Boalt Hall 7th in his class with an LLB degree. 
Upon graduation, George enrolled for a graduate degree in law and spent 
a year studying at the Uppsala University in Sweden. After returning to 
the United States in 1955, George began his new job at Downey, Brand, 
Seymour, and Rohwer starting on September 20, 1955.
  While working, George wrote his Master's thesis and obtained his LLM 
degree from Boalt Hall in 1956.
  When George began his career at Downey Brand in 1955, he was one of 8 
lawyers in what would later become a 120-lawyer firm. For the first few 
years, George spent much of his time doing probate work, but then began 
to focus his efforts on water law and flood control matters for clients 
such as Reclamation Districts 537, 1000, 900 and 999, the California 
Central Valley Flood Control Association, and many mutual water 
companies. For the next 45 years, George's knowledge and experience in 
water and flood control law became expansive, and George shaped much of 
the law in these areas through his position as General Counsel for the 
California Central Valley Flood Control Association.
  George also focused significant efforts on making Sacramento and 
California a better place by acting in leadership positions for the 
California State Library Foundation, the California Historical 
Foundation, the California Historical Society, the Sacramento 
Metropolitan YMCA, the Sacramento Symphony Association, the Crocker Art 
Museum Association, the Sacramento YMCA Foundation, the California 
Capitol Historic Preservation Society, the Sacramento Trust for 
Historic Preservation, the Pfund Family Foundation, and the Sacramento 
Pioneer Association.
  Throughout an almost 50-year career, George Basye has been 
acknowledged as one of the modern fathers of water and flood law in 
California. His years of commitment, hard work, and dedication to the 
Central Valley and the law firm of Downey Brand have undeniably 
contributed to the firm's amazing growth and positioning as one of the 
top law practices in the region.
  Mr. Speaker, as George's friends, family and colleagues gather to 
celebrate his admirable career, I am honored to pay tribute to one of 
Sacramento's most selfless and dedicated citizens. I ask all my 
colleagues to join with me in wishing George Donald Basye continued 
success in all his future endeavors.

                          ____________________