[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 5, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1188]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  IN MEMORY OF RALPH BERING BUSCH, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ELTON GALLEGLY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 5, 2007

  Mr. GALLEGLY. Madam Speaker, I rise in memory of my friend Ralph 
Bering Busch, Jr., MD, who passed away on May 23 at age 84.
  Dr. Busch was a medical pioneer in Ventura County, California. In the 
1960s, Dr. Busch and his partner, M. Kathleen Belton, MD, became the 
first anesthesiologists to practice in Ventura County. They covered St. 
John's Hospital in Oxnard, Santa Paula Memorial Hospital, Community 
Memorial Hospital in Ventura, and occasionally Ojai Valley Community 
Hospital. Dr. Busch served at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital for twenty 
years and retired from Community Memorial Hospital in 1989.
  Dr. Busch came to California after serving in the South Pacific with 
the U.S. Navy for four years, after graduating from high school, 
college, and medical school in the Midwest. He interned at University 
of Southern California, Los Angeles County Hospital and then practiced 
at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank for the next ten years.
  In 1959, he married Deborah ``Deedee'' Bennett of Palm Springs. As 
their family grew, they decided to seek the country life of Ventura 
County. It was a good choice for them and for Ventura County. Ralph and 
Deedee have been blessed with six children and eighteen grandchildren.
  In addition to his dedication to his practice and his family, Dr. 
Busch dedicated himself to the greater medical community and the 
community in which he lived. He was a past member of the California and 
American Societies of Anesthesiology, Ventura County Medical Society, 
Community Memorial Hospital Board of Directors, Ventura County Museum 
of History and Art Board of Directors, and Berry Petroleum Co. Board of 
Directors. He was a forty-five-year member of Saticoy Country Club.
  Madam Speaker, I know my colleagues will join me in remembering Dr. 
Ralph Bering Busch, Jr., as a good friend, a loving family man, a 
pioneer in Ventura County medicine, and one who worked to make his 
community stronger. In addition, I know my colleagues join me in 
extending our condolences to Deedee and their family and to all who 
called Ralph a friend.
  Godspeed, Ralph.

                          ____________________