[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 170 (Monday, November 5, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2315-E2316]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HONORING THE LIFE AND SERVICE OF MS. ELOISE R. BAZA

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO

                                of guam

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, November 5, 2007

  Ms. BORDALLO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and recognize the 
life of Ms. Eloise R. Baza, the first woman to serve as the president 
of the Guam Chamber of Commerce and whose service to the community 
extended beyond her duties and responsibilities to the private sector. 
Eloise started her Chamber career as the assistant to the president in 
1981. When then-president James McDonald stepped down in 1985, Ms. Baza 
was named to the position to fill the unexpired term. She was then 
elected in her own right and held it successfully until her untimely 
death on October 29, 2007.
  Eloise will be missed not only by the members of the Chamber of 
Commerce and Guam's business community, but also by our island 
community. She contributed significantly to the improvement of our 
island, both in her capacity as Chamber president and as a devoted 
daughter of Guam. Eloise believed in our youth and supported programs 
to keep Guam's children drug free and to help them as future prospects 
in education, athletics and business careers in Guam. She promoted and 
advocated entrepreneurship among Guam's young people through regular 
participation and support for Guam's Junior Achievement Program; 
scholarships for business students attending the University of Guam, 
and as a speaker at many public and private Career Day activities. She 
was an active member of the Islandwide Beautification Task Force, the 
Summer Youth Swimming and Water Safety Program, and was especially 
proud of the Guam Juvenile Drug Court Program, which she started with 
former high school classmate and lifelong friend, Judge Elizabeth 
Barrett-Anderson.
  Eloise was a member of the Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers 
of Commerce, APCAC, and its committees on Trade & Investment/Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC, Tax & Finance, and Intellectual 
Property Rights Protection; and the American Council of Chamber of 
Commerce Executives and its Small Business Council. She was also a 
member of Andersen Air Force Bases' Civilian Advisory Council, the Guam 
Territorial Aquarium Council, and the Guam Police Department's 
Community Assisted Policing Effort, CAPE, Program, in which she was 
named Honorary Deputy Chief of Police and proudly displayed the badge 
she had been given.
  Eloise was a strong advocate of women in business and, by example, 
proved the value and insight of women's business acumen. She managed 
her family-owned apartment building, and handled the financial 
reporting, securing tenants and overseeing the maintenance of the 
units. Her unassailable integrity, her leadership, and her commitment 
to the field of commerce and free enterprise in general and to the Guam 
business community in particular made her truly a driving force behind 
the Guam Chamber of Commerce. She gave the Chamber an important and 
respected voice in our community. She also served as the Chamber's 
chief operating officer in charge of administration and management of 
all of the Chamber's operations and direction of all its projects, 
programs and activities. She played a central role in the Chamber's 
advocacy of sound economic policy, government reform, and community 
service.

  Eloise R. Baza graduated from the Academy of Our Lady of Guam, AOLG, 
in 1971. She maintained close relationships with her classmates over 
the years and spearheaded the committee that created AOLG's Hall of 
Fame to inspire young ladies and promote ``values, vision, and voice'' 
in measuring success of family, civic and professional life. In 1974, 
Eloise earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the 
College of Notre Dame in Belmont, California. She then came home and 
worked for the Guam Department of Commerce from 1975 until 1981. In 
1979, she became an associate economist in the Commerce Department's 
Economic Research Center, where she prepared an action plan to 
centralize all economic development planning functions of the 
Government of Guam within the Department of Commerce. She also 
initiated Guam's participation in various federal economic development 
financing programs which funded infrastructure improvements island-
wide. Her action plan was implemented as Commerce Department's Economic 
Development & Planning Division. Having initiated the establishment of 
the division, Eloise was named its chief in 1981. During her tenure, 
Eloise oversaw the preparation of the ``Overall Economic Development 
Plan for Guam,'' the ``Tumon Bay Master Plan,'' the ``Ten Year Tourism 
Master Plan,'' and the ``Aquaculture Development Plan for Guam.'' 
Additionally, she supervised all economic development federal program 
funds and directed their use to finance infrastructure to support 
industry expansion. Also in 1981, Eloise undertook graduate coursework 
toward an MBA in International Business Management from Babson College 
in Wellesley, MA.
  My sympathies and prayers go out to Eloise's family: her parents, 
Rosa Rivera Baza

[[Page E2316]]

and the late Jose Camacho Baza and Luis Camacho Baza; her loved one, 
Joseph Barrtoe; her siblings and their spouses, Evelyn Baza and Joseph 
F. Soriano, Leonard Rivera and Margaret Salas Baza, Rosa Duenas and 
Fred Manglona, Lucille Baza and Geronimo Castro, Luis Rivera and Marcia 
Woolley Baza, Barbara Baza and Daniel Ninete, Felisa Rivera Baza and 
Carisa San Agustin, Carmen Rivera Baza and Mark Timcoe, and her many 
relatives and friends.

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