[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 20 (Thursday, February 7, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E133]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IN HONOR OF JOSEPH ST. CLAIR

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 7, 2008

  Mr. FARR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of a man of 
action and principle, Mr. Joseph St. Clair. Joe and his wife, Maria, 
came to the United States from Hungary in 1939. When this country 
entered World War II he was required to take his family back to 
Hungary. As a civilian English and history teacher in German-occupied 
territory, he was assigned to monitor American prisoners of war. He 
refused to cooperate with the Germans and had to go into hiding. The 6-
week long winter siege of Budapest by the U.S. was a particularly 
difficult time for his friends and family, living in a bomb shelter and 
coming out at night to butcher frozen horses to feed themselves. Living 
through these experiences shaped his character and priorities: devotion 
to family, service above self, and leadership.
  After the war he was again in danger, this time from the Communist 
Party. As friends and colleagues disappeared, he realized that he 
needed to get his family out of Hungary. With the help of Americans, 
Joe was able to get them all to Switzerland, and eventually back to the 
United States. He changed his family name to St. Clair and moved to 
Monterey, where in 1948, he became the founding chairman of the 
Hungarian Department in the newly formed Army Language School, now 
known as the Defense Language Institute. In 1970 his department was 
given the Abraham Lincoln Award of the American Hungarian Studies 
Foundation because ``. . . never before nor anywhere else in the world 
has the Hungarian language and culture been taught so effectively to so 
many students of non-Hungarian background as it has been by the 
Hungarian Department of DLIWC.''
  Joe and Maria met during their college days at the University of 
Budapest where he was the leader of the Catholic men's service 
organization, and she was the head of the Catholic women's 
organization. They had four sons, Joseph Jr., Akos, George, and Robert, 
three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Joe spent many years 
as a Boy Scout leader and won special awards and citations from that 
organization.
  Joe's life was one of service to his community. In addition to being 
his sons' scoutmaster, he was active in Kiwanis and the Knights of 
Columbus. At one time he held the record for donating more blood than 
anyone else on the Monterey Peninsula. After retirement he moved to 
Scotts Valley in Santa Cruz County. He volunteered with the Red Cross 
and became chairman of the board of directors of the California Gray 
Bears, a pioneering self-help organization of senior citizens. With the 
Gray Bears he harvested vegetables, distributed the food to home-bound 
seniors, and operated the largest recycling center in Santa Cruz 
County. For one of his awards, it was estimated that he had clocked 
over 10,000 hours of community service.
  When Joe retired after 30 years at the Language School, he was given 
the Department of the Army's second highest civilian award for 
meritorious service. The wording on the citation in part sums up the 
man who was Joe St. Clair: ``Mr. St. Clair understood the 
responsibility of the manager as being primarily one of leadership in 
the highest sense of the word. In whatever position or assignment he 
received, Joe St. Clair was invariably an enlightened guide, a 
relentless, demanding, but inspiring leader both to his students and 
his faculty.''
  Madam Speaker, I know my colleagues will join me in honoring the life 
of this admirable man, and we are grateful that he chose to become a 
citizen of our country.

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