[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 105 (Tuesday, July 14, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1747]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 IN MEMORY OF JOSEPH CANNON HOUGHTELING

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 14, 2009

  Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a great 
California statesman and public servant, Joseph Cannon Houghteling, who 
passed away on June 23, 2009.
  On July 16th, 2009 Joe's family and friends will gather on San 
Francisco's historic ship the Balclutha to celebrate his life, and I 
wish to honor my friend by submitting his obituary from the San 
Francisco Chronicle.

       Joseph Cannon Houghteling, former chairman of the San 
     Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) 
     and Democratic activist, died at home June 23 in San 
     Francisco after a short illness. He was 84. Houghteling spent 
     many years in pro bono public service, with an emphasis on 
     regional government, transportation and the balance between 
     conservation and development. When he stepped down as 
     chairman of BCDC, The Chronicle editorialized ``He has served 
     with wit, style and patience . . . and has brought a spirit 
     of compromise to its responsibility of allowing development 
     but protecting the environment, two goals often hard to 
     reach.'' Born in San Francisco in 1924, son of the late 
     William and Virginia LeSeure Houghteling, Houghteling 
     attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. He then joined 
     the Navy V-12 college officer-training program and attended 
     Bates College and the College of the Holy Cross. He served 
     aboard the USS Ocklawaha in 1945-46 with the forces occupying 
     Japan. He graduated from Yale in 1947. After college, 
     Houghteling moved to the Peninsula, where he was publisher of 
     community newspapers including The Gilroy Dispatch, The Los 
     Gatos Times-Observer, The Sunnyvale Standard, The Pleasanton 
     Times and The Mountain View Register-Leader. He owned The 
     Nevada County Nugget for a time. He also founded Diablo 
     Press, which published books on controversial topics 
     including abortion and ``We Accuse,'' a collection of essays 
     on the new American political anger during the Vietnam War, 
     as well as ``The Sinking of the Lollipop'' by Rodney G. 
     Minott, about the congressional campaign of Pete McCloskey 
     and Shirley Temple Black. Although he came from a family of 
     Illinois Republicans, including great-grand-father ``Uncle 
     Joe'' Cannon, Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of 
     Representatives, Houghteling became a committed Democrat. He 
     was a California delegate to the Democratic Conventions of 
     1956, supporting Adlai Stevenson, and of 1960, supporting 
     John F. Kennedy. He was Northern California treasurer to the 
     1960 Kennedy presidential campaign. He participated in many 
     other campaigns, including those of both Pat and Jerry Brown, 
     John Tunney, Dianne Feinstein and Pete McCloskey. Houghteling 
     served on the boards of many nonprofits including California 
     Tomorrow, the Planning and Conservation League Foundation, 
     the Coro Foundation, Stanford Hospital, Peninsula School and 
     the California Newspaper Publishers Association. Houghteling 
     joked that he was ``one of Pat Brown's youngest appointees 
     and one of Jerry Brown's oldest.'' Gov. Edmund G. ``Pat'' 
     Brown appointed Houghteling to the State Park Commission, 
     which Houghteling eventually chaired, in 1959; in 1964 he was 
     appointed to the State Highway Commission. Houghteling was 
     appointed to BCDC in 1971; in the mid-1970s, he was appointed 
     chairman by Gov. Edmund G. ``Jerry'' Brown Jr., a post he 
     held until 1982. While chairman, Houghteling shepherded 
     through the Suisun Marsh Protection Plan, which shielded 
     89,000 acres of wetlands and wildlife habitat from 
     uncontrolled development. From 1972-1982, Houghteling was on 
     the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. While on MTC, he 
     noticed that there was no direct pedestrian access from the 
     Embarcadero to the ferry landing. At Houghteling's 
     suggestion, a passageway was built through the Ferry Building 
     to allow easy access. In 1994, a plaque was installed in the 
     Ferry Building to honor Houghteling. In 1984, Houghteling was 
     appointed to the bi-state Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, on 
     which he served until 1992. Houghteling also was president of 
     the National Maritime Museum Association from 1992-1994. He 
     was instrumental in bringing the submarine the USS Pampanito 
     to Pier 45. Houghteling lived in Palo Alto, Los Gatos and 
     Atherton. After moving back to San Francisco in 1978, he kept 
     a home in Portola Valley for many years. Houghteling is 
     survived by his wife of 31 years, Signa Judith Irwin 
     Houghteling, and his daughters with the late Frances Fisher 
     Houghteling: Anne Frances Houghteling and her husband, Herb 
     Greenman, of Palo Alto; Elizabeth Cannon Houghteling and her 
     husband, Philip Balboni, of Cambridge, Mass.; and Mary 
     Wallace Houghteling of Berkeley. He is survived by his 
     grandson, Philip Cannon Houghteling Balboni, of Cambridge. He 
     leaves three nieces and a nephew by his sister, Lucretia H. 
     Robertson, who predeceased him.''

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