[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 53 (Thursday, April 15, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E565]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING HUGH CODDING OF SONOMA COUNTY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE THOMPSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 15, 2010

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today along with my 
colleague, Lynn Woolsey, to honor the life and memory of Hugh Codding, 
who helped shape and define Sonoma County over the course of the 92 
years he was with us. He was a legend in his lifetime; a home builder, 
commercial developer, banker, city councilman, civic leader and 
philanthropist, who during the construction boom years of the 1950s and 
'60s, changed the face of the county forever.
  He built his first home in the 1930s and honed construction skills in 
the Seabees in World War II and brought those skills home with him. He 
leveraged his $400 discharge pay into a construction project and with 
profits earned from that endeavor and a small bank loan, he built one 
of the first shopping centers in the state, the first of several he 
would eventually build in the county.
  As much as he was a builder and developer, he was also a showman. He 
earned Time magazine's designation as the wunderkind of the post-war 
boom by building an entire house in three hours and 18 minutes and a 
church in five hours and 16 minutes.
  He gave back generously to his community, helping fund and sustain 
both the Luther Burbank (now Wells Fargo) Center for the Arts in Santa 
Rosa and the Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park. There 
was scarcely a non-profit organization in the county that did not 
experience his generosity, whether it was the 4-H Club, the Earl Baum 
Center for the Blind, the Santa Rosa Junior College Foundation, the 
Sonoma County Community Foundation, the Children's Health Network, 
Artstart, the Southwest Community Health Clinic, Planned Parenthood, 
the Blood Bank of the Redwoods, the Green Music Center, Santa Rosa 
Memorial Hospital, the Jewish Community Free Clinic, the Council on 
Aging, the Sonoma County Museum or the Boys and Girls Club of Santa 
Rosa, and many more.
  He is survived by his wife Connie; former wife Elizabeth Mulkey; son 
George David Codding; granddaughters Alexis Codding, Lois Codding, Lisa 
Codding Chodrick and Terra Saxton and his stepchildren Brian Baker, 
Pamela Reed, Lisa Malapit, Melinda Bailey, and Bradley Baker.
  Madam Speaker, Hugh Codding was an influential and respected resident 
of Sonoma County who will be greatly missed. It is therefore 
appropriate that we acknowledge him today and honor his memory.

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