[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 151 (Thursday, November 18, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1988]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       IN HONOR OF DIANNE CHURCH

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 18, 2010

  Mr. FARR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the remarkable 
public service career of Dianne Church. After forty-two years with the 
Federal Government, Dianne is retiring from her position as an Economic 
Development Administration, EDA, regional representative. Over the 
course of the past eighteen years, Dianne has played an instrumental 
role in helping the communities of the Monterey Bay Area recover from 
earthquake, flood, recession, and the largest military base closure in 
U.S. history. During that time, I have had the great fortune of working 
with Dianne and developing a wonderful working friendship with her. So 
it is with particular pleasure that I join my colleagues on the floor 
of the House today to recognize Dianne's work to make my constituents' 
corner of the world a better place.
  Dianne was born on April 22, 1944, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 
to Francis and Violet Church. She attended local public schools, 
discovered a love for music through her church choir, and spent summers 
with her family at the beach on the North Carolina's Outer Banks. She 
later attended the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.,
  While in Washington, D.C. she began a ten year career on Capitol 
Hill, working for a number of distinguished lawmakers, including: Rep. 
Floyd Hicks (WA), Sen. Mike Gravel (AK), Rep. Don Young (AK), Rep. John 
Conyers (MI), and the Senate Labor Committee. She helped staff Senator 
Gravel when he read the Pentagon Papers on television and met Daniel 
Ellsberg.
  In 1977, Dianne left Capitol Hill to go to work in the EDA 
Congressional Liaison office. In 1980, she took a job as a public works 
project officer in EDA's Seattle Regional Office. Dianne quickly gained 
a reputation for volunteering for projects in the most remote and out 
of the way places, especially in Alaska. During those early years in 
Seattle, Dianne completed her B.A. degree at Western Washington 
University and later an MPA degree at Seattle University, taking 
classes at night while working full time for EDA. While working in 
Seattle, she met Steve Johnston, a fellow EDA employee. Dianne and 
Steve married in 1987.
  In 1997, she began the best job of her career as EDA's economic 
development representative for California's Central Coast. She 
initially represented fourteen Central California counties, including 
the Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito Counties that form the core of 
my district. She had already been working on the redevelopment of Fort 
Ord following its 1994 closure. In all, Dianne helped steer over $95 
million towards infrastructure and other key redevelopment needs, 
including over $60 million for the creation of a new California State 
University in the heart of Fort Ord.
  Madam Speaker, I know I speak for the whole House in honoring Dianne 
Church for her years of visionary public service. At a time when it is 
fashionable to cast doubt on the federal role in economic development, 
Dianne's legacy of roads, buildings, revitalized downtowns, a whole new 
university, and all the jobs to build and fill them, bears witness to 
the vital role that our collective investment in civilization can play.

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