[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 86 (Friday, June 8, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1029]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           A TRIBUTE TO THE LIFE OF EVERETT ``BUD'' RANK, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JIM COSTA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, June 8, 2012

  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the life of Mr. 
Everett ``Bud'' Rank, Jr., lifelong Valley farmer and former Clovis 
Unified School District Trustee. Mr. Rank left us on the same property 
along the San Joaquin River in northeast Fresno where he was born in 
1921.
  Mr. Rank spent much of his life working with the Future Farmers of 
America, where he helped organize the Clovis chapter of the 
organization. He was then president of that chapter, as well as a 
member of many other farming organizations, including the Farm Bureau 
California Young Farmers and Ranchers, Clovis Young Farmers, the Clovis 
Grange.
  As a Clovis High School graduate, schools and children were his 
greatest contribution to the local community, as his wife says. He 
served three terms as head of the Clovis Unified Board of Trustees in 
the late 60's and early 70's. To honor his work in education, Bud Rank 
Elementary School in Clovis was named after him in 2006.
  Mr. Rank worked two tours of duty within the Agriculture Department, 
as Western regional director of the Agricultural Stabilization and 
Conservation Service in the 1970s, and as the head of ASCS and 
executive vice president of the Commodity Credit Corp. in the 1980s. He 
also served as a member of both President Nixon and Reagan's 
administrations' Agricultural Departments, all while being an avid 
golfer and ardent family man.
  He is survived by his wife Evelyn, their three daughters, two 
grandchildren and one great granddaughter.
  I applaud Mr. Rank for his years of tireless work on behalf of 
agriculture and education.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with great appreciation that I ask my colleagues 
to stand with me in honoring Mr. Rank's remarkable life and his work in 
advancing our education system and agricultural productivity in the 
Valley. Please join me today in recognizing the commitment, dedication, 
and success of Mr. Everett ``Bud'' Rank, Jr.'s life.

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