[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 43 (Friday, March 14, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E388]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 A TRIBUTE TO ALICE STEERE COULOMBE--28TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT WOMAN 
                              OF THE YEAR

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 14, 2014

  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Women's History 
Month. Each year, we pay special tribute to the contributions and 
sacrifices made by our nation's women. It is an honor to pay homage to 
outstanding women who are making a difference in my Congressional 
District. I would like to recognize a remarkable woman, Alice Coulombe 
of Pasadena.
   Born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ms. Coulombe received her 
Bachelor's degree in Humanities and her Master's degree in Education 
from Stanford University. At Stanford, she met Joe Coulombe, and they 
got married when both were still students at the university.
   In 1958, the Coulombes founded Pronto Markets, a chain of grocery 
stores in Southern California. In 1967, Joe, the original Trader Joe, 
added a South Seas motif to the stores and changed the name to Trader 
Joe's. During this time, the Coulombes moved to San Marino, where they 
raised their three children, Joe, Charlotte and Madeleine, and 
eventually moved to Pasadena in 1983.
   A community volunteer for over forty years, Ms. Coulombe is a 
passionate advocate for the arts and arts education. She was a founding 
member and former Chair of the Pasadena Arts Commission, a member of 
the City of Pasadena's Centennial Committee, and a docent at the 
Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens for thirty-
five years, where she helped design its school tours of the Japanese 
Garden. As a volunteer at the Music Center of Los Angeles for three 
decades, Ms. Coulombe served as Chair of Music Center Presentations and 
Coordinator of Volunteer Activities.
   Ms. Coulombe's special love is opera, and to that end, she was 
founding president of the Music Center Opera League, as well as one of 
the founders of the Los Angeles Opera Company, where she currently 
serves on its board. For the past nine years, she has served on the 
Colburn School Board of Directors as a member of their Governance 
Committee and as Chair of the Board Relations Committee. Additionally, 
she is President of Metropolitan Associates, a local non-profit that 
raises funds to support the arts for children. For her selfless service 
to supporting the arts, Ms. Coulombe received the YWCA Pasadena-
Foothill Valley's Woman of Distinction Award and has been honored by 
the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
   I ask all Members to join me in honoring an exceptional woman of 
California's 28th Congressional District, Alice Steere Coulombe.

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