[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 17, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5688-S5689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         COMMENDING DON EDWARDS

  Mrs. BOXER. Today I ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating the 
100th birthday and extraordinary contributions of former Congressman 
Don Edwards.
  Don was born on January 6, 1915, in San Jose, CA, where he attended 
public schools and graduated from the San Jose High Academy. He then 
attended Stanford University, where he was a star on the golf team, 
winning a State medal for match play along with several amateur titles. 
After graduating in 1936, Don earned his LL.B. at Stanford Law School.
  In 1940, Don was hired as a special agent by the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation. When World War II broke out, he was activated from the 
Navy Reserve and served for 4 years as a naval intelligence officer and 
gunnery officer in the South Pacific, attaining the rank of lieutenant.
  In the 1950s, Don founded the Valley Title Company and built it into 
one of the Nation's leading title insurance companies. In 1962, he was 
elected to Congress.
  During his 32 years in the House of Representatives, Don Edwards 
became known as ``the Congressman from the Constitution,'' the leading 
congressional defender of civil liberties and chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights. I was lucky enough to 
serve with Don for 10 years and see firsthand his steadfast dedication 
to his home State of California and the civil rights and civil 
liberties of all Americans.
  In the 1960s, he helped guide landmark civil rights and voting rights 
legislation through Congress. In the 1970s, he led the efforts to pass 
the Equal Rights Amendment. A master consensus-builder, he helped forge 
large bipartisan majorities to pass the Voting Rights Act extension of 
1982, Fair Housing Amendments of 1988, Americans with Disabilities Act 
of 1990, and Civil Rights Act of 1991.
  One of Don's proudest achievements was the creation of the Nation's 
first urban national wildlife refuge on the southern end of San 
Francisco Bay. Established in 1974, it was renamed the ``Don Edwards 
San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge'' in 1995.

[[Page S5689]]

  In 1981, Don married his longtime partner, Edith ``Edie'' Wilkie, 
director of Congress's Arms Control and Foreign Policy Caucus, and even 
after they retired, she remained active in arms control and 
international peace for the rest of her life.
  Today Don lives in beautiful Carmel among a tight circle of friends 
and family, including his sons, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. 
They will join him in January to celebrate his 100th birthday. As he 
reaches this milestone, I send him my best wishes, deep affection, and 
abiding gratitude.

                          ____________________