[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 199 (Tuesday, November 24, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1068-E1069]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REMEMBERING PEGGY FULTON HORA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ERIC SWALWELL

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 24, 2020

  Mr. SWALWELL of California. Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize the 
life of retired California Superior Court Judge, Peggy Fulton Hora, who 
passed away on October 31, 2020.
  Born in Oakland and educated in Castro Valley, Hayward, and San 
Francisco, Peggy was a true Bay Area native. She understood our 
community and would devote her life to helping others within it. Right 
from the beginning of her legal career, she committed herself to 
service by joining the Legal Aid Society of Alameda County, much of 
which, I represent in Congress.
  In a spirit I certainly understand, Peggy, in 1984, decided to make a 
long-shot run for a judgeship. Her opponents underestimated her, then 
found themselves referring to her by her new title, Judge Hora.
  Judge Hora could have gone to work each morning, completed the 
criminal dockets in front of her, then returned home in the evening and 
been a successful member of the bench. But, as you might imagine, this 
was not how Judge Hora operated. She saw the same defendants in her 
courtroom repeatedly and thought that there must be a better way. She 
sought a way to disrupt the criminal justice cycle that she found 
herself participating in. She turned to a deep and personal love of 
hers for the solution, reading and studying. She studied brain science, 
chemical dependence, and addiction. She took this new understanding and 
helped innovate our justice system by helping to establish a new drug 
treatment court movement with the intention of being therapeutic and 
rehabilitating instead of having a primary focus on punishment.
  Judge Hora served on the trial bench in Alameda County for over 20 
years. She would go on to share her knowledge as the dean of the B.E. 
Witkin Judicial College of California, and a 15-year faculty member of 
the National Judicial College. Judge Hora was the 2004 recipient of the 
Bernard S. Jefferson Judicial Education Award from the California 
Judge's Association and a 2008 inductee to the Alameda County Women's 
Hall of Fame. In 2015, Judge Hora, with two colleagues, founded the 
Justice Speakers Institute and became even more widely recognized as an 
authority on justice systems and their administration worldwide.
  In her personal life, Judge Hora was a voracious reader and traveler. 
She also enjoyed the symphony, ballets, and both preparing and enjoying 
fine dining. Her passing was unexpected, and she will be dearly missed 
by the loving family she left behind. She was predeceased by her son 
Tim Spangler; but her son Erik and his wife Linda, her son Paul and his 
wife Jamie; and her eight grandchildren, Dillon, Kyle, Madison, Nathan, 
Kevin, Emily,

[[Page E1069]]

Tommy, and Joseph will no doubt share fond memories of their ``Venture 
Grandma'' for decades to come. Our community is a better place because 
of her efforts and my heart is with her family as they navigate the 
days ahead.

                          ____________________