[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23472]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   IN MEMORY OF THOMAS LAUBACHER, SR.

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ELTON GALLEGLY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 8, 2004

  Mr. GALLEGLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the memory of 
Thomas Laubacher, community leader and elected official from my 
district who passed away September 26 at the age of 91.
  Tom Laubacher was a native son of Ventura County, California, having 
been born to a pioneering Oxnard family on August 29, 1913. During his 
life, Tom Laubacher was a farmer on his family's 150-acre farm, located 
between Doris Avenue and Teal Club Road; an oilman for Union Oil 
Company; and a B-26 pilot instructor for the U.S. Army Air Corps.
  In 1954 he took over Laubacher Insurance Agency and Real Estate, 
which his father had founded in 1903. It remains in the family today. 
Tom Laubacher's son, Thomas Laubacher, Jr., now runs the business.
  In 1964, Tom Laubacher ran for the Board of Supervisors for the same 
reason I ran for the Simi Valley City Council 15 years later: a belief 
that the business community needed better representation in government. 
He served three terms on the Board of Supervisors and I had the 
privilege of serving with him on the Regional Sanitation Board about 25 
years ago.
  Integrity is the word most associated with his public service, his 
business dealings and his community work.
  A devout Catholic--his Uncle John was the first assistant pastor at 
Santa Clara Parish--Tom was a member of Oxnard Council 750 of the 
Knights of Columbus and served as the grand knight and district deputy. 
In 2002, he received the cardinal's award in recognition of a lifetime 
of service to his church and community.
  Tom Laubacher also maintained a long relationship with the Sisters of 
Mercy and St. John's Regional Medical Center. He became the first lay 
member of its board of directors and later the board's first lay 
president.
  Tom Laubacher is survived by his wife of 60 years, Helen, four 
children and 17 grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, I know my colleagues join me in sending our condolences 
to Helen ``Holly'' Laubacher, their children and grandchildren, and 
pause in remembering a man for whom integrity was a way of life. 
Godspeed, Tom.

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