[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21745]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO FRANK HOVORE

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                     HON. HOWARD P. ``BUCK'' McKEON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 29, 2006

  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in sorrow to pay tribute to the 
life and memory of Franklin Thomas Hovore IV. Every once in a while, a 
person comes along who has the passion to explore the world, the 
ability to research the unknown, and the extraordinary capacity to 
teach what he has learned. Frank Hovore was such a man. Pursuing his 
life's passion in Ecuador on September 22, 2006, he died suddenly while 
studying beetles near the Amazon. He was 61 years old.
  Frank was born on August 19, 1945 in EI Centro, California. He earned 
a Bachelor's Degree in Biology and English at California State 
University, Northridge, in 1971, and later worked as an adjunct biology 
professor at his alma mater. Further advancing his education led Frank 
to the University of California, Los Angeles where he was a Ph.D. 
candidate in evolutionary biology.
  Enthusiastic and dedicated to the study of insects, he also cared 
deeply about teaching others. Over 35 years ago, Frank began teaching 
children from a school bus parked at Placerita Canyon's Nature Center. 
He was instrumental in the creation of the center's education program, 
which now reaches over 10,000 schoolchildren a year. He trained 
docents, served on the center's foundation board, and was an active 
volunteer at the nature center until his death. Frank is credited with 
making the Placerita Canyon Natural Area and Nature Center one of the 
premier environmental education facilities in Southern California.
  Long considered the world's authority on beetles, Frank published 
books and many papers on the subject. In addition, he was a scientific 
adviser on David Attenborough's 2005 acclaimed documentary series 
``Life in the Undergrowth'' and provided his expertise on the movie 
``Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.'' Director Steven Spielberg 
recruited Frank to trek to Central America to collect insects for the 
movie's famous cave scene.
  Working as a park naturalist and natural-areas supervisor for the Los 
Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation for 23 years, Frank 
managed resources and operations for more than 6,500 acres of county 
parkland, sanctuaries, and open space. For more than a decade, he also 
served on the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission's 
Significant Ecological Areas Technical Advisory Committee where he 
provided astute insights, wise counsel, and excellent leadership.
  Retiring from county government in 1994, he began Frank Hovore & 
Associates, a biological consulting firm that provided planning for 
parks, plant and animal surveys, environmental education, and habitat 
conservation plans. Consulting afforded Frank the time to travel widely 
for research on New World beetles deemed essential to forest ecosystems 
worldwide.
  Frank will be remembered as an honest, curious, and caring man who 
was generous with his time and talents in order to protect the 
environment, to explore nature's mysteries, and to mentor others. His 
passing leaves a void in the lives of many people, but his legacy will 
live on forever through the contributions he made to the world as a 
scientist, educator, and environmentalist. Frank's greatest role, 
however, was as a father to his daughter, Holly, and to his son, Tom.
  With his passionate love of nature, and keen intellect, Frank Hovore 
might have identified with Robert Frost when he said, ``Two roads 
diverged in a wood, and I--I took the one less traveled by. And that 
has made all the difference.'' In an effort to understand the insect 
world, Frank often took the road less traveled. And he made a 
difference, a world of difference.

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