[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14266]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      A TRIBUTE TO ANDY J. BALTZO

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ELLEN O. TAUSCHER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, June 8, 2009

  Mrs. TAUSCHER. Madam Speaker, I rise with my colleague, Hon. George 
Miller, in the House of Representatives--to recognize the work of 
Andrew J. Baltzo, founder of the Mt. Diablo Peace & Justice Center in 
Walnut Creek, California, who passed on Memorial Day 2009 after a long 
illness.
  Andy Baltzo was born in Berkeley, California, on February 3, 1920. He 
was raised in Oakland, and studied at the University of California in 
Berkeley where he attained a teacher's credential. For the 10 years 
following his graduation, Andy taught chemistry to local intermediate 
school students. He also served four years in the U.S. Army as a 
medical lab technician. It was the bombing of Hiroshima that gave Andy 
the incentive to devote his life to speaking out against the further 
development of nuclear weapons world-wide.
  In 1969, Andy led the way in forming the Mt. Diablo Peace Center and 
served as the Center's full-time director until 2000. Striving to 
demonstrate that a peaceful world based on justice for all people is 
possible, the Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center has consistently 
worked to provide venues for people to further their experience of the 
peace process through classes, public forums and educational programs.
  A man of deep convictions, Andy devoted his life to furthering non-
violent resistance and expanding social justice. Because of his work, 
he received the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Honorable Mention Award for 
``Keeping the Dream Alive'' from the Contra Costa County Board of 
Supervisors on January 16, 1996. He also received the 6th Annual 
Peacemaker Award from the Center for Human Development on January 27, 
2000.
  Today our thoughts and prayers are also with Andy's wife Doris, his 
daughter Alice, and son Daniel, and all of his family and friends. We 
join them in celebrating a life well lived. It is an honor and a 
privilege to commemorate the life of Andrew J. Baltzo and recognize the 
indelible mark he leaves behind on the residents of our Congressional 
Districts.

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