[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 21]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 28949-28950]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HONORING KEN DIEHL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GEORGE RADANOVICH

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 1, 2009

  Mr. RADANOVICH. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Ken Diehl for 
his tremendous contributions to promoting housing and development in 
the Central Valley. Mr. Diehl is being honored at The Greater Yosemite 
Council Boy Scouts of America's annual distinguished citizens dinner on 
October 28, 2009 in Modesto, California.
  Ken Diehl was born and raised in Beaver, Iowa. He attended Iowa 
Wesleyan College, where he excelled in athletics, lettering in 
basketball and baseball. He was also involved with the Blue Key (an 
honorary fraternity) the letter club and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. 
During college, he served in the United States Army and served overseas 
with the 100th Infantry Division. He spent over a year in combat, where 
he commanded a light machine gun section. For his efforts and 
achievements he was awarded the Bronze Star.
  After World War II ended, Mr. Diehl made his way to California and 
settled in Patterson. He married Dorothy Sutherland and they had three 
children. Although he spent a great amount of time with his family, he 
was also very involved with professional and community organizations. 
Mr. Diehl served as the president of The Life Underwriter Association 
of Central California, chairman of the Heart Association for the Life 
Underwriters, member of the board of director of Toastmaster 
International. His mid-life career change to real estate offered him 
new opportunities to get involved. In his new position, Mr. Diehl was a 
developer and a builder for his own account; quickly realizing that a 
real estate investor was more profitable than a real estate agent. With 
the knowledge he acquired in the profession, he wrote a book, 
``Affordable Housing''.
  Mr. Diehl created The Diehl Company; over the years the company 
bought and sold hundreds of properties, built apartments, strip centers 
and several sub-divisions. He became very involved with the local Board 
of Realtors, chaired many committees and served as board president. He 
was a regional vice president for California Association of Realtors, 
CAR, where he represented seven local boards. He chaired various 
committees for CAR including; the Legislative Committee, the Board 
Presidents Committee, the Policy Committee, and the Regional Vice 
Presidents Committee. For his service, Mr. Diehl was awarded the 
Director for Life designation, a prestigious award that is given to 
only three realtors out of one hundred and fifty thousand.
  He also served as the director of the million member National 
Association of Realtors, representing California for 6 years. He was a 
chairman of the Federally Assisted Code Enforcement program. With this 
program he and a group of others were able to save hundreds of homes 
that were on the verge of being deemed uninhabitable, and made them 
livable in the City of Modesto and the surrounding areas. Mr. Diehl 
spent many years as a director of the Community Housing Shelter 
Service. His primary focus while in the real estate industry was 
permanent housing for low to moderate income families.
  Mr. Diehl is a 58 year member of the Elks Club number 1282 in 
Modesto. He chaired the United Way for Modesto, served as the director 
of the California Apartment Association, president of the Apartment 
Association of Central California and chaired many committees of the 
Sportsman of Stanislaus. Mr. Diehl served a 3 year term as president of 
the Yosemite Council of Boy Scouts.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Ken Diehl for the impact 
that he has made on the real estate industry in the Central Valley and 
the State of California. I invite my colleagues to join me in wishing 
him continued success.

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