[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17581]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      A TRIBUTE IN HONOR OF THE LIFE OF THE HONORABLE VICTOR CALVO

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                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, November 15, 2010

  Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of a dear 
friend and extraordinary public servant, Victor Calvo, who passed away 
on September 26, 2010, in Mountain View, California, where he was 
beloved and respected.
  One of the staunchest environmentalists I've ever known, Victor Calvo 
tirelessly championed environmental issues in local and statewide 
offices, where his compassion and conviction made him easy to believe 
and hard to resist. For thirty years he determinedly devoted himself to 
new ideas that would better the lives of his constituents and leave 
this earth a better place.
  Victor Calvo was born on a ranch in Mountain View, and quickly set 
about becoming one of the city's most accomplished and dedicated 
residents. He was the valedictorian of his Mountain View High School 
class, and joined the Army Air Force in 1942. Over two-dozen bombing 
missions later--including top secret ones never recorded--Victor Calvo 
returned to the Bay Area and earned a bachelor's degree in political 
science from Stanford University. In 1948, he married his wife Nellie, 
a wonderfully warm woman who would be by his side for the next 62 
years.
  In 1957, Victor Calvo began his three-decade political career. It 
started, fittingly enough, on Mountain View's Environmental Planning 
Commission, one of the first of its kind in the region. Victor Calvo 
continued to advocate environmental causes on the Mountain View City 
Council. He was elected Mayor of the City three consecutive times 
before being termed out in 1968. Impressed by his razor-sharp intellect 
and integrity, appreciative community members elected him to the Santa 
Clara County Board of Supervisors, and then to the State Assembly in 
1974.
  Victor Calvo continued his environmental activism in Sacramento, 
using the chairmanship of the Committee on Resources, Land Use and 
Energy to author key legislation and protect California's forests, 
wetlands, and open spaces. In recognition of his efforts he was named 
California's ``Elected Environmental Legislator of the Year in 1979,'' 
and named to the California Public Utilities Commission by Governor 
Jerry Brown the following year. Victor Calvo spent a final stint in 
politics on the California Coastal Commission before retiring in 1989. 
Of course, even retirement couldn't keep him from helping the City of 
Mountain View deal with problematic geese on the golf course, where he 
loved to spend his days.
  Among Victor Calvo's many accomplishments stands the creation of 
Shoreline Park in Mountain View, where thousands of community members 
gather to stroll, picnic, and watch fireworks on the Fourth of July. 
Victor Calvo constantly amazed everyone with his impressive grasp of 
issues, his appreciation for people, and the earnestness and enthusiasm 
that shone through in everything he did. He was a kind and affectionate 
husband, father, and grandfather, and a true public servant, quoting 
Aristotle to teach his children that ``you can judge a nation by the 
way it treats its most vulnerable citizens,'' and then proceeding to 
demonstrate this maxim by the power of his own actions.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in extending our 
sincere condolences to Victor Calvo's wife, Nellie; his children 
Suzanna, Victor, Peter, Theodore and Mary; his 12 grandchildren, his 
brother, and his two sisters. Throughout his life, Victor Calvo was a 
man of Mountain View, and a crusader for all Californians. He will be 
missed, even as his life's legacy lives on for future generations of 
Californians. I consider it a high privilege to have known Victor Calvo 
and to have been a beneficiary of his friendship, his service, his 
vision and his integrity.

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