[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8439-8440]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        IN HONOR OF GAYLEN BYKER

  (Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. I wish you could meet my friend, Dr. Gaylen 
Byker, a truly renaissance man who was born in Iowa but raised in 
Hudsonville, Michigan, which is in my district, where he grew up in a 
family that was very entrepreneurial and very politically involved. His 
father actually served as a State senator, Gary Byker.
  Gaylen attended Calvin College, where he is now President, and earned 
a BA with concentrations in philosophy, English, political science, and 
speech, with a minor in Russian. He also entered the Army in 1967 and 
served in Vietnam, and he was discharged with the rank of captain. He 
went on to earn a law degree at the University of Michigan and then his 
master's degree in world politics at Michigan as well. After that, he 
decided he needed to get his Ph.D. in international relations from 
Pennsylvania.
  He then served and worked at an energy exploration company out of 
Houston. He worked on Wall Street, both on energy as well as in 
derivatives and futures. He then served as a lawyer in Philadelphia. He 
has been involved in numerous organizations and volunteer 
opportunities, including the Ruffed Grouse Society of the United 
States.
  He is an avid hunter--and a pretty good shot as well, I might add. He 
became president of Calvin College in 1995, where he has served it 
since then for the last 17 years. Gaylen is truly a person who has left 
a place better than when he found it.
  Dr. Byker, we just want to say thank you for your service to Calvin 
College in the greater community in west Michigan.

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