[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 18820]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         REMEMBERING JOHN KREBS

  Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I ask my colleagues to join me in paying 
tribute to the life and extraordinary accomplishments of former 
Congressman John Krebs, who recently passed away at the age of 87 in 
Fresno, CA.
  John was born on December 17, 1926, in Berlin, Germany. After Hitler 
came to power, he escaped with his family to Tel Aviv. There, he became 
a diamond cutter and joined the Haganah, a Jewish underground 
organization that supported independence from Britain and the 
establishment of an independent Jewish state.
  John moved to California in 1946 to attend the University of 
California at Berkeley and after graduating in 1950, he became a United 
States citizen in 1952. Following two years in the U.S. Army, John 
graduated from the University of California Hastings College of Law and 
practiced law for three decades.
  Throughout his remarkable life, John Krebs sustained a strong 
commitment to public service. He worked on numerous state and local 
campaigns and was a respected Democratic activist and community leader 
before his 1970 election to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, 
where he was a courageous and eloquent advocate for his constituents.
  In 1974, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where 
he successfully championed a bill to permanently protect 25,000 acres 
of the Sierra National Forest known as Kaiser Ridge, saving this 
beautiful area above Huntington Lake from logging. Then, in 1978, 
Congressman Krebs took on an even greater challenge: fighting for 
legislation to transfer Mineral King Valley from the Sequoia National 
Forest to Sequoia National Park, thereby blocking plans to build a ski 
resort that would have destroyed this pristine alpine valley in the 
southern Sierra Nevada. Facing significant opposition, this was the 
toughest fight of his political career--one that may have cost him his 
seat in Congress--but John was proud of what he accomplished in 
preserving this natural treasure for future generations to enjoy.
  Years later, I was honored to introduce legislation designating 
40,000 acres of land, including the Mineral King Valley, as the John 
Krebs Wilderness. President Obama signed it into law in 2009, and that 
summer some 200 friends, family and admirers gathered in Mineral King 
Valley to dedicate this worthy tribute to John's courage and vision.
  On Friday, November 14, more than 250 of John's friends and family 
joined together at Temple Beth Israel in Fresno to share memories and 
honor this remarkable man's amazing legacy. John Krebs's extraordinary 
life was a uniquely American story, and he will be truly missed. I 
extend my deepest sympathies to his wife and partner of 58 years, 
Hanna, children Daniel and Karen, and their families.

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