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“HONORING THE LIFE AND SERVICE OF MS. ELOISE R. BAZA” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E2315-E2316 on Nov. 5, 2007.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
HONORING THE LIFE AND SERVICE OF MS. ELOISE R. BAZA
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HON. MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO
of guam
in the house of representatives
Monday, November 5, 2007
Ms. BORDALLO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and recognize the life of Ms. Eloise R. Baza, the first woman to serve as the president of the Guam Chamber of Commerce and whose service to the community extended beyond her duties and responsibilities to the private sector. Eloise started her Chamber career as the assistant to the president in 1981. When then-president James McDonald stepped down in 1985, Ms. Baza was named to the position to fill the unexpired term. She was then elected in her own right and held it successfully until her untimely death on October 29, 2007.
Eloise will be missed not only by the members of the Chamber of Commerce and Guam's business community, but also by our island community. She contributed significantly to the improvement of our island, both in her capacity as Chamber president and as a devoted daughter of Guam. Eloise believed in our youth and supported programs to keep Guam's children drug free and to help them as future prospects in education, athletics and business careers in Guam. She promoted and advocated entrepreneurship among Guam's young people through regular participation and support for Guam's Junior Achievement Program; scholarships for business students attending the University of Guam, and as a speaker at many public and private Career Day activities. She was an active member of the Islandwide Beautification Task Force, the Summer Youth Swimming and Water Safety Program, and was especially proud of the Guam Juvenile Drug Court Program, which she started with former high school classmate and lifelong friend, Judge Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson.
Eloise was a member of the Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce, APCAC, and its committees on Trade & Investment/Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC, Tax & Finance, and Intellectual Property Rights Protection; and the American Council of Chamber of Commerce Executives and its Small Business Council. She was also a member of Andersen Air Force Bases' Civilian Advisory Council, the Guam Territorial Aquarium Council, and the Guam Police Department's Community Assisted Policing Effort, CAPE, Program, in which she was named Honorary Deputy Chief of Police and proudly displayed the badge she had been given.
Eloise was a strong advocate of women in business and, by example, proved the value and insight of women's business acumen. She managed her family-owned apartment building, and handled the financial reporting, securing tenants and overseeing the maintenance of the units. Her unassailable integrity, her leadership, and her commitment to the field of commerce and free enterprise in general and to the Guam business community in particular made her truly a driving force behind the Guam Chamber of Commerce. She gave the Chamber an important and respected voice in our community. She also served as the Chamber's chief operating officer in charge of administration and management of all of the Chamber's operations and direction of all its projects, programs and activities. She played a central role in the Chamber's advocacy of sound economic policy, government reform, and community service.
Eloise R. Baza graduated from the Academy of Our Lady of Guam, AOLG, in 1971. She maintained close relationships with her classmates over the years and spearheaded the committee that created AOLG's Hall of Fame to inspire young ladies and promote ``values, vision, and voice'' in measuring success of family, civic and professional life. In 1974, Eloise earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, California. She then came home and worked for the Guam Department of Commerce from 1975 until 1981. In 1979, she became an associate economist in the Commerce Department's Economic Research Center, where she prepared an action plan to centralize all economic development planning functions of the Government of Guam within the Department of Commerce. She also initiated Guam's participation in various federal economic development financing programs which funded infrastructure improvements island-
wide. Her action plan was implemented as Commerce Department's Economic Development & Planning Division. Having initiated the establishment of the division, Eloise was named its chief in 1981. During her tenure, Eloise oversaw the preparation of the ``Overall Economic Development Plan for Guam,'' the ``Tumon Bay Master Plan,'' the ``Ten Year Tourism Master Plan,'' and the ``Aquaculture Development Plan for Guam.'' Additionally, she supervised all economic development federal program funds and directed their use to finance infrastructure to support industry expansion. Also in 1981, Eloise undertook graduate coursework toward an MBA in International Business Management from Babson College in Wellesley, MA.
My sympathies and prayers go out to Eloise's family: her parents, Rosa Rivera Baza and the late Jose Camacho Baza and Luis Camacho Baza; her loved one, Joseph Barrtoe; her siblings and their spouses, Evelyn Baza and Joseph F. Soriano, Leonard Rivera and Margaret Salas Baza, Rosa Duenas and Fred Manglona, Lucille Baza and Geronimo Castro, Luis Rivera and Marcia Woolley Baza, Barbara Baza and Daniel Ninete, Felisa Rivera Baza and Carisa San Agustin, Carmen Rivera Baza and Mark Timcoe, and her many relatives and friends.
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