The San Jose GI Forum’s Twenty-Sixth Annual
Cinco de Mayo Parade and Festival will feature Mr. Willie Galvan
of Santa Maria, California, as its Parade Grand Marshall.
Mr. Galvan is the
State Commander of the American GI Forum,
presiding over a forty-chapter organization spread throughout the
state. The American GI Forum is a national veterans organization
dedicated to serving veterans and their families. As a very young
person, Mr. Galvan became a charter member of the first American GI
Forum Chapter in Victoria, Texas, at the behest of the Founder of the
organization, Dr. Hector Perez Garcia.
It was here that he learned to organize and advocate for Veterans
and their families. Mr. Galvan was raised on a cattle ranch and later
helped his father and family farm cotton in Texas.
He was married and had started a family when he was drafted into
the U.S. Army. He served
during the Korean Conflict, and then in the Army Reserves, and was
honorably discharged with the rank of Staff Sergeant. He received a BA
from the University of California at Santa Barbara and earned a
vocational teaching credential from the University of California at
Berkeley. After graduating
from UCSB, he worked in Sacramento for Assemblyman Richard Alatorre in
the Prison Reform Committee for one and a half years. Mr. Galvan is a retired executive having managed a
number of successful projects and enterprises. His service to the
community has led to appointments and selection to lead various
community initiatives. In 1986 he was appointed to the Parks &
Recreation Commission where he organized and implemented a youth boxing
program named ‘PRIDE GYM’ from 1986 through 1994. He was also
appointed in 1982 by Governor Jerry Brown to serve on the County Fair
Board of Directors. For over 25 years he provided employment for youth
at the American GI Forum Fair Food Booths during the week of the fair.
He has served on the Board of the American GI Forum Education Foundation
and has supervised youth working and doing community projects under
Santa Barbara County Schools Summer Youth Programs. One such program was
organizing a youth anti-graffiti program to paint over graffiti as it
was being put on walls all over town. Other activities include working
with Evans Park parents and community people to curb violence on the
Northwest part of town. Still another was securing county funds to
provide recreational programs and jobs for youth from low-income
families of Santa Maria. Finally, he was instrumental in implementing
CETA youth programs, funded for jobs and training of Santa Maria City
youth. He also served
as the Director of SER-Training Programs in Santa Maria for 12 years,
during which time he implemented additional Community Training Programs. In 1993 Mr. Galvan started and implemented the
Northwest Health Center, a non-profit community primary health care
clinic to serve low-income families of the Santa Maria Valley, later to
become Marian Community Clinic. He also Worked for Marian Community
Clinics for 10 years, retiring in April of 2007. He worked tirelessly
on a committee to get Proposition 10 tobacco monies for North
County to curb the use of tobacco for youth of all ages and adults. He
most recently served on the Catholic Charities Advisory Board of Santa
Maria, and oversaw much of the remodeling of its Thrift Store. |
