Joe H. Valencia, age 83, passed away at 6:15pm on Saturday, July 23, 2016 after a lengthy illness. Joe's large and loving family was at his side when he passed. Joe was born June 6, 1933 at Ventura County Hospital to Sammy and Julia Valencia. Joe was preceded in death by his mother Julia, who died from pneumonia, thirty days after Joe's birth and his father Sammy who passed away in 1986. Joe also had half brothers Gilbert Romo, Louis Romo, and half sister Martha Dunn. Joe was in the U.S. National Guard in 1950 (at age 17) and was stationed at Camp Cook (later Vandenberg AFB). Joe is a U.S. Army Veteran and was stationed at Fort Ord in 1953 and Yuma Test Station (Yuma Arizona) in 1954.

Joe (from Santa Paula) and Rachel Tafoya (of Moorpark), met at a dance on New Year's Eve in 1952 and married in Ventura, California on January 31, 1953. Residing in Oxnard, California they had 5 children: JoAnne Valencia Jones (Larry), Joe, Jim, Jean Valencia McCauley (Reed) and Jerry Valencia (Nui) before moving to Lompoc in 1964.

Joe worked on Vandenberg AFB over 30 years and retired from Federal Electric Corporation as a senior systems analyst/programmer. During Joe's career he traveled many times to Kwajalein Atoll, Canton Islands, and Cape Canaveral. At the time, there were only two Geodesist at Vandenberg and Joe was one of them.

Joe was honored for his decades of volunteer work by the Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce as the Chamber's Man of the Year 2013. Joe would say he served his country while serving in the Army, he served his state while serving in the National Guard, he served the County of Santa Barbara while serving on the planning commission, he served his city of Lompoc while serving as mayor and city councilman, he served his community while serving as President of the little league. Joe has 7 plaques throughout the city of Lompoc for his service. Joe's plaques are located at Lompoc City Hall, Fire Department #1, Water Reclamation Plant, Electrical Substation, Allan Hancock College, Recreation Center, and Recognition Grove.

Between volunteering and raising a family the couple traveled throughout the US on business and pleasure from Washington State to Washington DC, including Mexico, Canada and Hawaii. Their greatest joy was family time including annual Lake Tahoe camping trips, Easters at Refugio and time at the ball field watching their children play baseball, softball, track, wrestling, and football. Warm times included hosting their 7 grandchildren (JoAnne and Larry's girls Jennifer, Julia, Jillian; Joe's boys Ryan and Nick; and Jean and Reed's kids Taylor and Trent) and 6 great-grandchildren (Jennifer and Chris' son Jackson; Julia and Micah's children Asher and Piper; Jillian and Jerry's children Logan, Sonora, and Dakota).

Joe attended Isabell Elementary School in Santa Paula in 1947 and Santa Paula High School in 1951. He received his Associate in Arts degree from Ventura College in 1958 where he commuted for several years with legendary TV actor Glenn Corbett. Joe was a mathematics major and also attended San Fernando Valley State University (later named Cal State Northridge).

Joe was elected mayor of Lompoc on March 15, 1978. Joe was a Lompoc City Councilman from 1976 to 1985 and served as a Northern California Power Agency commissioner, where he was proud to have been a part of getting the first geothermal plants established.

Joe was a Commissioner on the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission for 15 years (1998 to 2013) and served as Chairman for four years. During the last five years of his service, Joe was on kidney dialysis and had a double bypass and heart valve surgery, but missed a few meetings despite his medical issues.

Joe recalled a time when a young boy burned down the youth sports concession stand and he received a call from a local community member asking what could be done. As Joe said, "I got my friend Chuck Ward involved and said we're going to have a sports festival to raise funds. We raised $50,000 to reinstate the concession stand and for uniforms for youth football".

During his five years as vice-president of Youth Football, Joe used his connections at Vandenberg to get the massive lights (used for minuteman missile sites) to be used for night time football games. Joe was Nation Chief for the YMCA Indian Guides, a popular program during the 1960s and he also served on the California Parks and Recreation Society, Lompoc Beautification Commission and as Chair of the Lompoc Parks and Recreation Commission. Joe holds the distinction of being the only elected official to have served on all the cities five commissions. Joe volunteered his time with several social organizations such as the Elks Lodge, Moose Lodge and American Legion.

Rachel and the family would like to thank all of the staff at Lompoc Artificial Kidney Center for their compassionate care over the last seven years. Our family would also like to thank all of the staff at Mission Terrace in Santa Barbara for treating Joe so incredibly well during the last few years. We must not forget to thank all his coffee friends and his poker buddies for their friendship (they know who they are).

From a very humble beginning, Joe became very successful in just about every way. After a full and meaningful life, Joe will be buried at Lompoc Cemetery with military honors. Joe's service will be held on Saturday July 30, 2016 at 11am at the Lompoc Methodist Church, 925 North "F" Street. Reception immediately following at the Church Fellowship Hall.