Frank Delfino enjoys the Bay and wetlands view from the bench dedicated in memory of his wife Janice. Photo credit: USFWS/Paul Mueller

The bench was cast in concrete from a design by concrete artist/designer and friend Linda Patterson. Photo credit: USFWS/Paul Mueller.

Janice Delfino. Photo credit: Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge

by Karla Tanner, San Francisco Bay NWR
Over the years, Janice Delfino, her husband Frank, and other members of the Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge used publicity, education, legislation, political and legal action to help conserve thousands of acres of South Bay wetlands and add significant tracts of land and key habitat for endangered species to the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Janice, a long-time member of the Citizens Committe, passed away in June 2008. Family, friends and wetland restoration advocates gathered together on Saturday, November 22, 2008, at the Fremont headquarters of the refuge to honor Janice and dedicate a bench in her memory.

"These are the words that come to mind when I think of Janice," shared fellow Citizens Committee member Carin High, "Advocate, aerial photographs, class-act, dedicated, details, details, details, effective, Frank, friend, gracious, institutional memory, knowledgeable, MAPS, organized, passionate, raspberries, Refuge, remarkable, role model, smile, tenacious, thoughtful, tireless, typewriter, walnuts, warm, wetlands...memorable...irreplaceable...missed."

In a September 2007 interview which originally appeared in the fifteenth edition of the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project's electronic newsletter, Janice was asked, "What advice can you give to other activists working to protect wetlands?" Her reply, "Well, Frank and I are in our eighties so I guess I'd say don't ever give up! Try to make this area a better place. Keep trying to improve the quality of life in the Bay Area. And remember to enjoy it while you're doing it."