Captain James (Jim) Torres was elected President of the Contra Costa Chapter of MOAA (MOAACCC) in January, 2007, and currently serves in that position. He has been appointed to fill the balance of the two-year term as CAL-MOAA Area 2 Director as a result of a vacancy which arose in March, 2007.
Torres is retired from the Navy, having served 10 years of active service (1961-1971), followed by 20 years in the Navy Reserve (1971-1991). He is a surface warfare officer who performed tours of duty on USS Renshaw (DDE-499), USS Hornet (CVS-12), USS Little Rock (CLG-4), Staff-Commander Destroyer Squadron Eight, USS Tulare (LKA-112), Staff-Commander Destroyer Division 252, and USS Mauna Kea (AE-22). Torres also served on various ashore staffs and in numerous Navy Reserve units during his career. He also served a year in Vietnam as the Operations Planning Officer for Commander, Naval Support Activity, Danang, RVN, where he played a key roll in developing this logistics command from a nucleus of 50 to over 10,000 personnel in less than one year.
Upon joining the Navy Reserve in 1971, Captain Torres embarked on a dual career in business. While serving in various management and accounting positions, he felt the need for additional business education, so he attended graduate school at St. Mary's College in Moraga, CA, where he received an MBA in 1978. He later attended Golden Gate University in San Francisco where he received graduate education in accounting. Torres became a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and spent the balance of his civilian career in public and corporate accounting.
Following the passage of his wife, Helen, in 2002, Captain Torres turned his focus and attention to volunteer work. A Life Member of the Naval Reserve Association (NRA), Torres is a member of NRA's Budget & Finance Committee and its Constitution & Bylaws Committee. He has been a very active member of MOAACCC where he has served in several offices and on various committees. Torres is an active member of the Navy League and its San Francisco Council. Having served on USS Hornet (CVS-12) in 1963-64, he enjoys serving again aboard the USS Hornet Museum as a docent and as a member of the Docent Advisory Council, where he was its Secretary in 2006. Torres is also active in his community where he serves on the City of Lafayette's Capital Projects Assessment Committee and is an election official. He also serves on two committees in his church. As the co-organizer, along with his late wife, of the Northern California Ataxia Support Group, Torres has helped to build this Group into the largest Ataxia Support Group in the U.S. He has also been active in the Walnut Creek Historical Society where he oversaw its financial records in 2006 and where he coordinates the finances involved in several annual fund raising events.
Captain Torres lives in Lafayette where he is close to his step-family consisting of two sons, five grand children, and four great-grand children.
Captain James D. Torres 3258 Judith Lane Lafayette, CA 94549 925-283-0112
Redwood Empire Chapter is making a difference by supporting a local womens group that packed and sent 20 tons of donated goods to American troops. Read the local news story Here!
