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CLAUDE BERT VICTORY, JR.

MEMORIAL PAGE (1943-2017)

BIOGRAPHY

Claude Bert Victory, Jr. (Bert), was a former U.S. Marine, Los Angeles County Probation
Officer, published author, poet, evangelist, and cross-cultural missionary post-retirement. He was best known for his world travels, prison evangelistic outreach, and missionary work in South Africa, Ghana, Haiti, Peru, and China. Victory touched the ground of nearly fifty countries over this lifetime.


Bert was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and grew up in the small town of North Richmond,
California. He was the son of Hattie P. Rayon, a beautician, and Claude B. Victory Sr., a
traveling musician. Somehow Victory knew that deep down within him, there was a greater
purpose to search for and a greater world to explore.


He was a star baseball player in the American Legion League and attained his AA degree from
Contra Costa College. In 1964 he joined the U.S. Marine Corps, obtaining the rank of E-4 Corporal. During the spring of 1967, he permanently moved to Los Angeles and completed a Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice from California State University Los Angeles in 1971.


Bert was employed by the Los Angeles County Probation Department in May 1972 and his
career spanned over 32 years in various assignments. Also, in 1972, he joined a prison outreach ministry through his church home and would travel to numerous domestic prisons for the next 25 years.


Bert was invited to the Fiji Islands for a two-week short-term mission trip in 1984, and at that
time, he developed a keen interest in cross-cultural ministry. Throughout the 90s, he traveled to various countries; Mexico, South Africa, Haiti, Ghana, West Africa, Peru, among others;
planting churches, street witnessing, developing discipleship seminars and participating in
volunteer work in orphanages and river churches through his non-profit Share The Light.


Bert is a published author of 3 titles: Behind These Walls: Spiritual Treasures, which he wrote to inspire and instill hope in prisoners with life term sentences, God’s Bread and Cheese Man, and Three Strikes and You Are Not Out (in honor of his late mother). Victory’s final legacy was leading a devout Buddhist monk, through friendship and patience, to Jesus Christ after 8 long years.


Victory is survived by his three living children, the memory of his eldest son, Jason P. Victory, two grandchildren, and two nephews and a host of extended family and international friends that span the world.

Bert's Legacy Statement (as written by Bert himself):

Lord, in your infinite wisdom and kindness, brought me to a people I did not know, a language and culture I did not understand... I did not understand this! But I listened to your voice, I obeyed your voice in faith, and I went. I lost my life in China, but I found you more than I ever could in the bible. The blessings you rendered have been bountiful, amazing and beyond belief. So to my descendants, seek God, listen to his voice, obey without understanding and go in faith wherever he sends you...your life will become a legacy to many.

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Life:

September 13, 1943 - May 29, 2017

Born: Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA

Upbringing: Richmond, California

Home: Los Angeles, California

Military Service:

U.S. Marines (1964-1967)

Occupations:

Claims Investigator, L.A. County Probation, retired as cross-cultural missionary, philosopher, writer, and poet

Favorite Quotes:

James Bond to Gold Fingers, "Do you expect me to talk, no, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die."

"I am a citizen of the world, and to do good is my religion." Thomas Paine

"Defeat is not an option."

"Eat or be eaten."

Favorite Movie:

Casablanca & Gladiator

Favorite Book:

Chesty Puller, Captain James Cook

Favorite City:

San Francisco

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