[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 25, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: January 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        CHARLOTTE MAILLIARD SWIG

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. The rarest of all possible talents is the brilliance 
to make others radiate with joy. That is the very special quality of 
Charlotte Mailliard Swig of San Francisco.
  Charlotte has the magical gift to transform shadow into sunlight by 
making even the most humdrum occasion festive and lively.
  Today, she is being honored by Episcopal Charities in San Francisco, 
and I want to call attention of the U.S. Senate to her many 
accomplishments.
  Fittingly, she is being given the Hand-to-Hand Award for her 
leadership in helping those who are ill and suffering and would be 
forgotten if it were not for her caring heart. As a past recipient of 
the award, I know how extraordinary and special it is, and the award to 
Charlotte makes it all the more so.
  In so many ways, she walks hand in hand with those striving to build 
a stronger, more caring community.
  She presently is chair of the effort to raise private contributions 
to match public funds to build a modern Main Library in San Francisco 
that will meet the needs of our new technological and fast-moving 
society. It will employ the latest in computer wizardry to tap into 
fountains of knowledge in libraries and universities around the world. 
It will be the prototype for libraries of the 21st century.
  The library will provide special collections to satisfy the diversity 
of a great city, and will offer entertainment and education to young 
and old alike in an atmosphere that will stimulate the mind and 
imagination.
  The library will be a wonderful resource and splendid sanctuary for 
all those who treasure the written word, the seeds for which were 
planted when I was mayor of San Francisco and Charlotte walked with me 
hand in hand on so many worthy projects.
  When I was mayor, I appointed Charlotte San Francisco's chief of 
protocol to turn visits by presidents and heads of state and all civic 
occasions into events in which the whole city could participate and 
take pride and would be truly memorable for everyone involved.
  Each event was carried off with flare and imagination from fire works 
sparkling within the dome of city hall to red, white, and blue balloons 
sailing skyward to greet the men and women of our Navy as their ships 
steamed into San Francisco Bay for the annual Fleet Week.
  Always, Charlotte gave an unforgettable touch to all she planned. So 
many events standout--the Super Bowl-winning Forty Niners parading 
through downtown San Francisco aboard motorized cablecars, the tens of 
thousands who arrived at dawn at the Golden State Bridge to celebrate 
its 50th anniversary in 1987.
  Even when President Clinton came to San Francisco late in 1993, 
Charlotte added her magic by arranging for ``Hail to the Chief'' to be 
played not by a full orchestra or a brass band but by a single 
saxophonist, the great Clarence Clemmons.
  Even at times of great personal loss and sorrow, Charlotte's buoyancy 
never fades, her commitment to her community never lessens. She is 
truly remarkable.
  The Hand-to-Hand Award pays deserving tribute to Charlotte Mailliard 
Swig for her many civic activities, but to me she is more than a superb 
leader and wonderfully creative impresario, but she is a close and dear 
friend, and I welcome this opportunity to personally pay tribute to 
her.

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