[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 55 (Monday, May 9, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE TO DR. STEPHEN A. FREEMAN

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I would like to pay tribute to one of my 
constituents, Dr. Stephen A. Freeman, who celebrates his 96th birthday 
today. I would like to join his family and friends in wishing him 
continued good health and happiness in the coming year.
  Steve has dedicated his life to a cause that I believe has been 
greatly underemphasized in this country--the teaching of foreign 
languages. Most of his career has been spent at Middlebury College, 
which during his lifetime has become one of the Nation's premier 
institutions for study of foreign language and literature.
  Just a year ago, President John M. McCardell, Jr. and the Middlebury 
College Board of Trustees joined Steve and his family and friends to 
celebrate the opening of the Stephen A. Freeman International Center. 
This center houses Russian, German, and other foreign studies, focusing 
on an interdisciplinary approach to the study of languages through a 
close association with the teaching of the history, literature, and 
culture of these countries.
  This center was named for Steve in recognition of his 45 years of 
active service to Middlebury College, during which time he was 
instrumental in creating the college's international reputation. Steve 
served in many capacities at the college. For 38 years he was professor 
of French, for 24 years director of the language schools, vice 
president of the college for 20 years, and on three critical occasions, 
acting president. He is still vitally interested in the college and is 
one of its most enthusiastic supporters.
  Steve has been known nationally and internationally for his 
leadership in programs and associations to improve the teaching of 
foreign languages. In Middlebury's summer language program, he helped 
to found the Italian and Russian Schools, and went on to found the 
Chinese and Japanese Schools. He established Middlebury's first 
graduate schools abroad: the School of French in Paris and the School 
of Spanish in Madrid, and later the School of German in Mainz and the 
School of Italian in Florence. Steve was the driving force behind the 
development of the Sunderland Language Laboratory, a pioneer language 
teaching facility.
  Steve's work has been recognized both at home and abroad. He has 
honorary degrees from the University of Vermont, Norwich University, 
McGill University, Dickinson College, and Middlebury College. For his 
service in the field of French language teaching he was awarded the 
high honor of both the French Legion of Honor and the Palmes 
Academiques by the French Government.
  Before the turn of the century, this energetic man was born the son 
of a postman, and with the aid of scholarships, earned his way through 
Harvard University. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a double Summa cum 
laude in the class of 1919. During World War I, in the earliest days of 
flying, he volunteered for Naval Aviation, and was commissioned ensign 
#1091. He was an instructor at Pensacola, FL, and did patrol and convoy 
work at New York harbor until the Armistice. He loved to fly, and as 
one of the oldest living World War I naval aviators, has recently 
enjoyed writing about his experiences. During World War II, he served 
as chief of the liberal arts section of the U.S. Army University in 
Biarritz, France and from 1948 to 1956 he was colonel of a Reserve 
Military Intelligence Unit on Middlebury's campus.
  Steve and his wife Ruth were for many years avid world travelers, 
circling the globe twice. There are few countries in the world they 
have not explored. But they kept coming back to Middlebury, their 
beloved home. Steve loves to tell the story of how his Harvard mentor 
advised him, when he was first hired by Middlebury, ``Don't buy a house 
there--you won't be likely to stay there that long!'' Sixty nine years 
later he is still very involved in college activities and has 
maintained a long-standing, vigorous interest in town affairs. Steve 
has served on the board of Porter Hospital, as moderator of the Mary 
Hogan Elementary School and the Middlebury Congregational Church. He 
continues to be active with the Middlebury Rotary Club and the Ilsley 
Town Library. His roots are deep in Vermont.
  Steve continues his obsession with intercultural communication. At 96 
years of age, he reminds us that there is much work to be done. Let me 
quote briefly from an address Steve gave on the occasion of his 
acceptance of the Bicentennial Award of the Vermont Education 
Association on September 10, 1976. His remarks were enthusiastically 
greeted at the time, and I believe are very relevant today:

       We must now admit the tragic fact that we do not have a 
     global community . . . America needs a whole people who are 
     willing to listen and try to understand the minds and hearts 
     of our neighbors--white, black, brown or yellow; rich or 
     poor, strong or weak; in Vermont or Detroit, Mississippi or 
     Washington; in Russia or China or India, England or Angola or 
     Lebanon: our brothers wherever they are. We must learn about 
     them, try to talk their language, listen to their hopes, 
     their fears, their minds; learn from them and try to 
     comprehend their ways of speaking and thinking and doing. 
     This is our task--global communication for a global 
     community.

  As many events of the past year have demonstrated, in spite of 
improved communication technology, we are still far from being a global 
community. We all benefit from the vision and inspiration provided by 
those like Steve who have spent their lives laboring to break down 
barriers between peoples. How fitting it is that the plaque that hangs 
in the new Stephen A. Freeman International Center quotes from another 
of his writings: ``Let us build bridges.''

                          ____________________