[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 78 (Monday, June 20, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      TRIBUTE TO BERNIE CIEPLICKI

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask the Senate's attention today to honor 
a very special person.
  Bernie Cieplicki is a Vermonter whose expanded family includes two 
generations of young men and women who have learned how to conduct 
themselves in life--because he gave them the model to live by.
  A wonderful sportsman, father, teacher and friend. Bernie is still 
setting an example on dealing with life, as he faces a very difficult 
physical condition with all the courage that has forever been his trade 
mark in the community.
  A devoted church and family man, Bernie counts his blessings--the 
time he has to spend with his wife, Christine, their five children and 
six grandchildren.
  Our prayers for Bernie are shared with thousands of Vermonters who 
know and love him, and hope he remains with us for many years to come.
  I ask that this very poignant sketch of Bernie Cieplicki's life and 
special circumstances, written by Andy Gardiner, that appeared in the 
June 19, 1994, edition of the Burlington Free Press be reprinted in the 
Congressional Record in its entirety, as a tribute to Bernie and his 
wonderful family of friends in Vermont.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               [The Burlington Free Press, June 19, 1994]

    A Tough, Stubborn Fighter--Father's Day Has Special Meaning for 
                            Cieplicki Family

                           (By Andy Gardiner)

       Bernie Cieplicki has been fending off death for the better 
     part of 25 years.
       Ever since he underwent his first open-heart surgery in 
     1972, Cieplicki has lived with the unblinking reality that 
     each day might be his last. His heart, irrevocably weakened 
     by rheumatic fever, is failing him.
       There have been three more major surgeries, one of which 
     sent him into a coma for a week. In 1992, he received a heart 
     transplant, a transplant that his body is now slowly 
     rejecting. He is terminally ill.
       But the discipline, faith, and doggedness that have 
     characterized his life have not deserted Cieplicki, 58. As a 
     basketball player at St. Michael's College, as a high school 
     teacher and coach at Rice Memorial High School, and as an 
     administrator at Winooski High School, Bernie Cieplicki was 
     steadfast in the face of adversity. He remains so today.
       ``My father isn't gratefully sitting back in a rocking 
     chair,'' said Kevin, the eldest of the five Cieplicki 
     children. ``If that's the way he was, he probably wouldn't 
     have lasted this long. He's a tough, stubborn fighter.''
       A large part of Cieplicki's strength comes from his family. 
     Chris, his wife of 37 years, the five children, and six 
     grandchildren have provided a wellspring of love and support.
       The Cieplickis have always been a family of some note. 
     Bernie's long prominence as a coach and the subsequent 
     success on the basketball court of his three sons lifted them 
     out of the anonymous category and thrust them into public 
     view.
       Kevin, 36, is a stockbroker in town. Karen, 34, is the 
     payroll coordinator for South Burlington. Mary, 32, is a 
     comptroller for a local firm. Keith, 31, is an assistant 
     coach for the Boston College women's basketball team. And 
     young Bernie, 21, is a junior at the University of Vermont 
     and an integral part of the basketball team.
       ``They have all done so much for me,'' Bernie said. ``I 
     feel badly that I can't do more for them now.''
       It's a noble sentiment, but the children think Bernie has 
     things reversed. The debt they feel they owe him is beyond 
     repayment. But on this Father's Day, they reflected on how 
     much their father has meant to them.
       Kevin was the first of the boys to excel in basketball. He 
     played for his father at Rice and later went on to St. 
     Michael's and St. Lawrence.
       ``My Dad was always known as a taskmaster, a no-nonsense 
     type of guy,'' Kevin said. ``But he is such a private person 
     that most people don't realize how loving and giving a man he 
     is.''
       Kevin remembers the time he threw a tantrum in a Babe Ruth 
     baseball game and his father came out of the stands to yank 
     him from the game and take him home. That ride included a 
     pointed lecture on the merits of sportsmanship and proper 
     behavior.
       But the memory that remains strongest came much earlier, 
     when Kevin was in kindergarten and hobbled by braces on both 
     legs needed to correct a hip condition.
       ``I wore those braces for almost two years,'' Kevin said. 
     ``And what I wanted most in the world was just to be able to 
     wear a pair of tennis shoes.''
       The day the braces came off, Bennie had a pair of P.F. 
     Flyers waiting for his son when he got home.
       The running joke in the Cieplicki family was that no one 
     realized there were any girls in it. But Karen and Mary never 
     felt left out.
       ``He gave just as much time to us as he did to the boys, it 
     just wasn't in public view,'' Karen said. ``I remember him 
     getting up at 6 a.m. to play tennis with me. That was our 
     time together.
       ``I remember when he taught driver's education all summer 
     and there I'd be with the keys in my hand when he got home, 
     waiting for my turn. And out we'd go together.
       ``We've lived with Dad's condition for so long that's 
     become a way of life for us. We are a very close family. 
     There are times when the anger and frustration over this 
     comes out, but there is so much love that holds us 
     together.''
       Her older brothers may have grabbed the headlines, but Mary 
     was an accomplished tennis and basketball player in her own 
     right at Rice. And if he wasn't off coaching, Bernie was 
     usually there to lend his support from the stands.
       ``He always encouraged us to be involved, whether it was 
     school or athletics,'' Mary said. ``Obviously my brothers 
     were more successful athletically, but I always knew I was 
     important. My sister and I always knew we belonged.
       ``I know people think of my dad as a great coach, but the 
     thing I will always remember is how much he loves us. He has 
     always been there to take care of us and it is wonderful to 
     go home to a family like that.''
       Keith was an academic All-American and one of the greatest 
     players in William & Mary history. Although his job as Cathy 
     Inglese's top assistant has taken him to Boston, he serves as 
     a unifying force among the five children.
       ``I know that most people think of my dad as a coach, but I 
     have always seen him as an educator first,'' Keith said. 
     ``Life was full of lessons for him to teach us.
       ``Growing up we kept hearing about how he once played at 
     St. Michael's with three broken ribs. I must have heard that 
     story 8,000 times. But it was his way of saying that if you 
     put your mind to it, you can overcome most anything.
       ``We were a middle class family, but Dad always made me 
     feel we could have whatever we wanted out of life. I keep 
     going because he keeps going.
       ``Whether he's here or not physically next year, I know he 
     will always be with me. That's the beauty of growing up in a 
     close family.''
       There is a 10-year gap between Bernie and his brothers and 
     sisters. When he was growing up, his siblings had embarked on 
     their own lives.
       ``Being the only child at home, we were able to be around 
     each other more and I see a lot of myself in him,'' Bernie 
     said of his father. ``He taught me to have respect for other 
     people and their ideas and to always listen to what other 
     people have to say.''
       Bernie was a four-year starter at Rice and was named the 
     state's premier player by the Free Press his senior year. 
     That held little water with his father.
       ``Dad's favorite saying is that the biggest room in the 
     world is the room for improvement,'' Bernie said. ``I never 
     believed it as a kid--I was a know-it-all. But I really 
     believe it now.''
       Through it all, Chris has been there for her husband and 
     her children. She has watched the family deal with the 
     sadness and adjust to the inevitable quality of the future.
       ``It has been a long journey for all of us,'' she said. 
     ``What has carried us through is the love the children have 
     for their father and the love he has for them.''

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