[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 17, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S985-S986]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      SISTER MARY ADELAIDE SCHMIDT
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, when we think of the word ``hero,'' we 
usually think of brave men who have gone 
[[Page S986]] to war, who have served their country, and indeed as in 
the wonderful men who fought at the Battle of the Bulge and saved 
western civilization. But I wish to speak about another hero, a hero by 
the name of Sister Mary Adelaide Schmidt, school Sister of Notre Dame 
who taught me in Catholic elementary school. Sister passed away in the 
last few days at age of 97. She was born in 1898, when we did not even 
have the right to vote, but she certainly knew how to empower women, 
empower us with the message of the gospel, empower us with the skills 
that we needed to make it in the world, and to know how to claim our 
womanly virtue and at the same time make a difference.
  Sister Adelaide played a special role in my life. This booming voice 
that you hear on the Senate floor today was a voice that was shy about 
speaking up when I was in the sixth grade. The same kind of voice, low 
pitched, husky, that can be heard throughout the Senate Chamber, could 
be heard throughout the sixth grade at Sacred Heart of Jesus Elementary 
School. As a result, I was shy about speaking up because my voice was 
lower than the other girls' in the classroom, when boys voices were 
changing.
  Sister Adelaide asked me to stay after school, brought this out in 
her kindly way, to have me share that with her. And then for the next 
couple of weeks she said, let us make sure you know how you sound and 
how good it is going to make you feel. She had me read poetry, she had 
me read passages of the Psalms, she had me read out loud from both the 
Bible and contemporary works of literature. By the time I finished that 
stretch of time I knew how to speak up; I was comfortable in doing it. 
Two years later I ran for class president in the eighth grade and, as 
Paul Harvey says, ``You know the rest of the story.''
  So today I would like to pay tribute to Sister Mary Adelaide and the 
enormous sacrifice that she made with her life that made a difference 
in so many others', like my own. And for all of the wonderful men and 
women who are teachers, and teach in religious day schools: Know that 
you have made a difference. I believe that they are unsung heroes.
  So, Mr. President, I wanted to salute Sister Mary Adelaide.
  

                          ____________________