[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 89 (Friday, May 26, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1148-E1149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            REPRESENTATIVE NANCY PELOSI ON NANCY D'ALESANDRO

                                 ______


                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 25, 1995
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, in the month of May as we observe Mother's 
Day, I rise in memory of my mother, Nancy D'Alesandro, who died April 
3, 1995. My brothers and I, of course, remember her as a wonderful 
mother. However, the outpouring of love and respect that followed her 
death clearly indicates that she was also a respected leader, dear 
friend and an activist First Lady of Baltimore when my father was 
mayor. Mommy was also a remarkable Congressional spouse when my father, 
Thomas D'Alesandro, served in Congress.
  Our Mother was a woman of faith, and her devotion inspired her in her 
personal and political life. She treated every person with the respect 
worthy of children of God. The stories of her kindness are legend in 
Baltimore. It was a daily ritual that lines of people would form 
outside our home seeking public assistance of one kind or another, or 
even a meal. She worked on the side of the angels and now she is with 
them.
  I was very proud that in her obituary, the Baltimore Sun quoted a 
speech she made in 1951 in support of low-cost public housing: ``How 
can we expect parents to teach their children love, faith and tolerance 
when they have no homes? When the home fails, the community fails, the 
nation fails''.
  In that same obituary, Governor Schaefer said of her, ``She was a 
very fiery woman, loved her kids, and was superb to old Tommy. She was 
a Democrat through and through''. One of her friends said: ``She had an 
almost unerring insight and common sense judgment in the arcane world 
of politics, which over the years proved of immense value to the 
political practitioners of her family''.
  She was a political force in her own right, but took great pride in 
being wife of a Mayor and mother of a Mayor of Baltimore, and wife of a 
Member of Congress and mother of a [[Page E1149]] Member of Congress. A 
tribute she would love to hear was that of Cardinal Keeler, who 
referred to her as Regina, a queen, at her funeral Mass.
  She was active in the Red Cross, the YWCA, the Salvation Army, and of 
course the Catholic Church and the Democratic Party. But most of all 
she was a darling Mommy. My brothers, former Mayor Thomas III, 
Nicholas, Hector, Joseph and Franklin Roosevelt D'Alesandro and I all 
cherished her every day of her life. She took great joy in her family 
and her treasures were her children, her 16 grandchildren and her eight 
great grandchildren.
  The role of mother was what she considered most important. She 
assembled the following tribute to her mother in 1952:
    mother--dedicated to my mother and all mothers, living and dead
       Mother, I think of you, Guardian Angel of my childhood. Who 
     can fathom the real meaning of the word Mother? Whose hearts 
     are not filled with the memory of her, who has not stopped 
     loving us from the first moment of our existence, when like a 
     ray of sunshine she beamed down into our cradles! When the 
     fingers of care and worry had not yet touched our hearts, it 
     was Mother who was always around preventing their entrance 
     into the holy island of Childhood.
       Motherhood cannot be understood. It has its overtones in 
     all languages; like magic it weaves a pattern full of joys, 
     tears, patience, love--each exalting like the music of golden 
     bells.
       Even when the word is spoken by an old man it sounds as if 
     it comes from the lips of a child. To try to explain we must 
     listen to our hearts as well as our minds. Mother teaches us 
     to walk and play; to talk and pray. She knows the joys of 
     happiness, she knows the sorrows of worry, care, and 
     heartache. Mother is a beautiful person; when everything else 
     in the world may change, she alone remains the same. Others 
     may love us; but she knows us, understands us, and will 
     forgive us whatever we may do. Mother is truly the living 
     example of Child's sublime Sermon on the Mount, for she has 
     Fed the Hungry, Given Drink to the Thirsty, Clothed the Poor, 
     Visited the Sick, Buried the Dead, Taught the Ignorant, and 
     has given Solace to the Sorrowful. In a few words Mother is 
     God's Co-helper, and a radiant beam from that Mother of all 
     Mercy.
     

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