[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 128 (Thursday, August 3, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1619]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     SISTER GRACE IMELDA BLANCHARD

                                 ______


                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 3, 1995
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, it is with deep regret that I inform our 
colleagues of the passing of a truly outstanding and caring individual 
who dedicated her life to the education of our young people.
  Sister Grace Imelda Blanchard was in many ways the epitome of those 
with whom so many Americans are familiar--the women of the religious 
community who truly believed that expanding the minds of young men and 
women was instrumental in carrying out God's intentions.
  A native of New Haven, CT, Sister Grace received her bachelor of arts 
degree from Albertus Magnus College in 1936, a master's in secondary 
supervision in 1943, and a Ph.D. in education from New York University 
in 1968. Realizing that only by becoming a religious would she be able 
to fully devote her life to education, she entered the order of the 
Dominican Sisters of Newburgh, NY, on September 8, 1957. She 
subsequently entered the novitiate June 11, 1958; made her first 
profession June 17, 1959, and her final profession August 21, 1962.
  Sister Grace's career as an educator encompassed a number of high 
schools, but it was at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh that she 
truly made her mark, beloved by her students, by her peers, by the 
administration, and by the community at large. She was an associate 
professor from 1968 to 1977 and a professor of education from 1978 to 
1983. The administrators at Mount Saint Mary asked Sister Grace to take 
charge of the college's efforts to receive grant funding. They could 
not have made a better choice, for Sister Grace soon became a regular 
visitor to my congressional offices and other offices throughout 
Washington and Albany, where her perseverance and expertise in 
obtaining funding for
 the students became legendary.

  Sister Grace was universally respected because she never hid the fact 
that she considered the education of the students to be her prime 
responsibility. We all admired the professional manner in which she 
knew how to obtain funding in an ever more competitive environment.
  Sister Grace Imelda's accomplishments were not confined to her 
college. Her work on the literacy program for adults at the local high 
school, at the soup kitchen at St. Patrick's Church in Newburgh, and as 
a catechetical teacher in Montgomery, NY, made her known and loved in 
all of those communities.
  In 1986, Sister Grace was presented with the Mount Saint Mary Faculty 
Award. The text of that award states:

       We are in her debt, not only for her stewardship over 
     grants and goals, but also because she makes us better 
     individuals. It is possible to calculate the dollars she has 
     obtained for the college in writing Title III Grants, but 
     impossible to measure her more priceless contribution of 
     self.

  Sister Grace Imelda was traveling to the founding chapter of the 
Dominican Sisters of Hope in Massachusetts when she was taken ill. We 
lost her while the chapter was in session and she was buried with a 
rite of committal on July 24. However, on next Monday, August 7, will 
mark a memorial mass in her honor at the college chapel, where her many 
friends and admirers will gather to bid farewell to a remarkable woman.
  I happened to speak to Sister Grace just a few days prior to her 
passing. As was her practice, she had called to remind me that 
education must remain one of Congress' top priorities, and to 
underscore the need for continued quality in higher education. As 
always, Sister Grace was seeking future funding to assist in the 
laudable goals of her college.
  Mr. Speaker, I extend my condolences to her sister-in-law, to her 
niece, to her four nephews, and to her many grandnieces and 
grandnephews. Their grief may be tempered with the knowledge that it is 
shared by many, and by the realization that Sister Grace Imelda 
Blanchard was a rare individual who will long be remembered.


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