[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 160 (Tuesday, October 17, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15202-S15203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HILDA SPECTER MORGENSTERN

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, permit me a personal moment or two on the 
floor of the U.S. Senate and in the Congressional Record to comment on 
my own family values on the occasion of the 74th birthday of my sister, 
Hilda Specter Morgenstern. It is a major occasion for our family 
because Hilda is the first member of the Specter family to reach a 74th 
birthday. My father died at 72, my mother and brother, Morton, at 73.

  An excellent indicator of family values is longevity of marriage, and 
I speak with great pride about the Specter family on that subject.
  My parents, Harry and Lillie Specter, were married 45 years before my 
father's death in 1964. My brother, Morton, and his wife, Joyce, were 
married 51 years before his death in 1993. My sister, Hilda, and her 
husband, Arthur, have been married 52 years. My sister, Shirley, and 
her husband, Dr. Edwin Kety, were married 46 years before his death 
last August. Joan and I celebrated our 42d anniversary last June 14. 
That is a total of 236 years without a divorce.
  On Sunday last, October 15, 1995, Hilda Specter Morgenstern 
celebrated her 74th birthday with her husband, her four children, and 
most of her 9 grandchildren in Teaneck, NJ, on a visit from her home in 
Jerusalem.
  A beautiful redhead, Hilda married Arthur Morgenstern after they met 
in the synagogue at Rosh Hashanah services in Wichita, KS, in 1942, 
while Arthur was in the cavalry at Fort Riley, KS. She was a straight 
``A'' student and a real academic inspiration for me. When she saw my 
report card in the seventh grade, my first testing with A's and B's, 
she scoffed at my one A and seven B's and offered a dollar for every 
``A'' I got thereafter. When I graduated from college, she and Arthur 
handed me a check for $266.
  Hilda Specter was an honor student and an excellent debater at the 
University of Wichita where she was a member of the prestigious 
Association of American University Women. She was studying for her 
masters degree at Syracuse University in the spring of 1942 when Arthur 
received his orders to embark to the South Pacific as an Army artillery 
officer. After a coast-to-coast train ride to San Francisco, they 
married. Their wartime romance gave them only a weekend together before 
he sailed for a 31-month tour of duty in the South Pacific.
  After the war, Hilda, Arthur, and their family of four children lived 
in 

[[Page S 15203]]
Russell, KS, without the benefit of a Jewish education, so they moved 
to Wichita where Hilda became superintendent to the Hebrew school. When 
they found the Jewish education there insufficient, they moved to 
Denver. When that proved insufficient, they moved to New York City. 
When that was not enough, they moved to Jerusalem where Hilda and 
Arthur now reside--except for periodic visits to the United States to 
help in my many campaigns.
  Hilda Specter Morgenstern is a model wife, mother, grandmother, and 
great-grandmother. She is a real matriarch of the family. She tackles 
with equal ease an analysis of the ABM Treaty to help me in my Senate 
duties, or the change of diapers for her new, great-grandson.
  I have urged her to follow the model of Golda Meir, the Milwaukee-
born American, who later became Prime Minister of Israel. Hilda 
responded by telling me to become President of the United States first.
  Happy 74th birthday, Hilda.

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