[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 69 (Thursday, May 16, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E832-E833]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO GLADYS M. STERN

                                 ______


                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                        of district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 16, 1996

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, last night, hundreds of people filled Lisner 
Auditorium in a rare tribute to one of America's leading educators, 
Gladys M. Stern. Gladys Stern has

[[Page E833]]

been headmistress of Georgetown Day School for 21 of her 42 years at 
the school. This year, she will retire leaving an extraordinary legacy.
  Georgetown Day was the first private school in the District of 
Columbia to be integrated in a city which in virtually every respect 
was a Jim Crow replica of the deep South. Gladys came to the school in 
1961 as an assistant director after spending her time volunteering in a 
variety of capacities. Glayds--as she is fondly called by students and 
peers alike--took on the task of building a new high school at 
Georgetown Day, embracing the challenge with enthusiasm that became her 
signature. She counts the successful completion of that project as her 
most fulfilling accomplishment.
  In 1975, Gladys was named headmistress of Georgetown Day at a time 
when most private schools around the country were run by men. Stressing 
the values of high academic standards, respect for the individual, and 
diversity, Gladys soon became a model educator, not for the District 
alone, but for the Nation itself. To her students, the real 
beneficiaries of her legacy, she will always be known as just plain, 
``Gladys.''
  Gladys M. Stern, a Washington institution in her own right, was 
celebrated last night by students whose names are unfamiliar and by 
others with the most familiar names in Washington--Art Buchwald, Judith 
Viorst, Frank Mankiewicz, Judith Martin (Miss Manners) and Sam Gilliam, 
among others. I am pleased to submit the brief words of tribute that I 
offered into the Record as well:

       The word is out that Gladys has gotten tired of being an 
     institution. So she is retiring so that she can go back to 
     being a person again. Actually, Gladys is a person with such 
     an extraordinary persona that she has survived being 
     institutionalized by and sometimes at GDS. Tonight she must 
     wonder whether she can survive being ritualized. The most 
     uncomfortable experience is hearing people say great things 
     about you in public to your face. Uncomfortable yes, Gladys, 
     but I hope that the gentle lady will not be heard to object.
       Speaking of gentle ladies, education has become one of the 
     hottest topics in the 104th Congress. I think I know why. 
     This is the Congress that discovered the deficit and then 
     discovered that talk about education is cheap. So there's a 
     lot of it.
       We'd be much better off if we talked about individual 
     school. You don't have to be the mother of a GDS lifer to 
     think that GDS would be counted in that number Gladys Stern 
     is a major reason why. So Gladys, all I can say about all 
     these wonderful things they are saying about you tonight is 
     ``Believe it.'' Denial will get you nowhere. I'm going to see 
     just how much you can stand. Tonight is not the end of the 
     endless tribute. Tomorrow I will place a tribute to you in 
     the nation's official record, The Congressional Record. No, 
     this is not to get back at Newt and the boys, it's the only 
     way I have to tell the world what a first class educator and 
     world class human being you are. You'll just have to suffer 
     through it Gladys. Mazel tov.

                          ____________________