[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 67 (Wednesday, May 22, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E882]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO MARY ANN KIRK

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CONSTANCE A. MORELLA

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 21, 2002

  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, as Mary Ann Kirk prepares to leave 
Maryland to join her family in Colorado, I salute her lasting 
contribution of public service to our State during the past fifty 
years.
  Standing side by side with her children throughout their educational 
process, she also provided top leadership in the Montgomery County 
Heart Association; chaired numerous political and charitable fund 
raisers; and tutored elementary school children and political refugees 
in the ways of freedom in American democracy.
  In 1978, she spearheaded landmark legislation in the Maryland General 
Assembly which created the Maryland Values Education Commission, and, 
as Vice Chairwoman, chaired its subcommittee work for four years. This 
Commission devised a list of 18 Character and Citizenship values 
affirmed by the Maryland Attorney General as Constitutionally sound for 
teaching in our schools, and served as a foundation, an impetus, for 
character/citizenship education efforts across our Nation. Today, there 
is an Office of Character Education within the Maryland State 
Department of Education and flourishing, growing, programs throughout 
the State--a direct result of Mary Ann Kirk's visionary work.
  In 1978, when the Maryland General Assembly passed this landmark 
legislation, Senator Jennings Randolph (DWP) noted its passage in the 
Congressional Record. He ended his remarks with these words: ``The 
State of Maryland will be the first to create a Values Education 
Commission. The flame of faith is now aglow in `The Free State.' May 
other States see the light and feel its warmth.''
  In 1986, she organized and coordinated Maryland's observance of the 
Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution with the establishment of the 
FEDERALIST Foundation. This private/public partnership with Maryland 
State Archives recreated the beautiful, seaworthy Federalist, a 15-foot 
ship built in 1788 to honor Maryland's role as the seventh state to 
ratify the Constitution, and later sailed to Mount Vernon as a gift to 
George Washington. Two hundred years later, a horse drawn Federalist 
represented Maryland in Philadelphia's national Bicentennial parade; 
and, today, when not traveling to communities across the State to teach 
about the Constitution, resides under the dome of our State capitol in 
Annapolis--ever ready to convey our rich history to this and future 
generations.
  In 1997, Mary Ann Kirk was honored by Governor Parris Glendening and 
the Maryland General Assembly as Maryland's Mother of the Year. She 
leaves Maryland as immediate past president of the Maryland Association 
of American Mothers, Inc., the official sponsor of Mothers Day.
  We will miss her and wish her well. Maryland's loss is Colorado's 
gain.

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