[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 63 (Friday, May 19, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4834-S4835]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE PASSING OF ANN WEBSTER SMITH

 Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I take this opportunity to 
recognize Anne Webster Smith, a world-renowned preservationist, who 
died in Washington, DC on April 20, 2006.
  Like Rhode Island's grand dame of historic preservation, Antionette 
Downing, Anne Webster Smith exhibited a tireless and infectious 
dedication to the preservation of our cultural heritage. Just last 
year, Ms. Smith was awarded the Piero Gazzola Prize, given once every 3 
years by the International Council on Monuments and Sites, for her 
lifelong efforts to protect the world's historic and cultural sites. 
This tribute, seconded by scores of ICOMOS leaders from throughout the 
world, is a statement that leadership is as much about cultivation, 
persistence and persuasion as it is bold initiative.
  In addition to her 30 years of service to ICOMOS, Ms. Smith served as 
New York's Deputy Commissioner for Parks, Recreation and Historic 
Preservation, and as a professional staff member at the USDOT and 
Advisory Council for Historic Preservation. She was most active in 
those critical years when she and her colleagues created the modern 
institutional foundation for preservation in the U.S.
  In her service to ICOMOS, Ms. Smith was dedicated to recognizing the 
world's greatest cultural and natural sites through the United Nations 
World Heritage Program. At the same time, as an American she had 
greater ambitions for her own country. In a letter she sent me just 
last January, she lamented: ``I have long been concerned by the fact 
that the United States, the first nation to ratify the Convention after 
its passage in 1972, has been so slow to recognize the importance of 
implementing the Convention. In my view the Convention has the 
potential for increasing community pride, for expanding educational 
awareness and interest in our Nation's heritage and history, for 
developing concern about the importance of distinguished architecture 
and planning, especially in urban areas, and for serving as an 
important tool for the expansion of development

[[Page S4835]]

of cultural tourism.'' Increasing numbers of Americans agree with Ms. 
Smith's vision.
  Clearly, Ann Webster Smith was respected and loved by the entire 
cultural heritage and preservation community for a lifetime of 
leadership and friendship. Her work will live on because she inspired 
so many throughout the U.S. and the world to work as hard as they can 
to recognize, celebrate and protect our cultural heritage.

                          ____________________