[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 7795]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



       THE FRIENDS OF THEODORE ROETHKE HISTORIC MARKER DEDICATION

 Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, on May 18, 2000, The Friends of 
Theodore Roethke, a group dedicated to maintaining the legacy of the 
great poet, will unveil a historic marker in his honor on the lawn of 
his childhood home at 1805 Gratiot, Saginaw, Michigan. I rise today, 
Mr. President, in honor of this special occasion.
  Mr. Roethke was born in Saginaw in 1908, the son of Otto and Helen 
Huebner Roethke. He attended the University of Michigan and Harvard 
Graduate School, and later was a professor at Lafayette College in 
Pennsylvania, Michigan State University, Penn State University, 
Bennington College in Vermont, and the University of Washington in 
Seattle.
  Before his death on August 1, 1963, Mr. Roethke received many awards 
for his poetry. In 1954, he became the first Michigan man to win the 
Pulitzer Prize for his collection of poems entitled The Waking. And in 
1959, he received the Bollingen Prize and a National Book Award for 
another collection of poems entitled Words of the Wind. Some of his 
other works include The Lost Son, Praise to the End!, and I Am! Says 
the Lamb.
  In 1998, the Friends of Theodore Roethke purchased both Roethke homes 
in Saginaw, Michigan, with a mission to promote, preserve and protect 
the literary legacy of the great poet by restoring his family 
residences for cultural and educational opportunities. Since the group 
purchased the homes, they have written grants for educational writing 
workshops combining Saginaw public and Saginaw Township students, 
offered tours for students and teachers, purchased some of the original 
Roethke furnishing, opened the houses to working writers, and made some 
much needed repairs, such as a new furnace and asbestos removal.
  Mr. President, I applaud The Friends of Theodore Roethke for their 
wonderful efforts to keep alive the legacy of Michigan's only Pulitzer 
Prize winning poet. I am sure that the unveiling of this historic 
marker is only the first of many tributes. On behalf of the entire 
United States Senate, I congratulate The Friends of Theodore Roethke on 
the dedication of this historic marker, and wish President Annie 
Ransford and the rest of the organization continued success in the 
future.

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