[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 23344]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO ADA MAE GROETZINGER HAURY

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I seek to pay tribute to an outstanding 
educator. As the Senate takes up the appropriations bills--it soon will 
take up the bill on funding for education--it is appropriate to focus 
on the importance of education in our society.
  My brother, my two sisters, and I have been able to share in the 
American dream because of our educational opportunities. My father had 
no formal education. My mother only went to the eighth grade, when she 
had to leave work to help support her family where her father had died 
in his mid-40s of a heart attack. But because of their love for 
education and recognition of its importance, their children have 
benefited from great educational opportunities.
  Our health is our No. 1 capital asset. Without good health, none of 
us can do anything. And our No. 2 capital asset is education. Without 
education, there are severe limitations. I say this in the context of 
paying tribute to Ada Mae Groetzinger Haury, the Russell High School 
debate coach.
  She came to Russell in the fall of 1944, in her early 20s, having 
recently graduated from college herself. She brought a level of 
intensity to high school debating, which level of intensity was 
unparalleled in my educational experience. We had a class in debate at 
9 o'clock in the morning. Then she would sit at 4 o'clock and have 
another round of debate, again at 5, again at 7, and again at 8 
o'clock. And she would judge the debates. In retrospect, it seems 
surprising that somebody would have done that. Each member of the 
debating team debated twice in 1 day, once in the class at 9 and once 
in the other lines.
  The analytical process in working through the debate topics--one of 
which was national health insurance, another of which was lowering the 
voting age to 18--was great for high school students. Our high school 
coach, Ms. Groetzinger, emphasized a smooth delivery. If anybody 
faltered during the course of a 10-minute speech or a 5-minute 
rebuttal, that individual was likely to be rated fourth. She rated 
everybody on every day of the debates.
  It was not only the first team which excelled, but it was the second 
team which also excelled. We went to one tournament at Salina High 
School, a town about 70 miles east of Russell, and the second team did 
better in the preliminary rounds than the first team. The second team 
advanced to the semifinals, and the first team, which I was on, sat and 
watched the proceedings because they had done better than the first 
team.
  One year everybody on the debating team went through one tournament 
undefeated. So it was a very remarkable background in analysis, in 
organization, in extemporaneous speaking, and very good training for 
the practice of being a trial lawyer, very good training for being a 
Senator, very good training for the questioning which we do in the 
various committees where we serve.

                          ____________________