[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 50 (Monday, December 14, 1998)]
[Pages 2466-2467]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7159--National Children's Memorial Day, 1998

December 11, 1998

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    There is nothing more devastating to a family than the death of a 
child. Each year, thousands of America's families face this tragedy, 
losing their children to illness, injury, or accident. Our whole society 
experiences this loss as well, for we are all diminished by the death of 
every one of our young people, whose love, laughter, talents, and 
achievements bring so much joy to our lives and so much promise to our 
future.
    The holiday season is an especially painful time for parents who 
have lost a child, so it is fitting that we set aside a special day 
during this month to acknowledge the grief of these families and to pay 
tribute to the lives and memories of their children. On National 
Children's Memorial Day, let us all reach out, whether as individuals or 
as members of caring communities, to offer bereaved families the 
compassion, support, and understanding they need to begin the process of 
healing.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim December 
13, 1998, as National Children's Memorial Day. I call upon the American 
people to observe this day with appropriate programs and activities in 
remembrance of the infants, children, teenagers, and young adults who 
have died and to bring comfort to their families.

[[Page 2467]]

    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eleventh day of 
December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-third.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., December 14, 
1998]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
December 15.