President Chodnicki
Rabbi Feder
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, our Lieutenant Governor
Secretary of State, John T. Willis,
Comptroller and former Governor of our State, my friend Donald Schaefer
Attorney General, Joseph Curran, Jr.
Mayor of Baltimore, Kurt L. Schmoke Lt. General James T. Fretterd
President of The City Council, Laurence Bell
Ladies and Gentlemen:
This is one of the happiest moments of my life! I have visited or worked in 166 different countries on earth, and in every State within the USA, within every region in France, within Austria, within Germany, within Poland, within Russia, with all save two of the nations in Asia, within North and East Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula; within South America, and South Africa!, so I can truthfully say I have seen the world (except for Australia) and many of its peoples. But, my friends, there is no country, and no state, in which to live, better than the United States of America, and the State of Maryland!
Sure, there are probably States or countries as satisfying to their inhabitants as Maryland has been to me and other Members of the Shriver Family. But, let me repeat, Maryland has been as good, as interesting, as challenging, as rewarding to me, as any place on earth. No wonder I rejoice that my son, Mark Shriver, has been elected twice, and overwhelmingly, to the Legislature of our Free State! No wonder I love where I live in Montgomery County, or Allegeny County where my Dad was born and lived in Cumberland, or Carroll County where my Mother was born and gave birth to me and my brother, Herbert, or Baltimore City where I attended school in grades three, four, five, six, and seven at the Cathedral School when it was located on Mulberry Street, almost next to that fabulous Hopper-McGraw Store and right across Charles Street from that marvelous bookstore, Remington’s! Yes, I ate lunch every day during the school year at “The Box Tree Inn” on Franklin Street, and rode home many, many times on the Charles Street Trolley Car from school all the way to The Hopkins Campus, and then to the left onward on University Parkway to the stop at Wickford Road, close to my home at 641 University Parkway! Relatives of ours lived up the hill on Keswick Road and others out on Charles Street Avenue Extended at Cold Spring Lane. We were there when the beautiful Romanesque Headquarters of the Sulpician Order Society of Priests was constructed and still stands on Roland Avenue.
I’m proud also to call attention to my relatives in the Macsherry Family who are present here today. I’m impressed that one of them is the Treasurer of The Colonial Society, and that the Frank Shriver Jones Family is so admirably involved in the leadership of this same Society. They make me feel completely at home and happy.
Phew! I hope all of this ancient history has not been a huge bore for this distinguished audience. Let me make up for my long-winded account of my distant past to tell you, briefly, of some extraordinary, new events. I want you to know that my wife, Eunice, who is also being honored here today, invented Special Olympics International right here in Maryland, in the countryside between Bethesda and Rockville, in the summer months of 1964, ’65, ’66, ’67.
I was the first and the original skeptic about Special Olympics. I worked as hard as I could to help my wife, but my efforts were tiny by comparison to hers. She was truthfully the solo inventor of Special Olympics. She was the one whose vision made Special Olympics possible from the very first days of its existence. It was her determination which motivated all those who came to work with and for her in the development of the Special Olympics Program. I mean all the Volunteers, all the athletic coaches, all the parents, all the medical doctors who enlisted in the program Eunice created not only in Maryland where we live, but in Illinois where we had recently lived, and then in State after State within the United States. Within four years, Eunice expanded Special Olympics into 25 or 30 States. In 8 years she had it operational in 40 States, and in 12 years it was operational in all of our 50 States, and in Canada, in France, in Ireland, and even in faraway places like Panama, El Salvador, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela. She enlisted Olympic and Professional Athletes, luminaries from stage, screen, radio and television. She got actors and actresses and athletes from Hollywood and Europe. She raised money in every State where Special Olympics got underway. She gained approval of Special Olympics from the International Olympic Committee. In an unprecedented decision, that International Olympic Committee formally authorized the title “Special Olympics” for the enterprise Eunice had started. The International Olympic Committee has never given any other athletic program permission to use the word “Olympics” in its title! Eunice’s success with the IOC was matched only by the rapid expansion of Special Olympics into 171 countries.
And in these 171 countries, one million, two hundred thousand athletes are now enrolled! They are helped by thousands of coaches and 600,000 Volunteers who work week by week, all over the world, for no pay whatsoever! No wonder the estimated cost per athlete, per annum, in Special Olympics, is only $140, the lowest cost per athlete of any sports program on earth!
I could go on and on, but I can summarize my belief about her by saying simply this, no other woman, in this Century, has originated so many worth-while programs for human beings!
And, as her husband, I would like to add a final but most important fact:
She has produced five superb children, four boys and one girl, and every one of them, as a result of her inspiring attention to them individually and collectively, every one of them is a “star":
Maria Shriver out in California, a “star” in television, as well as at her home, with her husband and their four children. Bobby Shriver also out in California with great success in movies, in finance, in the practice of law, and in journalism; Timothy Shriver, with his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut, and with his five children and his beautiful wife, Linda, who is herself a graduate and successful lawyer! Mark with his distinguished record already in our Maryland State Legislature, and with his terrific and smart wife, Jeanne, and their baby, Molly. Anthony Shriver in Florida with his accomplished wife, Alina, and three children, and Anthony’s achievements unrivaled by anyone in the 30 year age group in that State. These sons, and their wives, this daughter, Maria, and her husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, all love and admire and engage themselves in activities with their Mother and Mother-in-law! They bring their children into the immense orbit created by Eunice’s extended arms.
Rare indeed is this woman; unique, I truly believe, among all women of her generation in our country and overseas; a fabulous addition to the Shriver Family and a woman worthy of the greatest acclaim in and by our State of Maryland.
Now for all these reasons, and many, many more, (I haven’t even mentioned our 13 grandchildren or the 14th now on its way), you can easily understand why I claim that I am,
“The Luckiest Man on Earth”...
No wonder I conclude my speech with the prayer and petition,
“So help me God”!!! Without your help and guidance I can achieve nothing.
Many, many thanks to everyone here today.