9986 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS April 25, 1984 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS RALPH FOSTER-PIONEER AN EMERALD THREAD SPANS As spring approached he began to perk RADIO BROADCASTER THE GENERATIONS IN SCRAN­ up, but just below the surface one often saw TON signs of a new somberness and fatalism, caused not only by the trauma of his broth­ HON. THOMAS F. EAGLETON er's death, but also by the realization that HON. HENRY J. HYDE any decision he would make about his OF MISSOURI OF ILLINOIS future depended on events beyond his con­ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES trol. Wednesday, April 25, 1984 Scranton marked a turning point. Wednesday, April 25, 1984 When his plane landed at Scranton­ e Mr. EAGLETON. Mr. President, • Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, one of the Wilkes-Barre Airport on a gray afternoon, today, Mr. Ralph Foster is celebrating most famous events celebrating March more than 2,000 people, most of them his 91st birthday. For everyone in 17 is the annual dinner in Scranton, young, broke through police lines and PA, of the Friendly Sons of St. Pat-· crowded around him-jumping, shouting, southwestern Missouri, Ralph is laughing as they tried to touch him-so that known as "Mr. Conservation," and a rick. Every year they have outstanding speakers, usually a clergyman and a he could not move from the bottom of the pioneer in radio broadcasting. political figure. ramp until police cleared a path. Ralph Foster's success in radio He was taken into Scranton to officiate at In 1964, Robert Kennedy delivered ground-breaking ceremonies for the new broadcasting is attributed to his abili­ one of the most memorable addresses ty to provide wholesome family pro­ John F. Kennedy Elementary School and ever presented to that distinguished then driven to nearby Yatesville to speak grams and innovative programing gathering, and I am pleased to provide briefly at a St. Patrick's Day dinner. Heavy, techniques. He started his first station a newspaper account from the Phila­ wet snow had begun to fall and along the in St. Joseph, MO, in 1926. Ralph's delphia Inquirer of March 18, 1984, route about 10,000 men, women and chil­ radio station was the first to originate written by its editor, Edwin Guthman, dren huddled under umbrellas to catch a Weather Bureau direct forecasting glimpse of him. reminiscing about that unforgettable They were still lining the highway when and to syndicate radio shows national­ occasion. Mr. Guthman's article also he drove back to Scranton. ly. "The Ozarks Jubilee" was the first adverted to this year's most moving At the Hotel Casey the crowd was so large regular country music show on televi­ address by Father William J. Byron, and so exuberant that the hotel's heavy sion and one of the biggest tourist at­ S.J., the president of the Catholic Uni­ doors were tom from their hinges as people tractions in Missouri in the mid-1950's. versity of America. pressed forward to shake his hand. Through this program and other pro­ Father Byron's address should reach His appearance before the Friendly Sons into the heart of every person who was one of the most difficult he ever made. grams he produced for KWTO in He had drafted a sentimental Irish speech Springfield, Ralph Foster has brought reads it, and so I take great honor and and for the ending he had written: many an outstanding entertainment pleasure in providing both Mr. Guth­ "I like to think-as did President Kenne­ personality to the Ozarks. man's column and Father Byron's ad­ dy-that the emerald thread runs into the It was Ralph's love for the outdoors dress to my colleagues: - cloth we weave today ... and I like to that brought him to the Ozarks in CFrom the Philadelphia Inquirer, Mar. 18, think that his policies will survive and con­ 1933, where he has lived with his wife, 1984) tinue as the cause of Irish freedom survived AN EMERALD THREAD SPANS THE GENERATIONS the death of 'The Liberator,' Owen Roe Harriet, for over 53 years. In addition IN SCRANTON O'Neill." to his outstanding achievements in the <By Edwin Guthman) And he proposed to close with a poem field of radio and television, Ralph has written after O'Neill's death, when Ireland ScRANToN.-"So you were here with Bobby was overwhelmed with grief: been the catalyst in establishing good Kennedy in 1964, were you now," the young conservation practices for the State of man said grabbing my hand. "I was too. I'll Your troubles are all over, you're at rest never forget it." with God on high, But we're slaves Missouri. Mr. Foster helped establish and we're orphans, Owen! the Conservation Commission in 1936 I looked him over. Maybe 28 he was or 30 -why did you die? and has been collecting Native Ameri­ at best. "Aw, you couldn't have been," I said. We're sheep without a shepherd when the can artifacts for years. In the mid- "You're not old enough." snow shuts out the sky-Oh! Why did 1960's, Mr. Foster donated his collec­ "I was only 9," he said. "My father you leave us, Owen? Why did you die? tion to the School of the Ozarks sneaked me in." When I worked some changes he wanted Museum, and in 1967, the college Maybe his father did. There's hardly an into the speech, I eliminated the poem. changed the name of the museum to Irishman in Scranton who'll admit he When he read the redrafted text, he asked. the Ralph Foster Museum. wasn't in the old Hotel Casey on that raw "Why did you do that?" March night when Kennedy gave one of the "Because you'll never get through it," I Ralph Foster has dedicated his life most heart-wringing speeches of his life. said. to his fellowman. He currently is vice Not a one did I meet at the Friendly Sons of "I've been practicing in front of a mirror," chairman of the Ralph Foster St. Patrick dinner last night. he said, "can't get through it yet-but I Museum Board, member of the Board And why should I have. It was a very spe­ will." of Trustees of the School of the cial event. And in Scranton he did-just barely, but It was here on St. Patrick's Day, 1964 that among the 600 stalwart sons of Erin in the Ozarks, and a member of the board of Kennedy appeared before a large public audience, many a man wept openly. the Lester E. Cox Medical Center. gathering in the United States for the first Kennedy would never forget Scranton. On I know my colleagues join me in time following President Kennedy's death. the plane back to Washington, astonished wishing Mr. Foster a very special 91st He went somewhat reluctantly and only by the reception he had received-the birthday. Ralph Foster has given Mis­ after insistent urging by Rep. Dan Flood of poignant outpouring of love for President sourians and so many others so much Wilkes-Barre for through the crushing Kennedy and so much evidence that he joy through his caring and happiness weeks after the assassination in Dallas he stood well with the people in his own right-­ had been desolate; holding his grief inward­ that he made an irrevocable decision about through his radio programing.e ly, functioning tautly and wondering bleak­ his future. Somehow, someway, he would ly what he would do with his life. remain in public service. e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by the Member on the floor. April 25, 1984 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 9987 At Scranton's 79th annual dinner of the So there is Ireland-on the rim of the las Cummins, Magistrate of Cork, horrified Friendly Sons of St. Patrick last night, the world! And everywhere now around the by what he saw on December 15, 1846 in speaker was a Philadelphian, the Rev. Wil­ world are the Irish-men and women of Skibbereen in the County of Cork, wrote to liam J. Byron, now president of Catholic faith, disciples all of Saints Peter and Paul, the Duke of Wellington, who was an Irish­ University in Washington, and there was an and this through the missionary labors of man, and also sent a copy to the Times emerald thread that stretched back across Saint Patrick. which published the letter on December 24, the years. If, as the Irish novelist James Joyce once 1846. Kennedy had urged the men of Scranton remarked, "the poet is the mediator be­ "MY LoRD DUKE: Without apology or pref­ to be true to their Irish heritage. tween the world of reality and the world of ace, I presume so far to trespass on your "Let us hold out our hands to those who dreams," permit me to use that poetic posi­ Grace as to state to you, and by the use of struggle for freedom today-at home and tioning of Ireland "on the world's rim" to your illustrious name, to present to the abroad-as Ireland struggled for a thousand draw your attention to a link between the British public the following statement of years. Let us not leave them to be 'sheep rim of the world and the edge of starvation, what I have myself seen within the last without a shepherd, when the snow shuts between the world of contemporary reality three days.