President Biden President Obama.
Mrs Obama.
President Clinton Secretary Clinton.
Speaker Pelosi leader McConnell.
Mayor Bowser
Governor Hogan Secretaries Blinken carry rice.
Leaders and friends from abroad.
Members of Congress and the diplomatic corps.
Bishop Buddy.
All those
Who are here and all those watching from afar.
We speak for our entire family in thanking you for joining in this
ceremony of celebration.
And remembrance.
Most of you knew Madeleine Albright as a colleague in government
or business, a teacher or a champion of democracy and human rights.
To the world.
These were the many hats she wore.
But to our family, she also wore others.
That have devoted sister, Aunt Grandma Maddie
and for the three of us
The best mom ever.
Of course, even great moms have quirks.
When we were little
My sisters and I often awoke to the odd maternal cry of up and Adam
said the molecule.
Usually
Usually mom had risen hours earlier to work on her PhD dissertation.
Fix our breakfasts and organize our backpacks.
When we were at summer camp.
She constantly sent us notes about what whatever was on her mind.
The state of the Garden.
Plumbing issues or
Whether we thought it would be okay for her to take a job on Capitol
Hill.
Her handwriting was distinctive and indecipherable.
Her EMS all looked like ws.
And so the signature on our library cards identified our mother as
waddling. Albright.
Now some people in the lingo of our Czech grandmother like to play
it by the ears.
Not mom.
She loved schedules and knowing the order of her day.
She had boundless energy and was always planning for what came next.
She described herself as an optimist who worries a lot and we can
all attest to her worries.
She was incredibly protective.
But no matter how much he took on, no matter how much of the world
was on her plate
We always knew that when we needed her, she would take our calls.
Say here I am and come quick.
Of course, we worried about her, too.
Especially after she became an ambassador and militants cursed and
threw rocks at her in the Balkans.
The resulting T shirt.
I got stoned with Madeleine Albright.
Made us smile, but the reality did not.
And from then on, we insisted that she tell us in advance where she
was going who she'd be with.
Or otherwise, we declared, you'll be grounded.
As we got older Mom never tried to steer us in one direction or another.
She just urged us to forge ahead to be whatever we wanted to be.
For my sisters that meant working globally and locally to help Children
and communities thrive.
For me. That meant being a public defender and family lawyer.
One night.
When I was with a client at the Montgomery County Jail and had to
call my mother to cancel our dinner date. She thought I was in jail.
And almost had a heart attack.
After I became a judge, she drove to Rockville. To quote Watch me
in action.
Effective courts, she said, were essential.
To a strong democracy.
Mom's example meant much to me and my sisters.
She said that if we or any other young women wanted to compete successfully
with men, we had to make sure our ideas were heard.
And that meant being willing to interrupt.
Yes. Interrupt.
But when you do, make sure you have your thoughts in order and your
facts straight
This is a lesson that mom and parted not only to us
But two generations of students and her beloved Georgetown
During a teaching career that spanned almost 40 years. She never
lost her enthusiasm.
Often. When I asked her what she'd be doing over the weekend, she
responded, getting ready for Monday's class.
When I replied
Don't you already know everything you need to know.
She said. There's always more to learn.
Mom was devoted to her students and particularly looked forward to
the now famous role play that showed students the realities of decision
making.
She taught through to the end of this past year when her health was
already starting to fail.
Going to the hospital she took with her a large binder of student
papers. I can still see her propped up in bed reading and grading.
We all think it asked What kind of mother was she?
She was the kind who usually called every day and sometimes twice.
My time was 6 35. PM
How are the boys? How is work? When is your next trip?
Are you going running tonight?
Don't forget it's dark out.
She was also the kind of mother that took family celebrations very
seriously. I would never miss a birthday graduation, a wedding or
an anniversary and often called days in advance to start planning.
She surprised everyone at Greg's in my wedding, which happened to
be on Halloween by outfitting the entire wedding party with elaborate
feathered masks.
Mom sparked an interest in all things International.
Especially for me.
We grew up devouring Czech dumplings and singing check Christmas
carols. When Ann and I were 12 and Katie was six, she and Dad took
us on our first trip across the Atlantic.
To visit Switzerland and France.
She loved speaking French.
One of the five languages that she spoke fluently and urged us to
learn as well.
For her. This was a question of respect and a lesson about understanding
perspectives beyond our own.
As I started to work in international finance and development. Mom
was my best source of guidance.
Before my trips. I often called her with questions about the countries
I was about to visit.
Which you UN conventions were relevant.
What she knew about the political environment. And of course, where
I could pick up an extra pair of red heels. Should I need them?
She was always happy to give advice. If I asked
Though sometimes it came with the worried tone of a mother who knew
too much about the security situation in some of the places where
I was headed.
Mom had friends everywhere.
And there's hardly a place where I have landed. I have not been asked
some version of is Madeleine. Your mother? How is she
always followed by
We just love her.
Man took a particular interest. Whenever I let her know that I was
visiting refugees or working to help girls get a better chance for
an education.
Often her voice would grow a bit deeper.
The conversation slower.
And I could tell that she was reminded of being an 11 year old immigrant
girl who survived the blitz moved around repeatedly left her homeland.
And arrived in the United States in 1948 with her sister, brother
and parents seeking refuge and wanting a better and safer future.
Even though she became one of the world's top diplomats. Mom never
forget forgot where she came from, and how precarious circumstances
were
When she first arrived in the United States.
This explains why Mom never took anything for granted and was always
grateful for everything.
She described herself as a grateful American and took enormous pride
in representing the US abroad.
Now when I look at my watch
I know the 6 35. PM
Will never be the same for me.
And I will be forever grateful Mom for everything you've given me.
I miss you so much, Mom.
Everything about you.
And will forever
I'm the youngest
And tried my very best to take advantage of that.
By pushing the rules and boundaries.
It didn't work.
But Mom also had rules for herself.
As an mentioned President Biden
She would always pick up the phone.
When we called
But I still remember this one day she didn't
I was in elementary school.
And Mom had recently started her professional career with her first
job on Capitol Hill.
When I called her office, I was told
Your mother can't come to the phone right now because she's on the
floor with Senator Muskie.
Okay?
I had no clue what that meant.
As Mom tells the story.
That night. I ran up to her and I asked. What were you two doing
on the floor?
She then aptly explained to her young daughter.
How the legislative business of our country
Is conducted on the Senate floor.
Of course, everyone in our family has a favorite memory. And many
of mom
Permit me to share a few more.
And I invite you to imagine them with us.
Picture, Mom.
Sitting on the sofa.
With her feet up.
Glasses perched on her nose.
Knitting.
Knitting everything from little clothes for our dolls, too colorful,
cozy woolen socks.
Think of her, helping us to maneuver a little red wagon filled with
Girl Scout cookies in the spring or campaign leaflets in the fall.
Along the crowded sidewalks and cobbled streets of our neighborhood.
With every step.
An unspoken lesson in hard work.
Giving back
And civic participation.
Imagine Mom swooping down the Colorado ski slopes while wrapped in
a purple Parker and fuzzy hat.
Four.
More accurately, snowplowing back and forth so cautiously that we
teased her of inventing a whole new sports.
Uphill skiing.
Bed skiing As in life. She always let us zoom ahead and beamed at
our daring.
Think of her at a commencement ceremony.
Indeed, my own.
From that very pulpit decked out in her academic robes, urging young
people to help one another take risks slap often and never leave.
A friend behind.
Or in her dark blue suit.
Preparing for her historic confirmation hearing.
As America's first
Female secretary of state
And what is she doing in the waiting room, brushing our hair and
giving us each a tic tac.
Picture, Mom.
Cheeks of bright pink.
As President Obama
Clasps Medal of freedom around her neck.
Afterwards she shares with us the pride she felt in her own parents
and the delay that her grandchildren
Her grandes could witness the day.
Envision her leading our family.
Along the magical streets of Prague.
Gleefully recounting the legends that trolls and water pixies.
And then guiding us through the sorrowful exhibits of Terrence Scene.
We're more than two dozen of our ancestors.
Were imprisoned.
During the war.
Because of their Jewish faith.
None survived.
With mom. The joys and the tears were never entirely separated.
Imagine hands
That, like hers were both soft and strong.
Hands that exchange greetings with numberless heads of state refugees
and fighters for freedom.
Hands that congratulated graduates and new citizens.
Hands and tickled our toes when we were young.
Took our temperatures when we were sick.
Held our babies.
When newly born
Enhance it often join together in prayer.
That people everywhere might live in peace.
Finally
See in your mind's eye.
A king James Bible.
Dog eared and warn found by a window she loved.
Days after she passed.
With a handwritten note.
Nearly
indecipherable
it read.
Micah 68.
And the words
What does the Lord require of you?
But to do justly.
Love mercy.
And to walk humbly.
With your God.
I believe that this is truly her mom tried to live every day of our
life.
And tried to teach us to do the same.
Dying was never on Mom's schedule.
The hole has opened in our hearts that we lack the power to close.
But the memory of her love
And the resilience of her example.
Will remain with us.
And with many of you
Until the end of our days.
For that.
Mom.
And for so much more
Thank you.