William Penn Life, 1986 (21. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)

1986 / Különszám

Page 10, Special Centennial Issue, William Penn Life.

cesses as we are glad in knowing that through hard work and through persistence that Hungarians in other countries are still carrying on the Hungarian language and Hungarian traditions.

It is a privilege and a pleasure for me to be able to present this exhibition to the William Penn Association for the purpose of establishing its own exhibition or exhibitions.

I would like to present to you, Mr. President, a statue as a token of the high esteem we feel for your Association. It is a statue of a coal miner representing the founding fathers of the Association.

Working With The NFC A

Brother Joseph Stefka, a director of the National Fraternal Congress of America, is with us to extend greetings of the NFCA. Mr. Stefka is president of the National Slovak Society of the U.S.A. Mr. Stefka.

On behalf of William Foster, president of the National Fraternal Congress of America, along with Ray Klee, the executive vice president, and Johnny Dempsey, the secretary-treasurer, I wish to extend our best wishes for your 100th anniversary.

The National Fraternal Congress, as you know, is an umbrella organization of all ethnic, religious, industrial and independent fraternal societies with a membership of over 10 million of which 900,000 reside in the state of Pennsylvania and with 540,000 who reside in western Pennsylvania.

Bill Foster also asked me to impress upon you that the combined efforts of the fraternal societies of the United States of America in

1984 donated to charity $227 million and the

1985 figures are not complete.

Your William Penn Association has made an impact on the National Fraternal Congress through some of the people that I have had the opportunity to know and work with, namely,

Elmer Charles, AI Stelkovics and Gay Banes.

Gay was the one who led the fight for tax exemption in the western Pennsylvania sector and he also got us organized at the National Fraternal Congress on the model fraternal code. You should be proud of your officers.

On behalf of the National Slovak Society, God bless you on your 100th birthday.

The Main Address

We now come to that part of our program which features our principal speaker. She was born in Hungary and emigrated to the United States with her parents.

Mary Mochary’s family settled in Montclair, N.J., the city where she was to become Mayor. Completing her elementary and secondary education there, she later graduated from Wellesley College with an ABA degree in economics. She graduated from the University of Chicago law school in 1967. She is a member of the New Jersey and Arkansas Bars. She and her husband, Stephen, practice law together.

Mrs. Mochary is a successful businesswoman and holds an interest in the Astros baseball team.

She is the mother of two teenaged children. In addition, she is active in many organizations.

She chairs the Republican Task Force for Women’s Political caucus of New Jersey; founding member of the Foundation for Educational Alternatives; National Conference of Women Mayors; Director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and a member of the Advisory Board of the American Hungarian Foundation.

Early this year, President Ronald Reagan appointed her to the U.S. Department of State as deputy legal advisor. Her duties and responsibilities include rendering legal opinions on international law, treaties and all aspects of international relations.

On a recent occasion she said, “I am proud of my Hungarian heritage, and I will carry the Hungarian banner wherever I may go.”

With deep pride, I present to you the Honorable Mrs. Mary Mochary.

Msgr. Basil, Mr. Danko, Mr. Banes, Mr. Elmer Charles, Ambassador Házi Vencel, Congressman

Dr. Jeno Rande, general secretary of the World Federation of Hungarians, presents to National President Gay B. Banes a statue of a coal miner representing the 13 founders of our Association. The Federation also donated a complete exhibit of Hungarian folk arts and crafts to the Association.

Joseph Stefka, a director of the National Fraternal congress of America and president of the National Slovak Society, extends the greetings of the NFCA and all fraternals to the Association.

Mary V. Mochary, deputy legal adviser of the U.S. Department of State and a native of Hungary, delivered the evening’s main address.

William Coyne, Justice Papadakos.

I am delighted and honored to have been given the opportunity to be here in Pittsburgh to address you tonight.

During the course of a person’s life there are many goals that one sets and many sources of support that one seeks, but no goal, no support, no reinforcement is more important than that which one gets, from one’s own family.

I feel that all Americans of Hungarian origin are part of my extended family and therefore to be here in front of this marvelous Hungarian American audience knowing that I am welcome is very important, very rewarding to me.

Thank you for inviting me.

In 1984 I had the good fortune of being selected by the Republicans of New Jersey to undertake the very prestigious task of running against Senator Bill Bradley for the privilege of representing the people of New Jersey in the United States Senate.

It was a difficult, if not arduous campaign, no less so because my husband Stephen became deathly ill about five weeks before the election.

In fact, his illness was so critical that in the middle of October (the election was the first Tuesday in November), I suspended campaigning and accompanied my husband to California

in the hopes that he would live long enough to get a heart transplant.

In fact, we were extremely lucky and he got a new heart on Nov. 11, 1984. I am happy to report that my husband István is doing very well, living a normal life and has become a major advocate of transplantation.

In the summer of 1984 another very important political event occurred in my life. I was chosen to speak at the Republican National Convention in Dallas.

My staff had prepared a wonderful speech for me which in a characteristic burst of independence, I informed them I was not willing to deliver.

Instead, I wanted to use that precious time in front of the largest audience I had ever addressed to proclaim the wonder of this great nation of ours, to proclaim the wonder of a land where a woman, an immigrant, can become the Mayor of her city; where a woman, and an immigrant, can become a prosperous attorney; where a woman, and an immigrant, can become her party’s candidate for the United States Senate.

Why can these wonderful things happen here in America and why don’t they happen elsewhere?----------------------------------------------------Continued on next page