The former first lady arrived Monday to speak at the 2011 Negev Dinner, accompanied by members of the U.S. Secret Service, and flew out the same night.
“Thank you Mayor Bratina and the city of Hamilton for your hospitality,” she said. “I’m so happy to be here tonight.”
The dinner at the Hamilton Convention Centre honoured St. Joseph’s Health Services president and CEO Kevin Smith for his contributions to the health care system and the city, and for his ongoing support of Hamilton’s Jewish Community.
Mayor Bob Bratina said that Bush’s visit is wonderful for the city.
“We’re as small as a big city can get, but this tells the world we play on a big stage,” Bratina said. “We have Nobel laureates, a nuclear reactor … it puts us in a different category.”
Bush was first lady of the U.S. from 2001 to 2009. She was a public school teacher and a librarian, and holds a master’s degree in library sciences from the University of Texas.
She heads numerous charities, including the Laura Bush Foundation for American Libraries, which has offered millions of dollars in grants to school libraries across the U.S.
Bush was introduced by MP Tony Clement.
“I’m sure you’d like to hear updates about some of my family members,” Bush joked, taking the podium. “George and I are now back home in Texas, living what I call the afterlife, in a state George calls the ‘promised land’.”
She joked that now that their lives are ‘back to normal’, she is back to dealing with Bush’s wet towels on the floor.
But her serious message was of her own connection to the Jewish people.
Her father, Harold Welch, served in the U.S. military in the Second World War as part of the liberating forces at the Nordhausen concentration camp in Germany. She recalled photos he brought home of the rows and rows of dead. She recalled taking out the box of photos each year and no one saying a word.
During George W. Bush’s time as president, Bush and her mother toured the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, and attended the Remembrance Day ceremonies. She remembers one ceremony where each division that served in the Second World War and liberated concentration camps were honoured.
“My mother and I stood side by side, looking for my father’s (military division) flag. When we saw it, we both burst into tears.”
She shared stories of her three visits to Israel and of her visit to the concentration camps in Warsaw, Poland.
“I realized, then, that textbooks and photos and even brave documentary footage cannot teach. It cannot teach you how to feel when you actually see prayer shawls or children’s shoes, left behind. Or prison cells, with scratch marks, or thousands of eyeglasses still smudged with tears and dirt,” she said.
She also recalled the end of her trip — when the young Polish children sang Deep in the Heart of Texas with their sweet Polish accents.
“Everyday, survivors share their stories, and their commitment inspires us to get involved in our communities. When we fight prejudice, we strengthen our democracies, our nations and our worlds.”
She finished by congratulating Smith and his dedication to the community.
Smith was touched and honoured by the speech.
“Thank you very much to Mrs. Bush, you’re a remarkable woman,” said Smith. “You have humbled us with your commitment to so many disadvantaged people, and you give us hope with your message of tolerance, hope and humanity.”
Smith shared the story of a special bond between the nuns of St. Joseph’s Health Services and the Jewish community.
“They welcomed Jewish physicians when the practice at the time was to refuse. A partnership was formed, ensuring medical leaders from the Jewish and Christian communities,” Smith said. “Thus began the special relationship that exists between St. Joseph’s and the Jewish community which flourishes today and I know will into the future.”
The event was sold out — 700 tickets at $180 a head, with Emerald and Sapphire tables available for sponsors. The funds raised from the dinner will go toward a JNF research and development project, chosen by Smith, that studies the long-term effects of recycled water on desert agriculture in Israel’s southern Arava Valley.
STORY BY: M.HAYES THE SPEC
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