For Immediate Release
Office of Mrs. Bush
April 28, 2003
Remarks by Mrs. Bush at Memorial Service for Frankie Hewitt
We gather here to remember and to pay tribute to Frankie Hewitt. In
this theater, a remarkable story in our nation's history and the story
of a remarkable woman are intertwined. Frankie spent more than three
decades of her life here. And from the stage to the audience every
corner holds her spirit. Here, she turned a place of tragedy into a
monument to one of our great Presidents; she established a working
theater and museum; and here she brought to life celebrated works of
art.
And we're here today because in some way Frankie touched our
lives.We all have our own stories and memories.She was a wife, a
mother, a grandmother, a friend. Our love and sympathy goes especially
to Lisa, Jillian, William, Steven, and Jeffrey. For all the hats that
Frankie wore - the one I remember her wearing so well is that of public
steward. The words of the man she honored here define Frankie's public
work. Abraham Lincoln said, "If you would win a man to your cause,
first convince him that you are his sincere friend." Frankie always
believed in her cause, she was sincere in her endeavors and she was a
friend to all who knew her.
Even as a child growing up in Oklahoma during the Depression,
little Frankie Teague had the tenacity to accomplish whatever she put
her mind to. The daughter of migrant workers, she knew what hard work
was. She worked her way from a prune farm in California to Capitol Hill
- where she excelled as a speechwriter and Congressional aide. She was
the first woman to run an investigating committee on the Hill and the
first non-lawyer to run a judiciary committee. She campaigned for
President Kennedy and served as a public affairs adviser for the United
Nations.
But given all of her experience in politics, restoring Ford's
Theater became Frankie's greatest political undertaking. Before Frankie
transformed the theater, it was known only for President Lincoln's
assassination. It had been closed for nearly a century when Frankie
took up her cause. Frankie wanted Ford's to be an active theater where
children and patrons could learn about the arts and history. Although
she said, "All I knew about theater was how to buy a ticket," Frankie
knew politics - and she used her experience to raise money to restore
Ford's.
Frankie lobbied presidents, politicians and corporations to achieve
her goal - and her hard work paid off when Ford's reopened in 1968. But
simply restoring the theater was not enough for Frankie. After two
theater companies struggled here, she took to the director's chair
producing 150 original productions. Frankie's work reflected her vision
for Ford's Theater. She said, "I want patrons to be able to take
something away, something positive about history or themselves or the
human condition. I want to send them out of the theater feeling better
than when they came in."
Frankie called Ford's the "Switzerland of Washington" and she
entertained presidents and political leaders in bipartisan style.
President Ford's attendance at the production of "Give 'em Hell,
Harry!" in 1975, marked the first time a president had been in the
theater since Lincoln. My father-in- law, President George Bush loved
the musical, "Forever Plaid." He was such a fan that he invited the
entire cast to stage the production at the White House and in
Kennebunkport. And given my husband's resolve to get to bed early, he
especially liked Frankie's insistence that the performances run on
time.
Recently, President Bush presented the 2002 National Humanities
Medal to Frankie for her contributions to the arts and history. She
knew of the award and we only wish she could have come to the White
House to receive this much deserved honor. But knowing Frankie, she
would have wanted to throw a big party to honor all of the other
recipients. She was one of those people who preferred to be in the
audience applauding. Today, we applaud Frankie, her life, her work and
her spirit. We can keep her spirit alive by supporting the arts and
this theater which she so loved.
Abraham Lincoln said, "In the end, it's not the years in your life
that count. It's the life in your years." What a life Frankie Hewitt
had and how much life she gave to those who knew and loved her. We
thank her for the memories and for the profound lessons she taught us.
Frankie once said, "I feel very lucky about what I do." Today we say,
Frankie, we are the lucky ones to have known you.
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