On the recordNovember 15, 2010
as we remember the life of our friend, Ted Stevens, and celebrate his remarkable service to our country, each of us must surely remember a number of personal experiences which have helped us appreciate how much his friendship meant to us. I first met Senator Stevens during the Senate election campaign of 1976. He was serving as chairman of the National Republican senatorial committee, and I had just won the Republican nomination to be a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Indiana. The senatorial committee was not as affluent in 1976 as presently, but Ted Stevens was able to steer a contribution into my campaign and to offer words of encouragement which included my first knowledge that he had been born in my hometown of Indianapolis, IN, on November 18, 1923. In the days to come, I discovered, additionally, that he had attended School No. 84 and Shortridge High School. I began my elementary school education at School No. 84 and graduated from Shortridge High School in 1950. Later, I learned of the early struggles that Ted Stevens had in supporting relatives in Indianapolis and the challenging family circumstances that caused him to leave Indiana prior to graduation from Shortridge, but I always pointed out to Hoosiers that Ted Stevens was truly one of us.
