 President of the United States and Mrs. Reagan. President and Mrs. Reagan, I would like to take this moment to express on behalf of all here present our great joy to have the honor of your presence. Today be a mother's day throughout the nation. Every family is united and shown the love and appreciation for one whose place no one could take. To think that you have chosen our home, the John Jurgen residence here in Washington, D.C., to pay this tribute is a great privilege, especially for our mothers who are gathered here today. Not only the mothers of our home, but the mothers throughout the whole world have received this honor. Since we, the little sisters of the poor, are an international congregation, and we have 260 homes all over the world. 33 of these homes are in our own United States, from north to south, from east to west. And since our sole work is the care of the elderly, this makes us one with them. I would like to take this occasion, this opportunity to ask God's blessing on our Mr. President that he will give you the strength, the courage, and the wisdom to be able to carry on the heavy responsibility that is yours as the President of the United States. Once again, Mr. President and Mrs. Reagan, in the name of all our little sisters, our residents, our benefactors, our friends, our volunteers, and our devoted employees, I would like to say thank you for joining us today for giving us this privilege that is so special to each one of us. Now I would like to present Pauline Tyre who has something special for Mrs. Reagan. Pauline, if she doesn't mind us mentioning she's 94 years old, Mr. President. We do have a few other tokens that we'd like to present to you also, Mr. President. This is a little centerpiece that was made by our residents. By our residents, yes. Mr. President, this is a very special picture in the life of every little sister of the poor. It depicts our mother foundress that was taken for the beatification just two years ago when our mother foundress was beatified. That depicts our elderly and all the work that we do in caring for the elderly. Mr. President, so you will really know us, be able to enjoy our life. We have the book of our mother foundress. Blessed John, you're gone. Humble so as to love more. Mr. President, would you say a few words to us? I'd be very happy to. Thank you. Mother Mary Agnes, thank you for inviting us here today. Since the little sisters of the poor was found in 1839, the order has spread to 34 countries on five continents and cared for more than a million of the elderly and today of my generation. And here in Washington, although this home is only a year old, it replaced one that was operated by the little sisters of the poor for more than a century. And throughout all these decades, you've cared for the elderly in our capital city who had nowhere else to go and you've brought them into a warm and happy home and you've given them in addition to the necessities the thing that only the love of others can bestow dignity. I know that for your financial support you depend on individual donations and I can't think of any worthier cause than the little sisters of the poor. And on behalf of all those you've done so very much to help, I thank you. You know, Nancy and I coming down here from Camp David on the helicopter, we couldn't help but be thinking about this particular day and what it was. I think in hindsight, perhaps, I realize more about my mother than as so many of us knew did not at the time. Nellie was a little woman, a hauburn hair and I realize now had a strength through some very trying times that held our family together. She, we were poor, but the government didn't come around and tell us we were so we didn't know it and probably we didn't know it because Nellie was always finding someone that was worse off than we were that needed help. And my father was hard working, he had a sense of humor, he also had a very great problem but my mother saw that my brother and I from the time we were children understood that problem and that it was something, a sickness and that he was not to be blamed but to be loved and she taught us about life, I think, by her deeds as well as her words. She had never gone beyond in education, beyond elementary school but she had a different kind of education that I think has been imprinted and a faith that I know now has been bestowed on me. I'd like just tell a little anecdote about it. Some years after I was in Hollywood I was able to bring my parents out there and she immediately started finding people and one she found was a county tubercular sanitarium that could provide, as a public institution could of that kind, that necessary care but certainly failed in some of the home-like atmosphere that was necessary and my mother went to work and she visited that place regularly she arranged for movies to be shown and for television and things of that kind that they'd never had before and one night, and she has left us now but one night I was at a banquet I was the speaker at a banquet and a few years ago banquet food wasn't of the same quality that it is today and the waiter that was coming along leaned down to me and whispered and said would you rather have a big steak than what we're serving here? Well I said if that's possible, yes because I did a lot of banquet speaking in those days and I'd had enough of banquet food well he arrived back with the nicest big T-bone steak you ever saw and put it in front of me now in the meantime I had decided that he had to be a motion picture fan and he must have liked my pictures and I was basking in that kind of reflected glory and as he put the steak down he leaned down and whispered in my ear anytime for a relative of Nellie Reagan's I used to be a patient at Olive View Sanitarium but Nancy at the same time and this is a coincidence thank heaven Nancy's mother is still with us Nancy's mother living in Chicago was one of a kind also I don't think there was a policeman or a doorman or a cab driver or anyone like that in Chicago that didn't know Edith Davis because she too was always engaged in good works and we saw a classic example of that Nancy and I got off the train the New York 20th century limited in Chicago in the midst of a blizzard laden with bags and baggage and so forth from the trip we'd been on everyone else and not a red cap not a porter in sight and everyone's struggling with their bags and everything and we this whole length of the train to go and all of a sudden looked down and here came Nancy's mother arm in arm with two red caps and as she got closer we could hear she was asking the one about his children she knew his children's names knew all about them, what grade they were in and was talking to them the other one asked about his wife's operation she knew all about that too and just happened to stop by us and say well these are my children could you give them a hand with their bags and a whole train load of people saw us stride down the platform with Nancy's mother and with the two porters and they were still trying to manage with their bags and we had plenty of help I think things like this make me understand what Abe Lincoln was feeling when he said all that I am or hope to be I owe to my mother and I know there are many of you mothers in this room I also know that there are others who live as mothers live little sisters of the poor seventeen who are residents in this home and together with the 4,500 little sisters around the world who have chosen to give themselves completely in humble service to their fellow men and women the residents of your family your prayers and hard work have made this very friendly and it's very obvious a joyful home and thank you all for allowing us to share this special day with you and we wish each one of you a very happy rewarding Mother's Day and the blessings of our beloved God thank you