Wow! Yesterday was a whirlwind! Thank you all SO very much. I cannot believe the amount of people who attended. We were told a lot of people were coming but seeing it in person is always another story altogether. I cannot believe how many stories and thank yous I heard yesterday; dad has touched and inspired so many, I am proud to be his daughter. We were very happy to come home and learn that dad was able to stay awake to watch some of the ceremony remotely and did recognize what was going on.
Thank you for the kind words that Dr. Frieden, Dr. Fraser, Dr. Broome and Dr. Koo said. Also the words of love and respect we received from Dr. Satcher, Dr. Banta, Dr. Rosenberg, Dr. Cordero, Dr. Besser, Dr. Roper, Dr. Foege, Dr. Popovic, and many more will stay with us for our lifetime. I grew up among these leaders and to hear them honor my father means so much. I must say I most enjoyed hearing from all the current and past EIS officers. So many fun interview stories with my dad. I can only imagine what kind of random questions he brought up during an interview.
Dad’s cousin Bill and his daughter Shauna where also able to attend and I know this is terribly hard for the family back in dad’s home-state of Missouri. Dad is an only child and Bill and his family are the only extended family we have nearby. We were so grateful to have them present yesterday to see where dad has dedicated his career. I know we will be traveling to the Show Me state soon to see the rest of the family and I look forward to showing them the video from yesterday.
Finally I do want to note that yesterdays event was quite an undertaking to put together. The media/video/communications team, the volunteers, the security, and the crew that cleans up after its over really deserve a lot of props for putting it all together in the end. We didn’t have much time to plan it all and to have the event come out so perfectly was a blessing.
I was also informed of the following numbers: a total of 583 people attended in person, an additional 236 people watched via live webcast, and another 1,441 CDC staff watched the event on IPTV, for a total of 2,260 people!
On behalf of my family, thank you all again for taking the time to attend yesterday whether in person, virtually or in spirit. It is reassuring and brings a sense of peace to know he will not be forgotten.