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Sign Language Studies 5.4 (2005) 392-397



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David A. Stewart

1954–2004

Remarks by Glenn Anderson at the October 2004 Meeting of the Gallaudet Board of Trustees

We are beginning our meeting without David Stewart here with us. In May he was present, and now he's not sitting here at the table with us. He was here for only a short while, but in that time, he made a deep and lasting impression on us. He was a man of many talents—a teacher, researcher, leader, farmer, and hockey coach. He had a very positive and inspiring influence on the lives of many people of all ages.

I will never forget the visit to Lansing for the memorial service with King and Linda Jordan and our fellow board member Dick Kinney last June. The church was packed; it was standing-room only. It seemed the whole community of Lansing was there. A wide variety of people came, including kids in hockey jerseys, high school students, students and faculty from Michigan State University, David's family from Canada, and many members of the Deaf community in Michigan. A moving eulogy was given by Gallaudet faculty member Donalda Ammons. The entire memorial service was a wonderful testament to how much people loved, admired, and respected David.

We, the board of trustees, feel the same way. We have agreed to honor David and his memory, and to do so we will establish a David A. Stewart Memorial Scholarship. The intent of this scholarship is to provide funding to students who come to Gallaudet and are interested in pursuing a career in education. [End Page 392]

Brenda Brueggemann will close with a statement of appreciation for the life of David A. Stewart.

Brenda Brueggemann

Presentation to the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees

I want to begin this meeting with what is most likely an unprecedented opening—a memorial service. In ancient Greek culture this particular kind of public address was, in fact, one of the three major forms of persuasive, political, and public oratory. Aristotle used the term epideictic for this type of discourse—a speech aimed at the celebration or reproach of a character or event. In this particular case, it is definitely a celebration. I would like to open this meeting with a celebration of David Stewart, our colleague and comrade, who only five months ago sat with us at our May meeting. I would like to spend a few minutes in recognition of David's academic contributions, especially since they were in close relationship with what I believe is Gallaudet's own mission and efforts. I realize—and honor the fact—that many of us in this room knew David beyond his role as a scholar or even a board of trustees member. But for now, in this particular moment and setting, I want to highlight his scholarly achievements.

Let me start closer to the present with one of David's latest books, Sign Language Interpreting: Exploring Its Art and Science (Stewart, Schein, and Cartwright, 2004). Like many of David's books and articles, it is a collaborative effort. As many of us in this room know, David rarely did significant things alone. He was almost always part of a team. This book is also indicative of a huge body of David's scholarship since he was fairly well known as one of the academy's strongest advocates of sign language.

As always, David's academic work reflects a strong Deaf cultural and sign-language-centered position while maintaining a heart for overall inclusion and an understanding of the nondeaf world's uses of, and connections to, sign language. Here, for example, are the some of the opening lines from this recent book:

More clearly than any other event, the recent emergence of sign language interpreting as a profession signifies the vast change in the [End Page 393] public's attitudes toward people who are deaf. At least in part, the growth of interpreting services over the past four decades reflects the willingness of North American societies to include...

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