 John Matthews ’04 Grandparents Henry and Betty Brucker, Brian Winchester ’04,
mom Janice Winchester, brother John and sister-in-law Diane Winchester. Chariman of the Board James M. Sullivan, William R. Keating, President Kenneth K. Quigley, Jr., Jack Williams, and Trustee
John W. Keith |
Citation of Honorary Degree presented to
Jack Williams,
Emmy award-winning CBS4 Boston news anchor and founder of Wednesday’s Child
Jack Williams, as a longtime TV anchorperson on Boston’s WBZ - Channel 4 (recently renamed CBS4), your face, voice and personality have become as welcome to New Englanders as a sunny afternoon at Fenway Park, or the sound of the Boston Pops, or a favorite beach on Cape Cod. For decades you have come into our homes with both good news and not-so-good news, informing us with grace, intelligence, humor and humanity about the ordinary and sometimes dramatic events of our times. We have believed you because we have trusted you, and we have trusted you because of who we believe you are as a newscaster and as a person - a professional adhering to principle and a man of character and compassion.
That principle and character are embodied magnificently in your own weekly TV series called “Wednesday’s Child,” now into its 23rd year, in which you have profiled special needs children in search of caring and stable families. “Wednesday’s Child” has discovered many such families, and has thus provided homes, love and security for nearly 500 children - one of whom, we are proud to say, is today a graduating member of the Curry Class of 2004. Your extraordinary work on “Wednesday’s Child” has deservedly won you widespread national recognition, including a Presidential Citation from Ronald Reagan in 1983, and the first Adoption and Excellence Award from Bill and Hillary Clinton in 1997. One of your four career Emmy Awards saluted the unique community enrichment that has resulted from this ongoing program.
Jack Williams, as a graduate in journalism from the University of Oregon, you have been named a Phi Beta Kappa Fellow, were an original board member of the Genesis Fund, have been the recipient of the Harold E. Fellows Memorial Fellowship from the National Association of Broadcasters, and are a Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
In the midst of a busy and successful public career, your willingness to stand up for others and to serve the Greater Boston Community and beyond, in such unselfish ways and for so many years, has won for you the unanimous respect and admiration from everyone gathered here today. We at Curry are both privileged and proud to honor you at our Commencement with the Doctor of Humanities degree.
Congratulations!
By action of Curry College, the Board of Trustees concurring, and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Board of Regents of Higher Education of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa, and admit you to all the rights and privileges hereunto pertaining.
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