To begin: for three years, she had effectively represented the Administration on international women's issues. Staunchly opposed to abortion, she caused a stir among assorted pro-abortion activist groups with her efforts to amend the Women's Rights Declaration hammered out in China, to eliminate language stating that women's rights include a right to abortion.
In November 2005, Sauerbray, newly returned from a conference of First Ladies of the Americas in Paraguay where she represented Laura Bush, appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But her confirmation was held up by a disgruntled Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who seems dissatisfied with any nomination this President makes.
Although appointments to international delegations and deputy-level State Department positions don't require the advice and consent of the Senate, Assistant Secretaries of State posts do. Serving in the position means Sauerbray oversees a 700 million dollar budget dealing with refugee protection, resettlement and humanitarian aid.
Who exactly is this woman in whom Mr. Bush reposed such confidence? For the answer, we need to turn back the clock to . . . a balmy Baltimore evening in June 1955, as the graduating class of Towson High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, filed from the stage, 420 strong ? Ellen Richmond among them ? and burst from high school as if shot from a cannon, the strains of the school's song ringing in their young ears:
Our strong bonds can ne'er be broken,
Formed at Towson High,
Far surpassing wealth unspoken,
Sealed by friendships tie.
The class theme? That was from Shakespeare: “All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances; one man in his time plays many parts . . .”
Hardly original. But this was "55. The kids were clean-cut and unsophisticated. Most had dads who went off to work daily and moms who stayed home and took care of the house and them; Ozzie and Harriet was the favorite TV sitcom, divorce was practically unheard of, drug users were shunned by their peers, and kids stayed in school because, eager to face life"s challenges, they actually wanted to learn. Ellen's classmates would go on to become actors, authors, doctors, lawyers, military and civilian pilots, engineers, nurses, writers, and even movie producers.
That night in "55, as Ellen Richmond changed from cap and gown into her Prom dress, could she have guessed what her future held? Years as a high school Biology instructor, a Republican delegate in the Legislature of a predominantly Democrat state, minority leader in that same House of Delegates, Maryland state Chairwoman for Mr. Bush"s 2000 campaign, two runs for Governor and two near misses, an appointment by the President as Ambassador to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, and culminating perhaps, like the final act of an exciting Broadway play, with this latest appointment.
Not bad for a kid from northeast Baltimore, whose father was a steel worker and whose mother was a stay-at-home mom. Ellen's father, Edgar Richmond, toiled for years in the Hot Strip Mill Department of now-defunct Bethlehem Steel Corporation. A union man, he worked his way up to a job as foreman. When the corporation closed for a year, he drove a taxi to put bread on his family's table. Called back when the mill reopened, he suffered a serious illness, first erroneously diagnosed as Multiple Sclerosis, and died of cancer in May 1977.
“The family had some tough times,” Ellen recalled, “but we stayed close.” One of the best things about those early years? “Playing in the back yard with my dog, Dusty,” a black and white, ahh . . . dog.
Ellen's family moved to a row house in suburban Towson in 1951. Her parents ordered the daily newspaper delivered. It was ? by young Wilmer Sauerbray, a neighbor kid who, years later, would marry their daughter.
In high school, Ellen “. . . liked the science subjects.” Her involved parents made sure she worked hard. A highly-motivated student, she was a leader among her classmates. Membership in the drama society allowed her to perform in high school plays, a skill she'd put to good use later.
Her favorite teacher during high school, John Dueber, a Chemistry instructor and local evening radio talk show personality, opened her inquiring mind to the world of ideas, as all good teachers do. Ellen set her heart on becoming a teacher. But for that, college was necessary. “I always wanted to go to college,” Ellen recalled. “But I didn't know if my family could afford it. Mom and Dad committed to pay for one year. [After that] I could go to Towson State, where Mom later worked [and tuition would be free].”
Ellen traveled fifty miles from home to attend Western Maryland College, a Methodist school in Westminster, Maryland. A partial scholarship and a stint working in the college dining hall helped pay the freight. “I had to work hard to get through,” she said.
