Transcript of Don Zeiller's Remarks:

       To the Interact and Rotary members, it is a pleasure for Joyce and me to give the aquarium to the high school in the name of Rotary.  As most of you know, Rotary's mission is to build goodwill and peace throughout the world.  There are now more than 28,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide, all doing projects to help goodwill and peace.  Just a few examples: Rotary has raised millions of dollars to inoculate millions of children against polio, and by 2005 every child in every country will have been inoculated, in the hope to eradicate polio from the face of the earth.  Rotary's exchange program has sent thousands of students to study in other countries and thousands have come here to study all for one year, in the hope of spreading friendship among young people that will last a lifetime.  We have sent doctors to perform thousands of eye operations in Third world countries.  We have sent technicians to dig wells, to plant trees, to build houses and schools.  Our Tenafly Rotary has brought to the United States several of the hundreds of Polish, Russian, and other youngsters who need special heart operations.  The world becomes better because people want it to become better and they do something about making it better.  Imagine  28,000 Rotary Clubs, all doing things to bring about goodwill and peace to our world...and you are a part of it.
         Please let me talk about this wonderful school.  Mrs. Zeiller, (Joyce Millward) and I grew up in Tenafly and went through the Tenafly Public Schools.  We loved them and still do.  Coming to our school were children of wealthy parents and some children of poor parents.  It was a time when many fathers were without work--and sometimes for several years--it was called "The Great Depression." There were students who came to school with with their lunch.  I remember Freddy and his sister.  Their lunch consisted of two slices of bread and a slab of oatmeal in between.  There were children who walked two miles to Bergenfield to save a nickel.  And, on the other hand there were a few students who drove cars to school.  I know it is vastly different today.  But the point I'm trying to make is that our public schools have brought together young people of all kinds of backgrounds, wealthy, middle class, and some poor,...all nationalities, all races, all religions and they have learned that each one of them is an individual...and that each is a worthy person.  Each can show happiness or sadness, they can be kind and forgiving, courteous, friendly, helpful...that our schools have brought about a nation, out of many nations, and have created a wonderful democracy.
       If I may I would like to leave you with one more thought.  The world is still growing up.  The Nineteenth Century was the Century of industrialization -- steamboats, railroads, knitting mills, cheap labor, etc.  The Twentieth Century was the Century of Progress -- with its automobiles, airplanes, radio, television, refrigerators, rising middle class, and so much more.  But this Century, the Twenty First, has got to be The Century of Responsibility.  This is the Century when we have to clean up some of the damage and mess of the last two centuries.  We have to clean up the rivers we polluted.  We have to clean up the air we have fouled.  We have to stop soil erosion and the destruction of the wetlands, and so on.  
     There is still work for us to do.  The past generations have not done all the good things.  It is true they freed the slaves, they agitated and got women the right to vote, and they eradicated most of the religious and racial prejudices from our country...but there are still problems to be solved...and you can play a part in solving them. 
     Think how important you are! You are!  Think to yourself, "I'm a member of the human race.  In a happy, pleasant way I am going to see what I can do to give some purpose to my life."
     I can also speak for my wife because I have known her for 58 years of marriage...We love you all!

Don Zeiller 12/19/02