Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
>> Tam O'Shaughnessy: My name is Tam O'Shaughnessy,
and I'm was Sally Ride's life partner.
Personally, you know, to be here, you know,
I'm immensely proud of what Sally did with her life.
All of her -- just the many passions
that she had and accomplishments.
And then to represent her, you know,
in such an important form as a gay woman was,
you know, really quite an honor.
And I also think it sends a huge,
wonderful message to the world about our country
and the quality and kind of the way thing should be.
Sally always left a little room for chance in her life to,
you know, kind of follow --
find an interest, and then follow her heart.
And she -- she was very good at that.
And I think because she, you know, loved science
she really couldn't understand why American kids
weren't good at science, didn't care about it,
why teacher's didn't have proper training in math and science.
So, she just -- she got very interested,
because it was really a part of her --
her world, her life.
I think Sally's sister Bear and Sally kind of grew up
with that mentality, that you become a part of your community,
and you kind of dig in and try to do good where you can.
Her mother's very involved in helping women who are in prison,
and you know, her father did all sorts of things.
So, I think it's -- I think Sally grew up with those
sorts of role models, and then just her nature, you know.
Sally got interested in things.
When she was young, she was very interested
in sports and science.
And then, I think, you know,
once she went to NASA,
then she became more of a public figure where she gave talks
to kids and teachers and corporations, and so on.
And, you know, she always talked about the -- giving a talk,
and then just seeing this sparkle in teachers'
and kids' eyes when she talked about space.
And I think, you know, Sally was kind of smart enough to realize
that she could use space almost as a way to get kids
and teachers more interested in STEM:
science, technology, engineering, and math.
She was very bright, and she did great things.
But, you know, by and large, the way she lived her life
was quietly, privately, and just working, you know?
She was much more interested in doing
than in receiving awards and so on.
Although I do think she
would have been thrilled with this one.
She would have had a lot of fun today.