Raymond Krizek's Closing Remarks
The proceedings of this past hour or so can only be followed by a truly deep and heartfelt expression of gratitude for all who made it possible for me to achieve this level of success. Notwithstanding whatever accolades might come our way in the course of “doing our job”, we must never fail to recognize that few, if any, of us achieve what we do solely by virtue of our own abilities. While we each have our allotment of innate talent which we strive to use to optimum advantage, each of us often stands on the shoulders of others to get a better view of where we want to go in our career and how we want to get there. In a very real sense, each of us is a product of the opportunities and influences to which we have been exposed and the use we have made of them. And this is certainly true in my case.

Much of what we are is influenced strongly by events in our formative years. So let me begin by thanking my wonderful parents, each deceased for more than four decades, for a great “start in life”; the Franciscan nuns and Christian Brothers for an early education with no parallel; superior educational opportunities at Johns Hopkins, the University of Maryland, and Northwestern; my wife, Claudia, and sons, Robert and Kevin, for their support and sacrifices over the years; a steady stream of extremely competent and interactive colleagues in both academia and practice; the crown jewel of my career – the greatest and most talented group of graduate students a person could ever hope to work with; and last, but not least, a wealth of opportunities to “make a difference”.

If the truth be known, as expressed in Hoover’s remarks, the inner feeling of accomplishment that one experiences when receiving an honor or award lies in the fact that it represents a measure of recognition and respect by one’s professional colleagues. And what higher tribute could I receive than that accorded me by the mere presence of the three gentlemen who spoke at this Symposium, each of whom took time from their busy schedules and made yeoman efforts to share this occasion with me. Dr. Enrique Castillo, my doctoral student of almost four decades ago and subsequently a professor of applied mathematics and one of the founding members of the Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering, came all the way from Santander, Spain. Dr. William Marcuson, a colleague dating back about a quarter of century, Director Emeritus of the Geotechnical Laboratory at the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, and currently President of the American Society of Civil Engineers, came from Vicksburg, Mississippi. And Frank Hamons, Deputy Director for Harbor Development at the Maryland Port Administration and a colleague whom I met a few years ago when gathering information for my Terzaghi Lecture, came from Baltimore. To each of these gentlemen, I extend my sincere gratitude for the effort you have made to be here on my behalf and for the kind words you have spoken about me and my contributions to our profession.

And my sincere thanks to all of you who have added to the eminence of this auspicious occasion by choosing to share it with me. As my parting thought to each of you, and especially to any young engineers in the audience, I truly hope that your life and career will be blessed as mine has been. Although my career as an engineer has spanned more than half a century, it truly seems like less than a decade. This is because I have enjoyed what I was doing so much and gained such a high degree of satisfaction that time seems to have remained frozen. Despite the many long hours devoted to various efforts over the years and notwithstanding the challenge my wife will probably make to this claim, I want to share with you one of my secrets. Because I truly loved and enjoyed what I was doing so much, I really have never had to work a day in my life – and this blessing I sincerely wish for each of you.

Let me close by expressing my thanks once again for this great honor and my appreciation to everyone involved in making this “welcome home” reception the memorable occasion it has been.