Mary Papanicolaou was present in almost all the events that were held to honour her husband George, after his death.
On May 18, 1978, the White House organized an official ceremony on the occasion of the issuing of the American stamp for George Papanicolaou.
Mrs Pap, who was officially invited, made a short but extremely touching speech. Addressing the wife of the President of the USA Mrs Rozalin Karter, Mary Papanicolaou said:
“Dear Mrs Karter, ladies and gentlemen,
I wish to express my appreciation to all of you who contributed to the realisation of this meeting, to Mrs Karter, who kindly organised this ceremony, to the General Director of Posts and Postal services who followed the preparation of stamp in detail, to Mr Lane Adams and the American Cancer Society which always encouraged and supported the work of my husband and to everyone who also sought the recognition of his accomplishments.
Dr Papanicolaou was honoured with many awards. Most of them were given to him by his colleagues who worked in scientific organisms. I believe he deserved each one of them. However, I consider that he would have appreciated the issuing of this stamp mostly, because it implies the tribute that an entire nation pays to him and the gratitude of the US population . He could not have asked for more!
I thank all of you frankly,
Mary Papanicolaou