NAACP ‘Continues the Legacy’
Published 7:33 pm Monday, October 24, 2016
- MARTIN L. CAHN | HERALD One of the afternoon’s five “Continuing the Legacy” honorees during Saturday’s banquet, Farmville Town Manager Gerald Spates, left, and Wendy Lyle-Jones listen to his introduction by Jacqueline B. Vaughan. Vaughan works in Spates’ office at town hall.
The Prince Edward County Branch of the NAACP honored five people for their contributions to the community, the organization or both during its annual Freedom Fund Banquet at Firemen Sports Arena on Saturday afternoon.
This year’s honorees were Farmville Vice Mayor Armistead D. “Chuckie” Reid, retired educators Shirby Scott-Brown and Dr. Odessa H. Pride, Farmville Town Manager Gerald Spates and WFLO Radio General Manager Francis E. Wood.
Reading from the afternoon’s program, Mistress of Ceremonies Jacqueline B. Vaughan introduced Reid as a member of the “Lost Generation” affected by the 1959-1964 closing of Prince Edward County Schools.
“Chuckie’s decision to run for town council was inspired by the late Rev. L. Francis Griffin, who believed ‘working with people is a great thing,’” Vaughan said. “To me, Chuckie is a very humble man and one who serves this town very well.”
Southside Virginia Community College President Dr. Albert A. Roberts gives his keynote speech during Saturday’s annual Freedom Fund Banquet.
“Continuing the Legacy” honoree Francis E. Wood, general manager and co-owner of WFLO Radio, tells a story about growing up in Lawrenceville during segregation.
Dr. Odessa H. Pride speaks after receiving her “Continuing the Legacy” award during Saturday’s NAACP banquet at the Firemen Sports Arena on Saturday.
Farmville Vice Mayor Armstead D. “Chuckie” Reid speaks after accepting his 2016 “Continuing the Legacy” award from the NAACP’s Prince Edward County Branch on Saturday as Wendy Lyle-Jones looks on.
Former educator Shirby Scott-Brown, left, listens as Wendy Lyle-Jones reads from the “Continuing the Legacy” plaque presented to her.
MARTIN L. CAHN | HERALD
One of the afternoon’s five “Continuing the Legacy” honorees during Saturday’s banquet, Farmville Town Manager Gerald Spates, left, and Wendy Lyle-Jones listen to his introduction by Jacqueline B. Vaughan. Vaughan works in Spates’ office at town hall.
Reid thanked the NAACP for the honor and for the battles it has fought and continues to fight.
“I thank this community for becoming a strong community,” Reid said. “We are in the history books; eyes are on us. Let’s continue to move forward, and take no steps back. Let’s continue to work more together.”
Scott-Brown spent 34 years as an educator, all in Prince Edward County schools and retired in 2009. After accepting her honor, she talked about never having a bad day at work.
“I worked with great people. If I could get all of my students I taught in 34 years to come back … I would come back and teach some more,” Scott-Brown said.
The NAACP said it was honoring Spates for leading and managing “numerous community and economic development projects that have made and continue to make Farmville an amazing place to live and work.”
Spates said he did not intend to give a speech, but did thank his wife for “putting up with him for all these years” and also recognized the presence of newly promoted Farmville Police Chief A.Q. “Andy” Ellington.
Next, Vaughan introduced Pride, who served as an English teacher, assistant principal and principal in Prince Edward County schools, and is now on the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors representing the Hampden district. She earned her doctorate in 2009.
“They were such joyous years,” Pride said of her education career. “As I stand here, I can feel the presence of my parents, especially my dad, because my dad said, ‘Odessa, you know something, you go ahead and get that degree. I don’t want you to stop until you get that doctorate.’”
She also honored her late husband, Roger Pride Sr., who died in an accident nine years ago. Pride said she almost gave up on her doctorate at that point.
“But I think about how he always pushed me. I stayed out six months, but guess what? I went back … I got that doctorate,” Pride said.
Wood told two stories about being a young white boy growing up in a “segregated America” in Lawrenceville.
“I’m old enough, I’m afraid, to remember the signs that were in places with water fountains where you drank here and I drank over here,” Wood said.
He went on tell how he decided to drink from both the “white” and “colored” fountains several times when no one was looking but later told his father. His father asked him what he thought.
“‘The water tastes the same.’ And my dad, who was a very wise man, he said, ‘Son, you always remember that,’” Wood said.
In his keynote speech, Southside Virginia Community College (SVCC) President Dr. Alfred A. Roberts — SVCC’s first African-American leader — focused on past and continued inequities in education, as well as this year’s presidential election. He also spoke about African-Americans who have made a difference in the lives of the entire community, including Barbara Rose Johns, the 16-year-old R.R. Moton High School student who led a student protest for equal education leading to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case.
At the end of his speech, Roberts asked members of the community to not let the “blood, sweat and tears” shed by African-Americans and other leaders of the past and to “catch the ball and run” with the NAACP’s legacy.
Saturday’s banquet also featured music from Pastor Liz Wright, Jermaine Wright and band. Fifth U.S. Congressional District candidate Jane Dittmar provided the banquet’s official greeting.
