AUunmAfotes
New facilities for
phonathon
The phonathon room has been completed and is now being used for telephone calls to alumni, parents and other
friends of the college. At left, Debra Raynor of Littleton, makes a call to a Chowan alumnus from one of the private
cubicles of the new facility. The photograph above shows a portion of the room that provides individual work areas
for callers. The facility is housed on the ground floor of Thomas Cafeteria in the area which was formerly occupied
by the college snackbar
Ussery featured for innovative work with Richmond firm
Developed
program to
provide
opportunity for
minorities to
be awarded
contracts
Ben B. Ussery, Jr., a Chowan alumnus, has
become a major force in providing opportunities
for minority suppliers to be awarded contracts
with one of Virginia’s largest domestic opera
tions.
Ussery, director of supplier diversity devel
opment for Philip Morris USA in Richmond,
VA, was featured in an issue of Metro Business,
■published by The Richmond Times-Dispatch.
A member of the Virginia Regional Minority
Supplier Development Council, Ussery was
instrumental in making arrangements for James
Earl Jones, popular television and film actor, to
be the keynote speaker at an upcoming business
fair sponsored by the council.
In the feature article by Bonnie Newman
Stanley, staff writer of The Times-Dispatch,
Ussery was cited as “being very enthusiastic
when discussing the council and its impact on
Philip Morris’ efforts to bring diversity to its
pool of suppliers.”
During 1995, Philip Morris’ domestic
operations awarded $130 million in contracts to
ethnic minorities in Virginia, North Carolina
and several other states.
Ussery, who served on Chowan’s Board of
Visitors and as chairman of the board, noted that
“Philip Morris supports minority businesses in
the belief that they can compete if given a level
playing field.”
He also said that minorities will be a key
factor in the future economy of the United
States and added, “we have got to raise their
wealth so they’ll have money to spend on
consumer products.”
The feature article’s author proclaimed that
“minority suppliers who do business with Philip
Morris speak highly of its diversity program and
they marvel at Ussery’s ability to follow through
on contacts made at networking events that
advocate corporate/minority partnerships.”
“The Ussery-Philip Morris duet, many seem
to agree, is a hard act to follow,” she continued.
Philip Morris earned $3.7 billion in profits on
$11.5 billion in sales last year, and has pur
chased janitorial, courier and computer services,
forklift trucks, electtical fixtures and adminis
trative supplies from minority firms, according
to Ussery.
The article quoted Ussery as explaining that
“Philip Morris’ program is not perfect. We’re
not satisfied where we are and we will continue
to do better.”
Ussery and his wife. Dr. Carol Birkhead
Death claims oldest living alumna
Member of
Class of 1913,
Mrs. Mary
Deanes died
four days
before her
103rd birthday
Mrs. Mary Peele Deanes, Chowan’s oldest
living alumna and the last surviving member of
the Class of 1913, died on Monday, March 11,
four days before her 103rd birthday.
The widow of Willie E. Deanes of Murfrees
boro and known to all her friends and relatives
as “Granny,” Mrs. Deanes had made her home
with a granddaughter in Apex for the past three
years.
Growing up near Powellsville in Hertford
County, Mary Peele Deanes was educated in a
one-room schoolhouse before coming to
Chowan. In an interview several years ago, she
remembered coming to the Chowan Female
Baptist Institute the same year as President
Bruner and that her room was on the third floor
of McDowell Columns building on the end.
Recalling her days at Chowan in the inter
view, Mrs. Deanes said “I have fond memories
of Chowan the way it was and I enjoyed playing
basketball. We played against each other in the
old gym that was where Turner Auditorium is
today.” A photograph of the 1909-10 basketball
team was published in Chowan Today in the
summer of 1992 and pictured the 16-year-old
Mary Peele with her five teammates.
Mrs. Deanes’ husband-to-be at the time,
Willie Evans Deanes, had some connection to
Chowan. His mother, Norma Spiers, was a
student at Chowan and later taught at the
college.
Mrs. Deanes was preceded in death by a
daughter, Mary Louse D. Hardin; and two sons,
William E. Deanes and Robert Sidney Deanes.
She is survived by a son, Benjamin F. “Ted”
Deanes of Murfreesboro, 19 grandchildren; 36
great-grandchildren; and 18 great-great-
grandchildren.
Funeral services were conducted at Garrett
Funeral Home, Ahoskie, by one of her great-
grandsons, Jeffrey D. Parker, with burial in
Riverside Cemetery, Murfreesboro.
Ussery, both graduated in Chowan’s Class of
1968. In Dec. 1987, the couple established the
Rev. Benjamin Bascom Ussery, Sr., and Sarah
Elizabeth Howell Endowed Scholarship in
honor of his parents.
Gary Williams elected
president of Chowan
Alumni Association
Gary Williams (’65), of Suffolk, VA, was
elected president of the Chowan College Alumni
Association at the December meeting of the
Alumni Board of Directors. Williams succeeds
Dianne Agricola (’72) of Courtland, VA, who will
continue to serve on the board as immediate past
president.
Tom Ballance (’69), of Norfolk, VA, was
named president-elect, and Harry Webster (’63),
of Rocky Mount, was elected vice president. A
member of the Class of 1995, Tonia Chatham, who
is in her first year of teaching, was elected secre
tary.
Held in the President’s Dining Room of Tho
mas Cafeteria, the meeting was the first session
for Charles Aycock, newly appointed director of
alumni services. In addition to the elections, the
meeting focused on methods to increase alumni
participation in college activities.
New members elected to the board of direc
tors with terms to expire in 1998 include: Bobby
Deacon (’94), Jackson, NC; Ellen White (’69),
Chesapeake, VA; Mary, Jo Williams (’69) of
Chesapeake, VA; Raymond Warren (’66) of
Waverly, VA; and Dick Turner (’66) of Richmond,
VA.
Continuing directors whose terms expire at the
close of 1997 include; Jane Wilhams (’64), Mur
freesboro, NC; Tripp Goolsby (’67), Suffolk, VA;
Tammy Gish (’84) of Virginia Beach, VA; Michael
Moore (’92) Colonial Heights, VA; and Jeffrey
Grant (’94) of Richmond, VA.
Continuing directors who will complete their
terms of office in December of this year are:
Leamon Allen (’68), Pantego, NC; Cathy Averette
Dixon (’84), Creedmoor, NC; Lee Johnson (’70),
Onancock, NC; Charles Pond III (’62), Suffolk,
VA; and John Settle (’83), Norfolk, VA.
The next general meeting of the alumni asso
ciation will be held Nov. 2,during Homecoming.
PAGE 12 — CHOWAN TODAY. Match 1996