I
Chronicle Profile
There's plenty i
By AUDREY L. WILLIAMS
Chronicle Staff Writer fii
As a young girl, Barbara Ferguson imagined
glamour and prestige whenever she spotted a brief- j,
case. Today, at 46, she carries one of her own as ^
director of management for the Winston-Salem
Housing Authority. .
"There's something more to a briefcase than just ^
11 !
wanting around with one/' says Ferguson, "but I ^
didn't find that out until I got one myself and there's .<
plenty of work inside of my briefcase."
Ferguson also thought that since she always walked
around with a pencil in hand as a youngster she'd
spend the rest of her life as a secretary. P1
She was only half-correct. After graduation from
North Carolina Central University in Durham,
Ferguson went to work in a daycare center for one h
year. A stroll down the wedding aisle made her /
decide to get a job at Kimberly Park Terrace as a
clerk cashier and that's when her career objectives ?
began changing. oj
"I'm in my 24th year with the Housing
Authority," she says, seated behind a her large, sc
uncluttered desk, "and when 1 started working at lii
Kimberly Park I never really realized that I would be d<
at this agency for all these years. It's just one of those
things that happened." v<
Experience with people and knowing the workings U
of a housing development directly as manager of th
Kimberly Park and later Happy Hill Gardens T
I developments landed Ferguson her watchdog position
in July 1981. She is the first black woman ever to "1
^ noia such a post. er
Calendar From Page A6 II
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Nomination forms for inductions into the
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County High .School Sports
Hall of Fame may be picked up at the M.C. Benton
Convention Center, all public and. private high
schools, all YMCAs and YWCAs in Forsyth County,
Sportsman Supply, the Career Center and the
Winston-Salem/Forsyth Co. Public Schools Ad.
ministrative Office. The deadline for the return of
- applications will be Monday, April 2.
: ?The Forsyth County Coalition for Drug and
s Alpohol Abuse Awareness needs a slogan. The slogan
v.can be submitted by any Forsyth County resident and
must meet the following requirements: 1. It must be
an original idea. 2. Seven words or less. 3. It must address
both drug and alcohol problems. 4. It must be
either printed or tvoed on a 3x5 card. 5. The slooan
becomes the property of the coalition. 6. The
j deadline to receive the entries is March 19, with a
: postmark no later than March 17. A personal home
computer will be awarded to the winner at the April 1
Balloon Kick-off. Mail entries to Drug/Alcohol
Slogan Contest, P.O. Box 11757, Winston-Salem,
. N.C. 27116.
The Winston-Salem Deafness * Center needs
volunteers to answer the phone and take messages in
its office. Shifts are available mornings and afternoons
on weekends. Anyone interested should call
724-3621, Ext. 140 or 120 or the Voluntary Action
Center at 724-7474.
The East Winston Restoration Association Inc.
and the Business Department of Winston-Salem
State University will provide free income tax filing
assistance for anyone needing the service. Call
722-0918 for appointment times.
I - I
Beta Lambda Chapter
will host Xinos confab
IB**- u , J - -- -r -t- -JTK- ^-=*R*s*rar*>riKwt3p; saawR^^KiiaS <*.RMU
" The Beta Lambda responsibility.
Chapter of the National Mrs. Eva Jeffries and
Sorority of Phi Delta Kap- Mrs. Anna Gilliam are copa
Inc. will host the Eastern chairpersons of the local
Regional Xinos Conference chapter and Mrs. Mary
at the Hyatt House in Ellis, Mrs. Maxine Brandon
Winston-Salem, March and Mrs. Bernice Tanner
16-18. are Xinos sponsors.
The theme for this year's The conference will open
conference is "Profile's In with a 7 p.m. banquet on
Excellence in Education." Friday. An oratorical conMrs.
Ruby Couche is the test at 7 a.m. will open the
supreme basileus, Mrs. Saturday session, with a
Ardena Dixon, Eastern fashion show at 1 p.m. and
Regional director; Mrs. workshops beginning at
Catherine Williams, 2:30 p.m. A banquet will be
Factum R#?ainnal Xinos held a 7 o.m.. followed bv a
? ^ - - ?- V
chairperson; Miss Beatrice disco and later a torch
Watts, local chapter lighting service at 1 a.m.
basileus; and Miss Apryl The conference will close
Brandon, president of the with a worship service at 9
local Xinos Chapter, who a.m. Sunday,
will preside over the con- The banquet speaker will
ference. be Miss Lisa Brandon, a
The Xinos is an organiza- former Xinos and a student
tion of girls in grades 9-12. at Winston-Salem State
The purpose is to lift the University,
educational, ethical, moral Xinos presiding at the
and social standards of conference will be Misses
youth and develop within Apryl Brandon, Sabrena
them a sense of social, Boyd, Shan Bynum and
educational and family Micha Jeffries.
\
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in her briefcase
"I have never really looked at myself as being the
rst black woman to hold this job," says the
^inston-Salem native. "It's whoever can do the job.
"I have a big responsibility and it's not because
m a woman," she says, "but it's a big responsibility
>r anybody."
She manages all of Winston-Salem's conventionale
w-rent housing, including Sunrise Towers and
rystal Towers for the elderly, and Turnkey 111, a
Dmeownership program for. low- ^and moderatecome
families. Ferguson also supervises the Section
plan that qualifies low-income families for rent
ibsidies on the private level and she sees to it that
ojects in the city's housing developments are
7 have never really looked at myself as beng
the first black woman to hold this job.
t's whoever can do the job. "
- Barbara Ferguson
derated according to Housing Authority guidelines.
Ferguson is known among her colleagues as a per>n
who goes above and beyond the call of duty, and
Fe outside the job isn't much different, although she
Desn't agree.
"Life away from the job may not be considered
?ry exciting," she says, "but I'm home with a
I-year-old, a husband, and when I'm not singing in
le senior choir, I direct the youth choir at Shouse
emple CME Church.
"I enjoy working with the kids," Ferguson says,
because it keeps them out of the streets. It's just not
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On the weekend Barbara Ferguson Is known as
back to being director of management for the V
Parker).
something to do, so I give them gospel music.
"And with a 14-year-old in the house," she says,
"you have to do a lot of pacifying and when^he^botlv
of us are frustrated, we go to Hanes Mall." She also
has a 25-year-old son.
On weekends. Ferguson's ha^mpnt ic t.,m^H imr>
a disco for some 25 teenagers, most of whom are her
daughter's age and in her youth choir. Because of
Ferguson's love for the young and their attraction to
;
v/Ve got whi
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The Chronicle, Thursday, March 15, 1984-Page A7
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"Mother Hubbard/' but by Monday morning she's
Winston-Salem Housing Authority (photo by James
her, she has been tagged "Mother Hubbard."
"Everybody has their own way of reaching kids,"
she says^ "Freach them through themusic^ Whether
it's through the choir or my basement, where 1 let
them play all the Michael Jackson they want, kids are
sensitive and they will go where there's love and?
warmth."
Ferguson, who says she often gets so lost in her
Please see page A9
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