* Magna cuml
By CHERYL WILLIAMS
Chronica Staff Wrtf r
It took William W. Phillips Sr.
of Winston-Salem more than 20
UMOra ?/> ? " ?
/? ? if gel wj coiiege. wnen nc
got there, he was determined to
excel - and he did.
Phillips graduated magna cum
laude from Winston-Salem State
University with a degree in
business administration.
"I had no idea I would finish
with honors," Phillips, 45, said*.
'The only time 1 measured my
grades was the first semester. I
wanted to rcfdly see if I could
make it. ?????
"I felt it was something I
should have done a long time
ago," Phillips said about his
decision to enter college at the
age of 39.
Phillips, a soft-spoken, welldressed
man, took time to reflect
An kic /MIIma ?
UU iiu WW 6U UUl TTCUUC9*
day in his home.
A lot has happened since tht
time he first thought about col!jege
and the present. He said that
Iwhen he graduated from high
School in the 1950s, he wanted to
ir???
medley From I
; Walter Marshall, then a Round;
table member, now president of
; the city's NAACP. Marshall said
; he feels much the same today.
"His votes have been OK but
the problem has been his lack of
; verbalization on issues," Marshall
said in an interview Wednesday
morning. "He doesn't speak
up on certain issues."
Yet, even while criticizing
; Bailey in 1983 as needing "to do
more in the black community,"
Roundtable member Larry D.
Little, then an alderman, said
Bailey had imoroved.
Bailey and Drayton discount
) the critics. "I heave to get along
! with my school board members,"
! Bailey said. "The board knows
| that when I speak, I am speaking
J for black folks. But 1 can't of;
fend them. If I was a militant, I
; could not get anything done."
; Drayton said criticism of
! Bailey's performance by some
blacks is unwarranted. "1 don't
believe he is weak," Drayton
; said. "No black can be as
; outspoken as some would like
; when he is the only black on the
1 board."*
? Bailey's biggest ac
; complishments have been per
; suading the board and adt
ministration to hire two black
I principals and two black assistant
' superintendents, he said.
j "We needed some black prin;
cipals and officials within the
; system," Bailey said. "I was
I under pressure from the black
? community to get some black
principals."
j There had not been any black
; principals since the city-county
; school system was integrated in
I I
I
i Correction
, 1 In the story in last week's
\ Chronicle titled, "City worker
files lawsuit," it was incorrectly
stated that Curtis E. Dixon earn;
ed a master's degree from North
; Carolina A&T State University in
I \ public administration.
! In fact, Dixon received a
' master's degree from A&T State
in mathematics and a master's
; degree in public affairs/ad;
ministration from the University
;of North Carolina at
! Greensboro. He has also com'
pleted 36 semester hours toward a
_ - - -
' doctoral aegree in aammuuiuuu
; from UNC-O.
* In addition, the story implied
I erroneously that Dixon served in
J the U.S. Air Force after he earn
ed a diploma from Atkins High .
; School. In fact, Dixon was
'.graduated from A&T State
I^fore he went into the service.
The Chronicle regrets both er'rfcrs.
v>
*
?? \
laude graduate: Now he is r
go to college, but his family just and got a job with what was then
could not afford it. R.J. Reynolds.
Phillips then put the thought of During this time, Phillips had
college aside to get on with his married. His wife died about two
life. He got a job with Twin City weeks after the birth of their son,
William W, Phillips Jr.
He remarried in 1974. He is
now divorced and lives with his
son, who is a junior at WSSU.
For the past 24 years, Phillips
has been employed as a
superintendent of window ser>V*
^m vices at the post office.
He said that was the
Jp.4 v (v fluence of a "special friend,"
. whom he did not want to name,
a t
I ^ inr.i prompicc nun to -go to col|HMJH
lege. 'This friend urged mc to go
to college and a degree in
what I already knew," he said.
At age 39 Phillips entered
WSSU. "I have always felt that
WSSU was a fine institution," he
said. "I didn't think about going
William W. Phillips to any other school."
^ Being an older student in his
Electric Co. He worked there for classes did not bother him, he
almost two years before going to said. He said that he often found
work for a furniture company, himself giving advice to the
He then went into the Army. younger students.
After his stint with the Army, "I helped a lot of students
he returned to Winston-Salem realize that if they cheated, they
hbbbhhbbhb?i were cheating themselves, not the
? - 11 V- 1J IIT A-IJ Al
uiiuiwiui , iic sniu. i ioia mem
that they needed to apply
themselves."
i . ,
Page A1
the early '70s, Bailey s?id.
Bailey, who is vice chairman of E H
the school board, says be believes
his influence among his fellow HH
board members has improved |
since he was first elected in 1974.
'They listen to what I have to
say/' Bailey said* "They try to I
do something about my (recom- m
mendations) if they can. I have
made the board and superintend ^Ejfl
dent more aware of the needs of
black people."
Bailey said he receives many
telephone calls from black and
white parents about the educa- M
tion of their children. ^ B &|
"When I was first started as a
school board member, 1 didn't
get calls from any parents,"
Bailey said. "Now, I think people , ' I
'^.1 A
irusi me, * W
The most recent controversy
Bailey and the school board must
address regards changes in school M
attendance lines to alleviate racial
imbalances, he said.
"I can feel the pressure, and 1
am in a delicate situation," TS
Bailey said. "I think it will be a
campaign issue, but I don't want .
it to become one. It is going to M
upset a whole of people."
Bailey says he supports a study M
of the attendance lines, but he m
feels no changes should be made I
for the 1986-87 term.
? Regardless of the issues, Bailey m
said, his chances are good in m
November. "1 feel that I have
been fair to everyone," he said. \
"He is a very credible public \ I
official," said R. Michael Wells, \M
chairman of the Forsyth County
Democratic Party. "He is
recognized as a good and capable
person.''
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every Thursday by the a
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Th? Chronicle, 1
?
eady to pursue his master'!
Phillips took his own advice look at the end-of-semester
about applying himself and soon grades, he said he received a
became hooked on school. boost. But his grade bubble of ex"1
stopped doing everything cellence burst on one occasion
except working and going to when he received a "C" in an acschool,"
he said. "If it required counting class.
my going to the library, then 1 "When I received my one and
would go to the library and do only 'C' it was like boom, you're
what 1 needed. To me college was dead," he said. "It was my first
a way of organizing myself." introduction to that course. I
He said that he was averaging P?1110***' * .***?'
about three courses a semester at U really blew my
night and working full time at the ^ worked pmi
post office during the day. ^ h( never hlui time to get to.
College did require some other volved with any campus ac*
incfTTii'nfry r?f Hr _ ?
rtntlt nr ? 1
had never been a person to read He did, however, pledge the
much, but in college he had to Omicron Gimma Lambda
read a lot. Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha
' Phillips said that college never Fraternity Inc. He proudly
c ? m m i ?
caused any problems between displayed ms elaborately
him and his son. In fact, they decorated black-and-gold paddle
often studied together, he said. as he talked about his hope that
He said that when he entered his son would follow in his
college, his son was still in high footsteps and pledge Alpha also,
school. "It was an inspiration to Throughout his time in college,
him for me to go to college," Phillips had the support not only
Phillips said. of his son but of the rest of his
After about seven years of family as well. The youngest in a
night school, Phillips finished the family of five, he said that his
requirements for his degree. three sisters and his brother atHe
said that during this time he tended the commencement exerstrove
for the highest grades and cises.
usually received them. Usually Two sisters came from their
when the time came around to home in Washington, while the
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"huraday, May 29, 1966-Page A3
sdegree
other sister and his brother, who
live in Winston-Salem, didn't
have far to travel.
PhOtips said that he has gotten
a quality education from WSSU.
"I couldn't ask for better instructors,"
he said. "I feel like right
now 1 could go out and compete
with the world."
But Phillips said that he
doesn't want to compete with the
world at the moment.
His plans for the future include
continuing to work in his present
job. In 10 more years he can
retire from the inh
plant: to pursue a
master's degree in marketing, but
he said that he will take six months
off before taking the plunge
back into the books.
His plans also include eventually
starting a business.
Today, Phillips is a proud
man, and with good reason,
because ~ May 18, when he
strolled down the aisle at the Coliseum
with his red honor cord
around his neck, he had acrnmnlicK*H
cnm?fhina K? KoH /\n_
wui|/u?biw svauvuiui^ m^r iMn* vm
ly dreamed about before.
Phillips urges all older adults
to go to college and pursue their
dreams.
'Try it," he said. "You'll be
surprised that you can do it."
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