The Chron
IS 1,20410 1 +>*'#?!>?? DIGT.
w c i it m
r !*?' fin I >Y fJM H. 1. 1 KRARY
; . i r i ?i ? i !?' m ? '/]'? i
Vol. XXXVI No. 40 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. THURSDAY, June 3, 2010
Gaines golf
tournament
looking for
supporters
-See Page BIO
Cancer
victim
speaks
to teens
-See Pane A2
Veterans
honor
-See Pane HI
Photos by Todd Luck
Alma Keen is escorted by Lemuel Stinson.
ComW-fl,
Lg noma
Alumni return to
Kimberley Park
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
Although it has been decades since they were classmates,
attendees at Saturday's Kimberley Park Class Reunion had no
difficulty recognizing one another.
More than 50 former students attended the reunion at the
Cherry Street elementary school They enjoyed good music, food
and memories in the school's gyrr
historic school, concluded on
Sunday with a morning wor
ship service at New Bethel
Baptist Church.
Alumni ranging in age
from 60-94 came from as far
away as Alabama to attend
the event, which include live
gospel performed by the
Union (Baptist Church)
Knights. Seven former
Kimberley Park teachers
were invited to be honored by
their former students on
Saturday, but only two could
make it.
Alma Keen and Cleester
Hickerson were seated at the
front of the gymnasium. They
were praised by speakers and
Cleester Hickerson
greeted by their former students. Her former pupils say that Keen
is still as sharp and personable at 99-years-old as she was when
she was teaching. She was fresh out of college when she taught
language arts and social studies at Kimberley Park in the 40s and
50s. She said she was immediately impressed with her colleagues
when she arrived at the school.
"These teachers were dedicated and interested in what they
were doing," she said.
She moved on to teach at other schools during her long career
as an educator and says it was her students who helped her stay
young.
Hickerson also started teaching at the school in the 40s. She
See Reunion on A2
A Moment out of the Spotlight
Official White House Photo b\ Pelt Sou/a
President Barack Ohama and First Lady Michelle Obama get a rare moment alone as they wait in the Map Room
of the White House on May 19 before welcoming Mexican President Felipe Calderon and First l.ady Margarita
Zavala to the White House.
i Vl? J
Ai ' 1
f f ? ?\y
Lt s
*
'"V.v
1167
Pftxo by Lav I*
Firmer
Rev. Charlie
Davis and
his wife,
Gail, take
part in the
last week 's
protest.
Their signs
equate gay
relation
ships with
interracial
marriage.
Protest takes aim at Y policy
BY LAYLA FARMER
THE CHRONICLE
Motorists driving along
University Parkway last Thursday
came face-to-face with the escalat
ing tension between the YMCA of
Northwest N.C. and the local gay
and lesbian community.
More than two dozen people
held protest signs decrying the Y s
membership policies - which do
not recognize same-sex couples and
their children as families - outside
01 me Lawrence joci veterans
Memorial Coliseum, where members of the
YMCA Association Board were meeting
"I think its important for the greater com
munity to see the faces of the people w ho this
l.ischke
unjust rule is affecting." said protester Ten
Hairston. a lesbian grandmother. "I
am a whole person. 1 represent an
intact family, and \ isibil it\ mat
ters"
The YMCA currently offers dis
counted group rates under the cate
gories of "Adult with Dependents"
or "Husband and Wife with
Dependents.'" Members of the ga\
community and their supporters say
that the language of the categories
is discriminatory because there is
no clause that includes their farm
lies.
YMCA organi/utions across the naiion
ha\e tweaked their membership categories. to
Sec Protest on A5
Mr. Above and Beyond
Ptktfo* by Fwmet
Superintendent Don Martin reads the inscription on the Classified
Employee of the Year to award recipient Jimmy Wormack.
Jimmy Wormack honored by School System
BY LAY I. A FARMER
Dfi ( HRONK3 I
The Winston -Salem Forsyth
County School system has hon
ored its first ever Classified
Employee of the Year
Jimmy Wormack, the in
school suspension instructor at
Flat Rock Middle School, w .is
surprised on May 26. when school
system officials showed up with a
bouquet of balloons, an official
plaque and lots of applause
"Oh my goodness, oh my
goodness," Wormack said, rising
irom nis enair as inc parts entered '
his classroom, shaking his head in sur
prise and delight "Oh m\ goodness
Wormack has already made a name
for himself at Flat Rock. which just
Hitdg r\
opened its doors at the start of the 2(XW
10 schixil year. He immediately changed
the name of the ISS (in-school suspen
sion i program to Character
Rehabilitation and
Intervention to illustrate his
mission of teaching kids
positive values that would
help them excel in the
classroom and in life.
"That's a big piece of
w hat*he d?>cs building rela
tionships with the kids and
building character with the
kids that are in 1SS " said
Principal Becky Hodges,
who nominated Wormack tor the award
". . .He stresses the importance of being a
good person He's a great role model."
Wormack was chosen by the
Sec \>nrm?t k on A5
Sit-in heroes
honored for
making history
BY LAY1.A FARMER
na < hkdmc 1 1
' : V -
Fifty years ago^William
Stevens, then a senior at Wake
Forest University: his tT;W'c .
the late Margaret Ann Duttofc.
and a handful of his fellow
WFU students joined students
from Winston-Salem State
University to stage the state's
first successful sit-in move
ment to desegregate a lunch
counter
Stevens
said he and
the others on
hand at the
protest were
arrested and
briefly jailed
before their
respecti \ e
institutions
bailed them
Stevens
out. Nevertheless, he was not
afraid
"I think we were young and
innocent maybe. rather than
afraid," said Stevens, a city
native and retired minister.
"...We had no idea that what
we were doing would be
remembered 50 years later.
There was just no notion that it
was that significant."
But the protesters were
remembered, and on May 25,
the 50th anniversary of the
integration of local lunch coun
ters, leaders from across the
city and state gathered to pay
homage to their legacy
"Our sister city gets a lot of
ink for starting the sit-in move
ment, but we in Winston-Salem
were the first city to end the
segregation." declared State
Rep Larry Womble. chair of
the Sit-In Celebration.
Womble was referring to
neighboring Greensboro,
which w as home to a legendary
sit-in that began on Feb 1.
I^W) and was led by tour A&T
students. Winston-Salem's sit
in began a week after
Greensboro's and was the first
to come to a resolution.
. "And we did it peacefully
with an integrated group of
Ser Sit-in on
DON'T
PASS
THE BUCK
BUY LOCAL