Angelou
from page A1
Angelou was a member
of Churn's Mt. Zion
Baptist Church flock for
more than 25 years. Chum
officiated a more than two
hour-long memorial serv
ice, during which friends
and family, one-by-one,
talked of Angelou's great
capacity for love and
strong aversion to barriers
- racial or otherwise.
"All of you loved her,
as we loved her, and she
loved us all," Angelou's
grandson Elliott Matthew
Jones said, speaking on
behalf of his family.
The more than 2,000
attendees who packed the
chapel for the private serv
ice were testament to
Angelou's boundless love.
They were black, white
and every shade in
between; some were rich
and tamous, but most were
local residents - folks
Angelou had endeared her
self to (and vice versa)
over the last 32 years.
Good Morning
America's Robin Roberts
sat next to Dr. John and
Sarah Mendez, whom
Angelou worked with in
the 1980s to free Darryl
Hunt, a local black, man
wrongfully convicted of
raping and killing a white
woman. The children of
Drs. Chad and Jane
Stephens, whom Angelou
helped launch a foundation
to aid orphans in Kenya,
sat on a row that was sand
wiched between ones
where the children of
Malcolm X (Attallah) and
Martin Luther King Jr.
(Bernice) sat. Burlington
based indie film director
Cornelius Muller, whose
movie "Find a Way"
reportedly moved Angelou
to tears, settled a few
chairs away from R&B
songbird India.Arie.
And just behind U.S.
Attorney General Eric
Holder and U.S.
Transportation Secretary
Anthony Foxx was Sylvia
Sprinkle-Hamlin, whose
late husband received help
from Angelou to launch the
biannual National Black
Theatre Festival.
Ed Wilson sat nearby
as well. The venerable for
mer Wake Forest provost
and his wife, Emily,
befriended Angelou when
she accepted the lifelong
Reynolds Professor of
American Studies position
at Wake in 1982.
Describing her as a
generous neighbor and
friend to the community,
Wilson said the love the
Wake Forest family, in par
ticular. felt for Angelou
was requited.
"We know that Maya
Angelou belonged to
America, and, indeed, the
world, but we liked to
I ?? _____
think she belonged fore
most - after her family - to
Wake Forest," he said.
Angelou passed away -
or, as Chum put it, "beauti
fully transitioned to the
stars" - in her sleep on
May 28 at the age 86. Her
son, Guy Johnson, said
decades of working as a
professional dancer on
unyielding floors and res
piratory ailments had taken
their toll on Angelou's
body. Her spirit, though,
was never infirm, he said,
even after her frailties left
her tethered to a wheel
chair. Former President
Bill Clinton discovered
that the last time he saw
Angelou - April 10 at the
LBJ Presidential Library in
Austin to mark the 50th
anniversary of the Voting
Rights Act.
Clinton expressed sur
prise that Angelou had
endured the long trip to
Texas.
"'Just because I'm
wheelchair-bound doesn't
mean I don't get around,'"
was her riposte.
Angelou will be ever
linked to Clinton because
of "On the Pulse of
Morning," the poem she
wrote for and delivered at
his first inauguration on
Jan. 20, 1993. Her bond to
another memorial speaker
- Oprah Winfrey - is even
more well known.
Winfrey said they met
in the late 1970s and bond
ed over the years to the
point where she became
Angelou's "daughter" and
Angelou became her "spir
itual queen mother."
"The loss 1 feel, I can
not describe," said
Winfrey, who reportedly
spent the week leading up
to Saturday's service in
Winston-Salem helping to
plan every meticulous
detail. "Maya Angelou was
the greatest woman that 1
have ever known."
First Lady Michelle
Obama said Angelou's
words - both those in her
books like "1 Know Why
the Caged Bird Sings" and
poems like "Phenomenal
Woman" inspired her -
showing it was possible for
a "little black girl from the
Southside of Chicago" to
go all the way to the White
House.
. "Dr. Angelou's words
sustained me on every step
on my journey," the First
Lady said.
Ambassador Andrew
Young, who stood with
Angelou during the Civil
Rights battles of yester
year, said her body of work
and spirit will continue to
inspire and drive future
generations.
"Our sister, our mother,
our friend ... Will always
be with us," he said.
The service was an
emotional affair for many
of the participants. Valerie
Ashford Simpson and
Allyson Williams delivered
songs through tears.
Johnson. Winfrey and
Cicely Tyson, who had
known Angelou for more
than 50 years, also choked
up.
The way which
Angelou loved makes it
impossible to not feel an
emptiness, a longing, her
friends and family said.
"Her acceptance, love
and care for people was
unmatched ... If she made
you feel half as special as
she made me feel, you
have been blessed," Colin
Ashanti Johnson, her
grandson, said.
* ???? i "n 'i
Dr. Serenus Churn preaches.
Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton make remarks.
Dr. Angelou's grandon,
Colin Johnson, makes
remarks.
Pools open tomorrow
SPECIAL TO THE
CHRONICLE __
All city pools will open
for the summer on Friday,
June 13.
New this year are the
water "spraygrounds" at
Mineral Springs and Happy
Hill pools ? similar to the
water playgrounds at
Bolton and Kimberley Park
pools, but built on a con
crete pad and not in a shal
low pool of water.
To ensure safety, par
ents should swim with their
children. All pool patrons
must obey the lifeguards.
Patrons entering the pool
must be wearing appropri
ate swim wear with a liner
or have appropriate
swimwear with them to be
admitted into the pool area.
All pools will offer free
children's swim lessons
starting June 16. Sign ups
will be June 14 at 10 a.m. at
each pool. Free adult swim
lessons are also available at
all swimming pools.
Contact the [^>ol you want
to attend for details. All
pools will offer a "Babes in
Arms" program for chil
dren five and under starling
June 21. Contact your
favorite pool to register.
The pools also have swim
teams for children 17 and
under, and offer diving
instruction.
Non-swimmers less
than 48 inches tall will be
required to wear life jackets
in the pools. Life jackets
are not required in kiddie
pools and the water play
areas at Kimberley Park
and Bolton Park pools.
The city will provide
life jackets. Patrons may
bring their own life jackets
if they have a stamp indi
cating that they are Coast
Guard approved and pass
inspection from the life
guards.
Children less than 48
inches tall will be asked to
take a swim test when they
arrive at the pool so life
guards can assess their
swimming ability. If they
pass the test, they will
receive a green wrist band
that allows them to go any
where in the pool. If they
do not pass the test they
will receive a red wrist
band and a life jacket. They
can go in the shallow end
of the pool up to 3.5 feet.
Patrons over 48 inches
tall will be required to take
a swim test if lifeguards
observe that they may be
poor or non-swimmers.
Those who do not pass the
test will be issued a life
jacket and a yellow wrist
band that allows them to go
anywhere in the pool
except the deep end from
the diving boards. Any
patron who refuses to
demonstrate their swim
ability will be asked to
leave the swimming pool
facility.
Learn more at
www.WePLAY.ws or by
calling City Link 311.
A&T
from page A4
The university's dis
tance learning computer
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at No. 4 on the best com
puter information tech
nology programs list and
was ranked as the No. 15
best online graduate pro
grams in U.S. News &
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online graduate programs
list.
To be ranked, an
online degree program
had to report participa
tion in four key programs
that offer educational
benefits to people with
military service. The
rankings methodology
requires programs to
belong to institutions that
are certified for the G1
Bill; they must also
belong to schools partici
pating in the Yellow
Ribbon Program or pub
lie institutions that
charge in-state tuition for
all out-of-state veterans.
The Best Online
Programs for Veterans are
also affiliated with
schools that are members
of the Servicemembers
Opportunity Colleges
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offer at least one course
in the Defense Activity
for Non-Traditional
Education Support
(DANTES) catalog.
Please don't f
make me laugh! J
Do you sometimes experience a loss of
urine when you laugh, cough, sneeze,
lift heavy things or exercise?
If so, you may have stress urinary
incontinence (SUI), the most
common form of incontinence in
women under the age of 50.
We are looking for women to take
part in a research study for SUI.
You may qualify if you are:
? 18 to 75 years old V
? Not currently pregnant or
breastfeeding
? In good health
? Willing to receive a potential new study
treatment for SUI and attend up to nine
clinic visits during the year
You will be compensated for time and travel.
To learn more, please call 336-713-1343 or
email incontinenceOwakehealth.edu.
\XV Wake Forest*
Baptist Health
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