Clara Betty Jean McKinney peacefully departed this life on November 10, 2012 in Peoria, Arizona surrounded by family. She was born January 10, 1936 in Chesnee, South Carolina to Jaffer Nell and Corrie Dodd McKinney.
Clara grew up in Johnson City, Tennessee and attended Douglass Elementary and Langston High School. She later moved to Cleveland, Ohio and settled in Arizona. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her brothers James R. Ernest Sr., Charles H., and Clarence E. McKinney; sisters Frances M. Alexander, Margaret Ann and Eula Mae McKinney, children Enid, Virginia, and Kenyatta.
She is survived by a sister Lollie M. Surratt of Johnson City, Tennessee. Four children Patricia Bizzell, Johnson City, Tennessee, Pamela(Cecil) Smith, Jerry(Valerie) Vaught of Cleveland, Ohio, Katrina and Cassandra Vaught of Peoria, Arizona. She has fourteen grandchildren, twenty great grandchildren, and three step-great grandchildren. She also leaves to mourn her passing several cousins, nieces, nephews, three sisters-in-law Marion B., Carole H.., and Edna J. McKinney. Lifelong friends Ruby Smith and Elva Morrison and Life time friends of Cleveland Ohio.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, November 24th at 1:00 p.m. at Grace Temple Eternal Life Center, 208 Garden Drive with District Elder Mark Redd, Pastor officiating. The family will receive friends from 12:00-1:00 p.m. prior to the service.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
Thaddeus Leon Alexander
Thaddeus Leon Alexander, 516 Franklin St. entered into eternity unexpectedly on Tuesday, September 25, 2012 at the Johnson City Medical Center. He was the son of the late Charles and Frances Alexander. He was a retiree of Eastman Chemical Co., Kingsport, TN and a member of Friendship Baptist Church, where he was a part of the Bus Minstry, Choir and was a Usher, He loved he outdoors and loved to fish. He was a member of the Tennessee National Guard from 1982 to 1988. He was a graduate of Science High School in 1969. He was a man who always had candy to give away.
He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Jennifer Y. Alexander, a daughter, Tiffaney Alexander, Miami, Fl, sisters, Odessa Jean Johnson, Pembeton, NJ, Glendora Smith, Stafford, VA, Martha Harris, Marion Brady and Constance Alexander, all of Johnson City, TN, Francine (Edward) Latham, Atlanta, GA, a brother, William Alexander, Waverly, TN several nieces and nephews, a special nephew, Junior Trammell, Kingsport, TN.
FUNERAL SERVICES
Funeral services will be held a 2 PM, Saturday, September 29, 2012, at Friendship Baptist Church, 522 West Main St. with Dr. C H. Charlton, Pastor officiating. Burial to follow at Washington Co. Memory Gardens. The family will receive friends from 1 PM until 2 PM prior to the services.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
2013 Umoja Festival offers something for everyone
THIS STORY COURTESY THE KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS
By JENNIFER SPROUSE
NET News Service
JOHNSON CITY — While many festivals try to be diverse, the 2013 Umoja Festival prides itself on bringing all ethnicities together to enjoy a fun-filled, two-day event.
From multiple vendor tables to a feast of food, Umoja committee members hope this festival turns out to be the best yet.
Wayne Robertson, a festival committee member, said their diversity efforts provide something for everyone. He said this year there will be five stages in downtown Johnson City for entertainment, a car show on Saturday, as well as crowd favorites like the stilt walkers.
“We seem more ... geared up for it this year, adding different things,” Robertson said.
Chairman Ralph Davis said there’s quite a bit of musical entertainment scheduled for the festival this year.
“Our headliners are The Tams (Friday) and Midnight Star for Saturday night,” Davis said. “We’re also going to have music in the gazebo area after the storytelling. We’re going to have an Irish band in there.”
Other musical and entertainment acts scheduled to perform throughout the weekend include local and regional DJs, MC Lightfoot, Shaka Zulu and a Call of the Drums performance by the Rev. Vincent Dial with Zulu Connection.
The Umoja 5K run/walk race will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, with the race route mapped out through the Tree Streets neighborhood.
“We’re expecting a lot more participation than we had last year,” Davis said concerning the race.
On Saturday, the Umoja Parade will start at 10 a.m. at Carver Recreation Center and proceed toward the festival site downtown. Arts and crafts vendors also will be on display, selling woodworking, jewelry and other unique pieces around the festival area.
Food also will be part of the attraction, as native African, Caribbean and Jamaican food will provide the aroma of the festival, as well as other carnival food favorites.
Friday’s schedule is dedicated toward musical acts, vendor tables, and the 5K race. But on Saturday there will be a children’s carnival, a cornhole contest, a wing-eating contest and a Umoja’s Got Talent competition.
Estimating the attendance to be between 25,000 to 30,000, Davis said he is excited to show everyone at the festival what his heritage is, as well as learn a little bit about the other cultures represented.
“It’s important for this area, for us, to showcase our cultures, our community, what we have to offer. To show the rest of the community ... what our achievements have been, and expose them to some things that they probably don’t know about,” he said. “Other ethnic groups too. We want them to show us what their history is about, what they do, what they like. We all need to get along in this world together, and the only way to do that is to learn from each other.”
For more information, visit the Umoja website here.
By JENNIFER SPROUSE
NET News Service
JOHNSON CITY — While many festivals try to be diverse, the 2013 Umoja Festival prides itself on bringing all ethnicities together to enjoy a fun-filled, two-day event.
From multiple vendor tables to a feast of food, Umoja committee members hope this festival turns out to be the best yet.
Wayne Robertson, a festival committee member, said their diversity efforts provide something for everyone. He said this year there will be five stages in downtown Johnson City for entertainment, a car show on Saturday, as well as crowd favorites like the stilt walkers.
“We seem more ... geared up for it this year, adding different things,” Robertson said.
Chairman Ralph Davis said there’s quite a bit of musical entertainment scheduled for the festival this year.
“Our headliners are The Tams (Friday) and Midnight Star for Saturday night,” Davis said. “We’re also going to have music in the gazebo area after the storytelling. We’re going to have an Irish band in there.”
Other musical and entertainment acts scheduled to perform throughout the weekend include local and regional DJs, MC Lightfoot, Shaka Zulu and a Call of the Drums performance by the Rev. Vincent Dial with Zulu Connection.
The Umoja 5K run/walk race will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, with the race route mapped out through the Tree Streets neighborhood.
“We’re expecting a lot more participation than we had last year,” Davis said concerning the race.
On Saturday, the Umoja Parade will start at 10 a.m. at Carver Recreation Center and proceed toward the festival site downtown. Arts and crafts vendors also will be on display, selling woodworking, jewelry and other unique pieces around the festival area.
Food also will be part of the attraction, as native African, Caribbean and Jamaican food will provide the aroma of the festival, as well as other carnival food favorites.
Friday’s schedule is dedicated toward musical acts, vendor tables, and the 5K race. But on Saturday there will be a children’s carnival, a cornhole contest, a wing-eating contest and a Umoja’s Got Talent competition.
Estimating the attendance to be between 25,000 to 30,000, Davis said he is excited to show everyone at the festival what his heritage is, as well as learn a little bit about the other cultures represented.
“It’s important for this area, for us, to showcase our cultures, our community, what we have to offer. To show the rest of the community ... what our achievements have been, and expose them to some things that they probably don’t know about,” he said. “Other ethnic groups too. We want them to show us what their history is about, what they do, what they like. We all need to get along in this world together, and the only way to do that is to learn from each other.”
For more information, visit the Umoja website here.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Langston High alumni hold reunion in Johnson City
THIS STORY COURTESY THE KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS
PICTURES BY CALVIN SNEED
By JENNIFER SPROUSE
NET News Service
JOHNSON CITY — Langston High School may have closed its doors in 1965, but former students, staff, families and friends plan to keep their memories of the school alive in their hearts for many years.
According to the Langston Heritage page on johnsonsdepot.com, the school was named the Langston Normal School after black leader John Mercer Langston. The school, on the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Elm Street, started in 1892 and ran until the desegregation of the Johnson City School System in 1965, when black students were then admitted to Science Hill High School.
Barbara ‘Bobbie’ Young-Watterson, Class of 1949, said she and her late friend and classmate, Mary Bridwell, decided to form a reunion committee after the school’s bicentennial year in 1976.
“We ... still come together every two years to celebrate the spirit of Langston,” Young-Watterson said. “This is our 19th reunion.”
Click here to see a slideshow of the Langston 2012 Business Meeting.
The reunion started Friday at 6 p.m. with registration and a reception at the Double Tree Hotel and resumed at 9 a.m. Saturday with tours of the surrounding area.
One of those tours was the Gray Fossil Site in Gray, Tennessee.
Click here to see a slideshow of the Langston Alumni group's visit to the Gray Fossil Museum
Young-Watterson said on Saturday night the reunion group honored George Nichols, Mary Luellen Owens Wagner, Elizabeth Watkins Crawford and Clarence McKinney at their dinner at the Double Tree for being the first four black students admitted to East Tennessee State University in 1958.
Attendees also listened to guest speaker Johnny Banner before the group Unlimited performed.
Young-Watterson said she was excited to see Unlimited perform because a lot of grandchildren from the reunion group, including her own grandson, were in the band.
“On Sunday we’ll be at St. Paul AME Zion Church and we will be having our memorial service there and we’ll be honoring our teachers,” she said. “We’ve been able to find three teachers that were at Langston that are still living and able to be with us and they’ll be honored (today).”
Though time has passed, Young-Watterson said getting everyone together for a reunion means a lot.
BELOW IS A SLIDESHOW OF PICTURES FROM THE 2012 LANGSTON HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI BANQUET
Created with flickr slideshow.
“It means a time of reminiscing. We can go back and meet old friends and childhood buddies that we promised for ever and ever (not) to part, because when we were little it seemed like you were never going to be apart,” she said. “I think it’s important that we keep meeting because if we don’t our children will never know the legacy of the black high school. They will never know how well the students did. We have doctors, lawyers ... you name it, from every walk of life that we have that came out of Langston High School.”
Nichols, one of the four students from Langston who attended ETSU, said he was happy to be back for the reunion and to be surrounded by his family of classmates.
“It means a lot because Langston was like a family and we were extremely close,” Nichols said. “We had excellent, excellent, excellent teachers and to see people that you cried with, you laughed with and were as close to as, I would say, brother or a sister could be.”
Nichols graduated from ETSU in 1962, with a major in zoology and a minor in chemistry. He then spent seven years in the military and worked in what he called corporate America for 37 years in New York City. He also has an master’s degree in business administration from Adelphi University.
Young-Watterson said the reunion each year welcomes all students who attended Langston, regardless of whether they actually graduated from the school, and she said she would love to have those who have not attended any of the reunions to come join their celebration.
Young-Watterson said after this reunion, the committee, and anyone who may be interested in helping, will be meeting every third Saturday of the month at noon at the Carver Recreation Center.
PICTURES BY CALVIN SNEED
By JENNIFER SPROUSE
NET News Service
JOHNSON CITY — Langston High School may have closed its doors in 1965, but former students, staff, families and friends plan to keep their memories of the school alive in their hearts for many years.
According to the Langston Heritage page on johnsonsdepot.com, the school was named the Langston Normal School after black leader John Mercer Langston. The school, on the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Elm Street, started in 1892 and ran until the desegregation of the Johnson City School System in 1965, when black students were then admitted to Science Hill High School.
Barbara ‘Bobbie’ Young-Watterson, Class of 1949, said she and her late friend and classmate, Mary Bridwell, decided to form a reunion committee after the school’s bicentennial year in 1976.
“We ... still come together every two years to celebrate the spirit of Langston,” Young-Watterson said. “This is our 19th reunion.”
Click here to see a slideshow of the Langston 2012 Business Meeting.
The reunion started Friday at 6 p.m. with registration and a reception at the Double Tree Hotel and resumed at 9 a.m. Saturday with tours of the surrounding area.
One of those tours was the Gray Fossil Site in Gray, Tennessee.
Click here to see a slideshow of the Langston Alumni group's visit to the Gray Fossil Museum
Young-Watterson said on Saturday night the reunion group honored George Nichols, Mary Luellen Owens Wagner, Elizabeth Watkins Crawford and Clarence McKinney at their dinner at the Double Tree for being the first four black students admitted to East Tennessee State University in 1958.
Attendees also listened to guest speaker Johnny Banner before the group Unlimited performed.
Young-Watterson said she was excited to see Unlimited perform because a lot of grandchildren from the reunion group, including her own grandson, were in the band.
“On Sunday we’ll be at St. Paul AME Zion Church and we will be having our memorial service there and we’ll be honoring our teachers,” she said. “We’ve been able to find three teachers that were at Langston that are still living and able to be with us and they’ll be honored (today).”
Though time has passed, Young-Watterson said getting everyone together for a reunion means a lot.
BELOW IS A SLIDESHOW OF PICTURES FROM THE 2012 LANGSTON HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI BANQUET
“It means a time of reminiscing. We can go back and meet old friends and childhood buddies that we promised for ever and ever (not) to part, because when we were little it seemed like you were never going to be apart,” she said. “I think it’s important that we keep meeting because if we don’t our children will never know the legacy of the black high school. They will never know how well the students did. We have doctors, lawyers ... you name it, from every walk of life that we have that came out of Langston High School.”
Nichols, one of the four students from Langston who attended ETSU, said he was happy to be back for the reunion and to be surrounded by his family of classmates.
“It means a lot because Langston was like a family and we were extremely close,” Nichols said. “We had excellent, excellent, excellent teachers and to see people that you cried with, you laughed with and were as close to as, I would say, brother or a sister could be.”
Nichols graduated from ETSU in 1962, with a major in zoology and a minor in chemistry. He then spent seven years in the military and worked in what he called corporate America for 37 years in New York City. He also has an master’s degree in business administration from Adelphi University.
Young-Watterson said the reunion each year welcomes all students who attended Langston, regardless of whether they actually graduated from the school, and she said she would love to have those who have not attended any of the reunions to come join their celebration.
Young-Watterson said after this reunion, the committee, and anyone who may be interested in helping, will be meeting every third Saturday of the month at noon at the Carver Recreation Center.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Welcome to the Langston Page!
Hello, and welcome to the webpage dedicated to news and information of the Langston Tigers Alumni and neighborhood news from Johnson City.
I am currently compiling an email list of Langston Alumni and residents of the Johnson City African-American community, to be able to keep everybody informed of news, current events, information and pictures from their community.
When I have the list, I will establish an email log, to which I can send out mass emails to everybody on the list, letting you know when there is something on the wabpage worthy of your attention.
In the meantime, if you have news of the community and news of the schools that you need to share with others in the neighborhoods and the alumni community, please send that to me at: douglassriverview@gmail.com
Again, thanks for checking us out, and just in case I don't have your email address, go ahead and again, send it to me at: douglassriverview@gmail.com
Thanks again, and welcome aboard!
Calvin Sneed
Kingsport
I am currently compiling an email list of Langston Alumni and residents of the Johnson City African-American community, to be able to keep everybody informed of news, current events, information and pictures from their community.
When I have the list, I will establish an email log, to which I can send out mass emails to everybody on the list, letting you know when there is something on the wabpage worthy of your attention.
In the meantime, if you have news of the community and news of the schools that you need to share with others in the neighborhoods and the alumni community, please send that to me at: douglassriverview@gmail.com
Again, thanks for checking us out, and just in case I don't have your email address, go ahead and again, send it to me at: douglassriverview@gmail.com
Thanks again, and welcome aboard!
Calvin Sneed
Kingsport
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