Category: Steadfastness

Women of Achievement
2001

STEADFASTNESS
for a woman with a lifetime of achievement:

Lois Freeman

For decades, Lois Freeman has worked steadfastly for equal rights for women and minorities, for voters’ rights, for opportunities for individuals with disabilities, for better lives for children and for open community dialog and discussion.

Raised in segregated communities in a loving family environment in East Tennessee, Lois married and moved to West Tennessee in 1951. In Memphis she became conscious of the inequities of society and began what was to become a lifetime of activism. In 1964, at the height of the Civil Rights struggle, Lois was one of a biracial group of women who began the integration of restaurants in Memphis simply by showing up for lunch at a different location every Saturday. After the addition of women to the Civil Rights Act in 1972, she became active in voter registration drives in Mississippi. There was still an atmosphere of violence so workers drove unmarked cars and spent nights away from the communities in which they were working. More than 30 years later, she was recertified by the Department of Justice as an official election observer.

Recognizing that the way to change is through politics, Lois has served as president of the Memphis Women’s Political Caucus and has been active in the Democratic Party. Through these organizations she has worked on behalf of candidates who support the causes in which she deeply believes. Among those whom Lois has helped elect to public office are Judge Bernice Donald, U.S. Attorney Veronica Coleman, City Councilwomen Mary Rose McCormick and Barbara Swearingen-Holt and State Representatives Carol Chumney, Henri Brooks and Kathryn Bowers.

Throughout her career in human resources, Lois observed all kinds of discrimination in the workplace. In the late 1970s, Lois cofounded the Equal Employment Opportunity Council of Greater Memphis. This marked the beginning of a network referral system and exchange of job information, which resulted in improved job opportunities for minorities and women. She served as president of the organization and was a member of the Governor’s Committee for the Handicapped.

Always interested in women’s issues, Lois has worked with the YWCA since 1985. She chaired the 1991–1993 Abused Women’s Services Committee and oversaw the opening of a second shelter. Lois is a founding member of the Public Issues Forum, a group dedicated to providing a medium for the public discussion essential to a healthy and progressive society.

Believing that children are our future, Lois serves on the board of Tennessee Mentorship, a group that works with at-risk children ages 3–6. She also is active with EdPac, which promotes opportunities to improve public schools and endorses effective school board candidates.

When asked which of her many endeavors has been most meaningful, she identified her work during the Civil Rights movement. What Lois has learned from her life of activism is that our future lies in appreciating diversity and respecting cultures different from our own. Lois’ steadfast efforts over the decades are clear proof of that belief.

Lois Freeman passed away on May 17, 2018.

Women of Achievement
2000

STEADFASTNESS
for a woman with a lifetime of achievement:

Elizabeth Toles

One of the quiet heroines in Memphis is Elizabeth Toles, a former schoolteacher who has been steadfast in her support for others for all of her 79 years. During her 32 years in the classroom, before retiring in 1975, she was highly regarded for her kindness, her emphasis on excellence, and her active community service.

Elizabeth was born blind and left motherless at three weeks of age when her mother died. Her sight in one eye returned at age nine and she has proceeded to spend a lifetime teaching others how to overcome obstacles. Elizabeth has received numerous awards, citations, and recognition from all walks of life. In 1969, during the days of heightened racial tensions, she donated half a commercial building at 1277 Mississippi for the Memphis Police Department to use as a community service center – because she saw the need.

She currently pastors the Church of Good Fellowship, which she began in 1985. She strongly advocates tithing so much that she gives 10 percent of her church’s monthly income to help college students. Her church donates another one percent of its monthly revenue to MIFA to help feed the hungry. She teaches Bible study at King’s Daughters and Sons Home and sponsors a Thanksgiving dinner there annually.

The praise for Elizabeth’s good works is voluminous. She has been written about in national publications and received recognition from mayors, governors and the U.S. Congress.

She has helped send young people to college, provided stability for children whose families were in crisis, and given money anonymously to help many people – young and old – with their dreams. At her church’s Pastor Appreciation Day, one young woman said, “When I was a little girl, I thought Elizabeth Toles was a millionaire. She helped everybody!”

Her life has been an example of steadfastness – devotion to God and devotion to helping others.

Women of Achievement
1999

STEADFASTNESS
for a woman with a lifetime of achievement:

Carlotta Stewart Watson

Carlotta Stewart Watson devoted her life to making a positive impact on children, particularly those she called “the forgotten students.”

Her 98 years have been marked by significant accomplishments including becoming the first woman of color certified as a guidance counselor in the Memphis City Schools where she served for 54 years. With a bachelor’s degree in education from LeMoyne-Owen College, she earned a master’s degree in education at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and traveled to South America, Africa and Europe “to increase my ability to serve more effectively.”

She escorted high school and college students to Atlantic City in the 1940s for employment opportunities so they could gain work experience and money needed to fund their education. In the 1950s she launched the first job clinic/job fair for students, which later became known as Career Day. In the 1960s she established the Carlotta Stewart Scholarship Fund to help deserving students.

Carlotta played a significant role in the fundraising to purchase the first site for a branch YWCA in 1942 as well as the second site in 1962. She has served the YWCA in a variety of leadership positions. She also founded the first Basileus of Alpha Eta Zeta chapter of Zeta Phi Beta sorority in 1939. She later helped open the organization’s Stork’s Nest Center, a project with the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation seeking to provide assistance to women and their babies. Her volunteerism also extends to working at WDIA, helping to link community members with agencies to meet their needs, and playing the role of “Aunt Carrie,” giving advice to young people. She is an active member of Mt. Pisgah CME Church where the fellowship hall is named for her. For the past 15 years, she has read newspapers and books on Memphis Public Library radio.

In February 1999, she received the first Comforter Award from the Tennessee Black Heritage Celebration for a person who embodies dedication to the uplifting of the minds and spirit of young people.

Carlotta’s steadfast goal has been “to remain on the ‘stage’ until ‘the last curtain call’ while striving to keep involved in activities … that will make me worthy of being loved, respected – and not alone.”

Carlotta is 104 this year and continues to attend community events.

Women of Achievement
1998

STEADFASTNESS
for a woman with a lifetime of achievement:

Jeanne Dreifus

Jeanne Dreifus could have led a comfortable life of home, children, and community board memberships, but she chose to be more – a lot more.

Twenty years ago, she brought the seed of an idea to the University of Memphis (formerly Memphis State University) for a youth agency to divert kids from the juvenile justice system. From its concentration on youth, the Human Services Co-Op soon included agencies for all ages. Out of the linkages that developed among the various agencies grew a number of grassroots community organizations such as the Council on Aging. Throughout the last 20 years, countless collaborations and training events have benefited our community as a result of the Human Services Co-Op.

Jeanne was also one of the founding mothers of Women of Achievement and she served two years as its president. She has served on the Mayor’s Community Relations Commission, the Free the Children think tank, and Goals for Memphis, just to name a few.

She continues to work to make her community a better place with her involvement with Aloysius Home, Inc., a residence for persons with AIDS. But she is probably best known as “The Hippy Lady.” An organization that began in 1969, the acronym stands for The Home Instruction Program for Pre-School Youngsters. The program began in Israel, but today HIPPY can be found in 11 countries and 30 states, helping mothers prepare their children for school.

Jeanne received the University of Memphis’ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Award for her work in improving human relations at the university. And she was also honored with the prestigious Hannah G. Solomon Award from the Memphis Section of the National Council of Jewish Women. This award is given to a person making an outstanding contribution to the council and the community.

In addition to her community involvement and being a grandmother to five grandchildren, Jeanne still finds time to interview students each year for entrance to Harvard/Radcliffe College. She is an alumna of Radcliffe and was elected alumni trustee from 1981–1985.

Jeanne received a 2001 Humanitarian Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice.

Women of Achievement
1997

STEADFASTNESS
for a woman with a lifetime of achievement:

Frances Dancy Hooks

The 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a turning point in the lives of many Memphians, and it certainly played a significant role in directing the course of Frances Hooks’ life. She and her husband, Benjamin, then a criminal court judge and the pastor of two Baptist congregations, were close confidants of King, and his death struck them both very hard. But through her pain and devastation, Frances was equally determined to continue his message in Memphis. The tragedy inspired her to better Memphis through her work as educator and as the wife of an active minister and civil rights leader in the African-American community.

Frances worked as a guidance counselor at Carver High School in South Memphis. By bringing together hundreds of volunteers in an effort called Memphis Volunteer Placement, Frances began a major effort to ensure that her students knew what career options were available to them, how to apply for financial aid for college, and how to complete a college application. Because of these efforts, many of her students went on to graduate from college, something many of them never before dreamed possible.

After acquiring her master’s degree in education, Frances continued her mission to improve educational and employment opportunities for minorities and the poor in the decades following the 1960s. She helped create a program that allowed pregnant teens to continue their education. Her dedication to improving the Riverview-Kansas neighborhood in Memphis continues through her involvement in the Riverview Kansas Day Care Center and other programs.

Frances’ most steadfast role has probably been at her husband’s side, supporting his career as a judge and minister, and later his appointment to the Federal Communications Commission and as national director of the NAACP.

Today, Frances and Ben have returned to Memphis, where she serves as a trustee of the Memphis College of Art, is a founding member of Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis, and a member of the Memphis Race Relations Institute.

Women of Achievement
1996

STEADFASTNESS
for a woman with a lifetime of achievement:

Ann Bell

Ann Bell taught medical technologists, medical students, residents and physicians at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine where she worked for 55 years.

But Ann Bell is not a physician and she is not a Ph.D.

She was a professor of clinical laboratory science and began her career as the secretary to the Department of Clinical Pathology in 1941. And her students awarded her a “Golden Apple” – an award usually reserved for M.D.s only.

Ann is a nationally recognized leader in the study of hematology and oncology who has presented more than 130 national workshops and given papers all over the world.

Ann came to her UT job with a degree from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. The following year, she began five years of training in clinical pathology with Dr. L.W. Diggs, the late professor of medicine at UT and an expert on sickle cell and other blood diseases.

In 1954, with Diggs and Memphis artist Dorothy Sturm, Ann published The Morphology of Human Blood Cells, which is now in its fifth edition as the definitive textbook on hematology. She developed a national technologists’ training program and manual that is used throughout the world.

In 1969, Ann became licensed as a medical laboratory supervisor in hematology by the Tennessee Department of Public Health. She was the ninth person certified as a specialist in hematology by the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, and in 1981 was certified as a clinical laboratory specialist in hematology by the National Certification Agency.

While continuing her multiple duties at UT, Ann attended Memphis State University from 1970 to 1974 to obtain required courses to enter graduate school, and she completed a Master of Science degree in cell biology in 1977.

She has published numerous original and indexed scientific articles and assisted with many others.

The Pathology Society in 1988 named her “Technologist of the Year,” the highest national award for individuals in the field.

“Ma Bell” officially retired five years ago – but not until March 1996, at the age 75, did she stop. She continued “part-time” as emeritus assistant professor of clinical laboratory sciences in the College of Allied Health Sciences.

Women of Achievement
1994

STEADFASTNESS
for a woman with a lifetime of achievement:

Mattie Sengstacke

Long before anybody was talking about “networking” Mattie Sengstacke was doing it. No one in Memphis during the past three decades has been more effective in bringing people of different races, classes, religions and interests together to work for good causes.

A native of Little Rock, she grew up and was educated in Chicago, then moved to Memphis in the early 1960s with her newspaper editor husband and their children. Here, Mattie immediately joined the newly formed Saturday Lunch Club, a group of black and white women who lunched together monthly to monitor compliance with the desegregation mandates of the new U.S. Civil Rights Act. As Mattie has said, “That’s when it all started.”

She soon became a fixture in the struggle for local civic progress — a catalyst who could make things happen.

In the 1960s Mattie spearheaded establishment of the Red Balloon Players, an integrated traveling theater group for children. She started a summer “dew-in” for underprivileged girls. She served on the Front Street Theatre board, and was chairperson of Friends of Channel 10. In 1968 she supported the striking sanitation workers by holding “house-rent parties” and signing up marchers for demonstrations.

In the 1970s, as a charter member and president of Memphis Council for International Visitors, Mattie scheduled activities for foreign visitors to the city. She also founded an emergency fund to help stranded student refugees. She was a charter member of MIFA and organized the W.C. Handy Centennial Celebration in 1973. She worked for equal rights for women as a founding member of the Volunteer Women’s Roundtable, and she joined in the efforts of women seeking (to no avail) to start a women’s channel on Memphis cable TV.

In the 1980s Mattie helped organize United Music Heritage to honor unrecognized pioneers of Memphis music. She was program coordinator for the monthly ecumenical breakfasts of Congregations United, a project of the National Council of Christians and Jews. She also worked with Family Service, Girl Scouts, the Heart Fund, U.S.O., Girls Club, Habitat for Humanity and United Way.

In 1994 Mattie single-handedly organized a recognition ceremony at the National Civil Rights Museum to pay tribute to “Women Who Made A Difference in the ‘60s in Memphis.” Sure, Mattie Sengstacke is a woman who has made a difference in Memphis. As moving spirit, guardian angel, guiding genius or president facilitator for a succession of worthy projects through the years, she is a model of steadfastness.

Women of Achievement
1993

STEADFASTNESS
for a woman with a lifetime of achievement:

Selma Lewis

This quiet, modest woman has spent her adult years making life better for Memphis and Memphians, along the way affecting the entire nation. Championing the causes of better race relations, better social services and the arts, Selma Lewis has led with grace, sureness and compassion.

Always concerned with the quality of life for children, in 1964 Selma and her friend Myra Dreifus gathered 10 people together to discuss the development of a fund that would be used to purchase school lunches for children who would otherwise go hungry. Working with Vista Volunteers, Selma surveyed Memphians for their support. Their research found that thousands of children were unable to purchase a lunch. Armed with patience and determination, Selma and other volunteers were able to successfully overcome a lengthy legal battle that allowed the Memphis Board of Education to set up the Fund for Needy School Children. So successful was the undertaking that the federal government used it as a basis for today’s National School Lunch Program.

Interested in both the spirit and body of the child, Selma also founded the School Concerts Program, which brought the Memphis Symphony into the public schools.

In 1962 she became the first female president of the Jewish Family Service, an organization that provides social services for the Jewish community. Her growing concern for the homeless led her to champion the Memphis Coalition for the Homeless in 1977. The next year she went on to co-found the Mental Health Society of Memphis and Shelby County. During her 10 years on the board, Selma organized the Community Family Conference and was co-editor of the “Directory of Mental Health Services of Memphis and Shelby County.”

While working to improve her community, Selma also worked to improve herself. Having earned a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt in 1942, she returned to school at the age of 50 to obtain a PhD in American history. With Marjean Kremer, she co-authored “Historic Black Memphians” and “The Angel of Beale Street: A Biography of Julia Ann Hooks.” Currently she is at work on a “History of the Memphis Jewish Community, 1840s – 1960s.”

Independently nominated for this award by several groups as well as individuals, each nomination speaks of Selma’s modesty and willingness to give others credit. Selma Lewis’ steadfastness in serving Memphis, in helping those in need and in recording the history of our community truly makes her a “woman of achievement.”

Women of Achievement
1992

STEADFASTNESS
for a woman with a lifetime of achievement:

Alberta Gaines

Alberta Gaines has dedicated her life to improving the lies of people across Shelby County. As a young woman from Port Royal, Tennessee, she first took her UT-Knoxville B.S. degree in home economics into Tipton, White and Hardin public schools as a teacher. Eventually she signed on with the Agricultural Extension Service and came to Shelby County as an extension home economist.

That easily was one of Shelby County’s luckiest days.

From teaching young people how to grow their own food in the Youth Service Garden Project to protecting consumers through her work for the Better Business Bureau, sewing clothes for needy children and sharing her expertise with the Mid-South Fair, 4-H and MIFA — Alberta Gaines has been a one-woman resource center for numerous organizations.

For 37 years she has worked through programs at Emmanuel Episcopal Church and other community groups to improve the lives of children and poor people. She has served on the Youth Service in Memphis board of directors since January 1967 and was voted a life member several years ago to ensure she could not rotate off! She also has been treasurer of St. Augustine’s Guild, an auxiliary group to Youth Service. Alberta has been active in Church Women United, American Red Cross, Northside Christian Center, Memphis Day Shelter and the Better Business Bureau’s fabric panel and general board.

Alberta retired in 1983 after 29 years with the Extension Service — but “retired” to Alberta means she has more time for community projects. She soon followed her curiosity to Habitat for Humanity. When she found the project had no paid staff, she kept the books, took in monthly payments, answered telephones and presented slide-show lectures about Habitat’s program of building homes through donations for low-income families. She became active on Habitat’s national board while also heading the local screening committee interviewing many of the hundreds of applicant families each year.

She is truly steadfast in her commitment to making her corner of the world a better place to live. If, as Queen Mother Elizabeth of the United Kingdom once said, service is the rent we pay for our space here on earth, Alberta Gaines has paid her mortgage for several lifetimes.