Category: Determination

Women of Achievement
2004

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

Carol Prentiss

Carol Prentiss is a leading philanthropist with an equal knack for raising funds from others. With a record-setting history of support for local causes, it is her long-lasting determination to raise awareness of the too-often hidden tragedy of child sexual abuse that reverberates the most.

Carol, like her husband Jim Prentiss, long has given generously of her personal wealth. Carol also has worked tirelessly to raise money for such important not-for-profits in our city as the Memphis Zoo, the YWCA’s Spouse Abuse Shelter, Brooks Museum and the Memphis Child Advocacy Center. Carol considers the Child Advocacy Center her “special cause.”

Her heartfelt conviction that the abuse of children should be fought openly and prevented by every means possible led to efforts that will have profound effects for decades to come.

Carol rose from modest beginnings. After working for Shoney’s South for 22 years she found herself the highest-ranking woman in the company as a division director overseeing 26 restaurants in the Carolinas. After her move to Memphis and marriage to Shoney’s chief executive, Jim, in 1986, she dove into charity work with an equal amount of energy. Soon, the two of them were a dynamic duo in fundraising circles.

When Carol discovered the newly formed Child Advocacy Center in 1990, she found a cause to call home. She stepped in to help where needed and has not slowed yet.

The CAC’s founding executive director, Nancy Chandler, reports Carol “came to the rescue of the struggling-to-be-born” center. Chandler said Carol immediately recognized the overwhelming need and provided voluntary leadership that has grown and matured over time.

Current executive director Nancy Williams credits Carol for shepherding her through her first few years on the job. “Carol has never moved from the role of advocate when she talks with people in our community about sexually abused children – not a popular conversation topic,” Nancy says. She adds that Carol “is a champion of children … what matters most to Carol – and what she lives out – is that she makes a difference in the life of one child.”

A decade and a half after joining the cause, Carol has made a difference in the life of countless children. She worked to bring about a successful opening of the center in the former Four Flames Building in 1992, and the construction of a new wing in 2000. She has supported the development of a multidisciplinary team, which reviews more than 2,000 reports of abuse annually. Every year she chairs a lavish gala event that raised $35,000 its first year and last year netted more than $200,000 for the CAC. She speaks tirelessly on behalf of the center and has made dozens of face-to-face requests for major donations.

Apathy, ignorance, inertia – all have vanished in the wake of this one-woman embodiment of determination.

 

Carol Prentiss currently serves on the CAC’s Board Emeritus as a community volunteer.

Women of Achievement
2002

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

JoeAnn Ballard

When JoeAnn Ballard was a little girl in Mississippi, her father read her the biography of Florence Nightingale, a young English woman who, against her family’s wishes, became a nurse to help others. Fascinated by this story, JoeAnn decided that her mission in life was to serve the poor. Decades later she continues to fulfill that mission through her work as executive director of the Neighborhood Christian Centers, which started in 1978 with one small location. The Neighborhood Christian Centers now consist of five local centers plus affiliates in other states. More than 15,000 people are helped each year.

JoeAnn was born in Mississippi into a poverty-stricken family. When she was an infant, she and two siblings were left with their great aunt and uncle, who provided a home filled with love. That home was opened to many foster children, an example that JoeAnn would follow. As JoeAnn grew up, she remained determined to battle poverty; she just wasn’t sure how. During an assembly program in her first year of college, she heard a couple talk about Christ and knew that she had to become a Christian. She applied to Nazarene Bible College in West Virginia. Upon her arrival JoeAnn found that she was the only woman in a large group of men, but was determined to stick it out. Upon graduation she came to Memphis to reopen a church. That fall a child in Sunday school came to her and said she needed a sweater. JoeAnn bought the sweater and began her mission with the poor.

The following year she met and married Monroe Ballard. Over the past 30 years, they have been foster parents to more than 75 children while raising three of their own.

The Neighborhood Christian Centers started with $15,000 from Second Presbyterian Church. At first, JoeAnn was the only employee. Under her leadership, the center became the largest Christian social service agency in the state. “I don’t know who has done more than JoeAnn Ballard for the poorest of the poor,” said Larry Lloyd, president of the Hope Christian Community Foundation. “She is a deeply faithful woman.”

The center’s services include tutoring, college assistance, adult education, job training, legal and financial counseling, clothing closets and food distribution. JoeAnn tries to make sure everyone who comes in contact with the ministry is served one at a time, accomplished only with the faithful help of 40 paid staff and many volunteers. The center’s budget is funded through churches, foundations and individuals. There is no government assistance. JoeAnn says, “Our aim is not to eradicate poverty. Our aim is to help people who are poor and to spread the gospel.” How has JoeAnn made such an impact? She says, “We try to feel a person’s pain and meet that person’s need.”

JoeAnn Ballard’s determination rescues children and families from the damaging cycle of poverty. JoeAnn Ballard’s determination saves lives.

 

JoeAnn Ballard’s daughter Ephie took control over the Neighborhood Christian Centers in 2008.

Women of Achievement
2001

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

Debbie Norton, Jalena Bowling and Denny Glad

What if you didn’t know your birthmother? Your birthfather? Your birthsiblings? For some of us, that might seem to be an option we might momentarily enjoy. But, quickly we would realize that it is these very people who make us the unique and special individuals we are. For millions of adoptees this lack of knowledge is an emotional struggle and a physical challenge. Jalena Bowling, Denny Glad and Debbie Norton understand this feeling and have taken giant steps to help.

These three women epitomize determination. They are adult adoption activists who have achieved tremendous successes in connecting parents and their adopted children. Through a long and difficult struggle with the Tennessee State Legislature and numerous court delays, Bowling, Glad and Norton have fought for the right to know. Now, because of their efforts, thousands of birth records have been unsealed and hundreds of families have been reunited.

As Debbie Norton explained, “This is a civil-rights issue. What is more basic than the right to know who you are and where you come from? What most people take for granted, we have had to fight for.”

The final bill allowing this new freedom of information also protects those parents and adult children who truly do not wish to be contacted. By instituting a “contact veto” provision, which includes both civil and criminal penalties, this special bill has become a model for other states seeking to work through this difficult and emotional issue. Through their determination, Jalena Bowling, Denny Glad and Debbie Norton have made a difference in countless lives.

 

Denny Glad passed away on May 12, 2008 at age 70.

Women of Achievement
2000

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

Bernice Donald

Determination is personified in Judge Bernice Bouie Donald.

When Bernice transferred from an all-black school to Olive Branch High School in her junior year, she was the only African-American honor student invited to attend a field trip to New York. The sixth of 10 children, she knew the expense of the trip would be a hardship for her family. But her mother, Willie Bouie, assured Bernice she’d find the $200. Although Willie was a domestic worker at the time and her husband was a sharecropper, they somehow scraped together the money, and young Bernice went to New York. Today, she travels the world, but credits her mother’s determination to see her children reach their full potential as the inspiration for her own determined success.

“She’s just an incredible person,” Bernice says of her mother. “She always forced me to go beyond my comfort zone, and her persistence has paid off. Now, instead of just going to New York, I’m going halfway around the world. I really attribute it directly to her.”

The destination “halfway around the world” is Russia, where for the past three years Bernice has taught Russian women about women’s rights, the women’s movement in the U.S., and antidiscrimination laws. This year, she will do the same for women in Turkey as an advisory member on the board of the Central and Eastern European Law Initiative. Although she remains very active in local and national causes, she’s enthusiastic about her work in emerging democracies.

In 1982, Bernice became Judge Bernice Donald for the first time when she was elected to the Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Court bench, the first African-American woman to be elected judge in Tennessee. In 1988, she became the first African-American woman in the nation to be appointed as a U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge. Finally, in January 1996, she received a lifetime appointment as a federal judge in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee – another first in the state.

Bernice didn’t grow up planning to become a judge, or even an attorney. As a young girl, she would gather her dolls and those of her sisters and line them up against the bedroom wall. She would “teach” the assembled “students” by reading to them from the encyclopedia. As she grew older she aspired to become a teacher. Again, it was her mother who intervened. Willie insisted that young Bernice go to college, but told her she should reconsider her plans to become a teacher. Still, Bernice has been teaching in one fashion or another since 1980 as an adjunct professor at the former Shelby State Community College, the University of Memphis and the National Judicial College.

 

On December 1, 2010, Bernice Donald was nominated by President Barack Obama for a judgeship on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She received her commission on September 8, 2011 and continues to serve as a judge on the court.

Women of Achievement
1999

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

Bert P. Wolff

Bert Prosterman Wolff has been a strong advocate of public education and quality education for all.

The first of her four children was born the year that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” was no longer acceptable. She remembers vividly the day, less than six years later, when a half dozen African-American children entered Avon School surrounded by patrolling police and some angry, vocal citizens.

“After Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, I was even more determined to help Memphis City Schools become as good as they could become for all of our children,” Bert said.

As the NAACP and school officials negotiated desegregation, starting with “Plan A,” Bert and others created and staffed a Rumor Control Center, supported by and housed in the Chamber of Commerce, to initiate networking groups to calm and educate the community with facts, not rumors. She was a volunteer guidance counselor at Carver High, and a member of the Panel of American Women, Better Schools Committee and the integrated Frances Hooks book club for women.

In 1979, she ran for and won school board Position 2, at-large, a citywide race. From 1980 to 1984, the community was again polarized over desegregation, school prayer and family-life curriculum. As board president in 1983, she was a leader in negotiations of policy changes necessary to initiate the final steps of “Plan Z” so that neighborhood schools could begin to be reinstated after the city’s desegregation struggle. She found little support in the white power structure; her friends, Congressional delegation, and City Council and County Commission members urged her to oppose the last step to integrate Memphis City Schools. She would, they said, lose her re-election if she supported Plan Z.

Finally, after months of meetings and comments from parents, teachers, lawyers and staff, the board met at 5 p.m. and voted at 1:25 a.m. Four voted yes, four voted no. “As president, I cast the final and deciding vote – the tie breaker – to integrate. All hell broke lose … I had to be escorted home.”

For the next eight months, Bert received hate mail, bomb threats, obscene phone calls nightly from 2 to 5 a.m. And she lost her bid for a second term. “Was it worth it? Would I do it again? Absolutely.”

Bert was founding executive director of the Epilepsy Foundation of West Tennessee from 1975 to 1983 and brought it to national recognition. From 1990 to 1993 she served Opera Memphis as executive director. In her seven years at the Memphis Botanic Garden, Bert held positions including foundation director and assistant director before her retirement in 2001.

She is a charter member of the Panel of American Women, founding member of Network of Memphis and has served on the boards of the Wolf River Conservancy, Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association, Temple Israel, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and the State Commission on Women.

 

Bert Wolff continues to fight for equality in the Memphis School system.

Women of Achievement
1998

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

Shelia Tankersley

Shelia Tankersley watched her best friend, who was diagnosed with AIDS, speak out about his disease and become involved with local AIDS education and support groups. He died in 1989, but his struggle with the disease changed her life forever, and she promised him she would continue working for this cause.

At first, she organized friends and family to rock newborns at The Med. Soon the staff started asking if she could help babysit so patients wouldn’t miss appointments. Still more requests came for help with diapers and transportation. Recognizing a need in the community, Shelia founded Loving Arms in 1991, a nonprofit group with a goal of providing emotional and financial support to women and children battling HIV/AIDS.

By 1994, with a grant from the Ryan White Foundation, she was able to lease a van to provide transportation to her clients who come from St. Jude, Methodist/Le Bonheur Healthcare and most of the area hospitals and social services. Other money comes from donations and fundraisers.

As the number of clients continued to grow, Shelia was forced to make a career decision. She prayed very hard, and in 1995 she decided to walk away from her job of 14 years to devote herself full time as executive director of Loving Arms. However, the only means of support for herself and the organization was her savings.

In 1996, with another grant from the Ryan White Foundation, she was able to pay herself a salary. Her staff is comprised of about 75 volunteers working with 93 families and close to 200 children.

AIDS is a controversial disease, and Shelia has not escaped negative comments. But other people’s opinions have not slowed her down. While caring for others, she also has raised four children as a single parent. Her children are all involved in Loving Arms. One daughter quit her job to drive the van full time.

Shelia has won the J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award, the East Memphis Exchange Club’s “Book of Golden Deeds Award,” and in 1996 she was awarded Mayor W.W. Herenton’s “Make A Difference Award,” the first of 12 to be given to Memphis citizens who are giving something back to their communities. In 1997, she was featured in the Sept. 16 issue of Family Circle magazine.

Shelia says the greatest blessing has been the women and children she serves daily. Her clients are some of the bravest and most determined women she has ever met, living with the personal, emotional, physical and financial stress of their disease, yet possessing positive attitudes and a will to survive. And the children, with all the difficulties they encounter, are filled with love and joy. She feels we can all learn from these children.

Women of Achievement
1997

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

Deborah Cunningham

In an age filled with people searching for the easy way out, determination can be hard to find. But don’t suggest the easy way out to Deborah Cunningham. And don’t ever tell her to give up.

Afflicted with polio at the age of 6, Deborah refuses to use the disease as an excuse and she tries to help others do the same. As the executive director for the Memphis Center for Independent Living, it’s Deborah’s job to fight for the rights of the disabled, but it is her determination that causes those fights to go way beyond the call of duty.

In 1990, Deborah, a volunteer with ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation), along with other members of the group, began a protest against the Malco theaters. What Deborah’s group wanted was simple: seating in Malco theaters that allows people in wheelchairs to sit with nondisabled companions and still have a good view of the screen. When a letter sent to the president of the company was ignored, Deborah’s determination would not let her back down. She led the group in a 45-minute protest at 7 p.m. on a busy Saturday night. That effort got the group an audience with Malco’s president.

In 1995, Deborah decided it was high time for the Mid-South Fair to make the event more accessible. She helped pushed fair officials to move more quickly on their promised renovations on the event to bring it up to federal standards of accessibility.

Her determination has continued to shine in recent years. After feeling that the main effects of polio were behind her, Deborah discovered a few years ago that she would not be so lucky. She, like many polio victims, was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome. But instead of using this recent affliction as a reason to give up, Deborah used it as another reason to fight. Under Deborah’s direction, the Center for Independent Living started a monthly post-polio patient support group and disseminates current information on the subject.

Whether it is accessibility or other issues of concern to people with disabilities, Deborah is never afraid to speak her mind and never afraid to advocate for what is right. She is not afraid of what others think, and she is determined to make sure the playing field is level for everyone.

Deborah continues to press for accessibility as required by law in local restaurants and other facilities and adequate transportation services from Memphis Area Transportation Authority.

 

Deborah Cunningham died on May 7, 2015.

Women of Achievement
1996

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

Doris Walker

When Doris Walker entered the medical field more than 40 years ago, she had two barriers to overcome: her color and her weight.

She graduated from Manassas High School with very high grades. She left Memphis after graduation to work in Chicago then moved to Milwaukee in 1945. Wanting to become a Licensed Practical Nurse, she applied to the Milwaukee Institute of Technology for an interview. After reviewing her application, the school did not believe the high grades from her high school transcript could be hers. They gave her a battery of academic and psychological tests, which she successfully completed.

Still not satisfied, a counselor told her that she should be a secretary. “To whom?” she asked. “Just give me a chance and if I can’t do it, I’ll leave.” That determination resulted in her becoming the first black student in the practical nursing program. She studied hard to make sure she did well and graduated at the top of her class. She was such a good nurse that a Milwaukee hospital, which never had a black person on staff, offered her a job.

Doris later worked in New Jersey and Detroit. In 1954, she returned to Memphis and began work as an LPN at the old John Gaston Hospital. When she learned of the E.H. Crump School for Black Nurses, she decided to pursue her dream of becoming a registered nurse. Once again, despite her excellent academic record, getting accepted was her biggest challenge. Even though she made the highest scores on the entrance exams, she was told that unless she lost weight she couldn’t enroll. She accomplished this and went on to graduate as valedictorian of the first class of black R.N.s.

After graduation Doris went to work at the City of Memphis Hospital as an R.N. She worked her way up through the ranks to become the first black operating room supervisor, the first person to supervise in-service training for all special care units and then the first assistant director of nursing over special care units.

In 1974, Doris was appointed acting associate administrator of nursing but did not have the academic qualifications to be permanently assigned the position. Determination again came into play and she went back to school, this time to Memphis State University. Married, she worked, raised her child and obtained both her bachelor’s degree in health services administration in 1977 and a masters of public administration in 1983.

After completing her bachelor’s degree, she became director of nursing at the Shelby County Health Care Center. There she worked to help the institution raise its standards. In 1980, she again returned to the City of Memphis Hospital, this time as director of nursing. She was part of the team that planned the transition of the hospital into the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. She later became the first vice president of nursing and retired in June 1985. Since that time she has worked as a consultant for senior citizen issues and for home health care.

Women of Achievement
1994

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

Shera Bie

Shera Bie was an elementary school teacher in 1968 when her eight-year-old daughter was diagnosed with learning disabilities. She soon joined the fledgling Memphis Association for Children with Learning Disorders — and began 24 years of passionate, skillful advocacy for handicapped children and adults in Tennessee.

In 1968, the MACLD was largely a support group for parents of children with learning disabilities. In her first of four terms as president in 1974, she organized groups in Tennessee into a state affiliate of the national ACLD, Inc. and was elected the first state president.

When Shera discovered that Tennessee’s Mandatory Special Education Law, passed in 1972, was not being implemented, she organized 85 related Memphis groups to support implementation and full funding. More than 300 parents and children came to a Nashville rally to hear 13 parents address the state House of Representatives. Two days later, Shera and some of the speakers met for 90 minutes with Gov. Winfield Dunn and the state finance chairman. As a result, $1.5 million was added to the governor’s special education budget.

In 1978, the national ACLD recognized the need for families to have assistance in order to use the 1975 federal law to gain access to appropriate special education services. After attending national training sessions, Shera and six others began what is now Effective Advocacy for Citizens with Handicaps (EACH), the state protection and advocacy agency with three offices across the state.

Through the 1970s and into the 1980s Shera devoted hours to both the local and state organizations. She had a business telephone in the name of ACLD installed in her home. She took care of newsletters, educational meetings, parent coffees and dispensing of information. She presented programs for schools and civic groups. She appeared on radio and TV programs. She arranged with the Memphis City Schools Mental Health Center to join MACLD in publishing the first Learning Disorders Source Book, a free listing of all agencies in Shelby County, with services for individuals and their families.

As volunteer involvement declined and active chapters faded, she worked with a small group to reactivate the state organization and find for it a funding base that would permit a paid staff. In 1984, Shera was hired at token pay as the first executive director and she developed a strategy to secure United Way funding by bringing to Memphis from Minnesota a parent support and education program base on building self-image.

When she stepped down in 1992, Shera left in place a vigorous organization with two employees, a committed volunteer base and a budget of $66,236. The program benefits enjoyed today by many exceptional children are the direct result of Shera Bie’s untiring determination.

Women of Achievement
1993

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

Ola Mae Ransom

In 1986, Ola Mae Ransom’s son, a Vietnam vet who had been sprayed with Agent Orange, developed arthritis in the spine and an inoperable disk problem. He became unable to work. In search of services, she accompanied him to the Vietnam Veterans Center.

There she observed groups of men sitting around for hours on end. When she asked a counselor about the situation he explained that the vets were homeless. With nowhere to go, they came to the center in the morning for coffee and doughnuts and then slept on the streets at night.

Appalled at the public indifference to the plight of many Vietnam vets, Ola Mae mortgaged her own home, invested her savings and solicited donations to buy two duplexes and set up the Alpha Omega Faith Homes.

On February 14, 1988, Alpha Omega Faith Homes opened the doors to veterans in need of a home environment and assistance in getting back on their feet. Since then hundreds of vets have passed through the doors and back into useful lives in the community.

When asked about her motivation, Ola Mae says that she’s “done this work all my life.” Raised in Mississippi by her mother, who helped women deliver their babies in the fields, and her father and father and grandfather, who themselves worked with the homeless, she moved to Memphis and continued her family’s tradition of helping solve community problems.

Ola Mae Ransom’s determination to address the plight of the Vietnam War veteran resulted in the founding of Alpha Omega, an organization that continues to serve veterans’ needs. And, she continues to invest her energy in improving our community.

 

Ola Mae Ransom passed away December 20, 1999 aged 74.