I am still reveling in the fact that 2016 is over. It became a year when so many of our beloved friends and family passed on into the next dimension. It is only fitting to now give the 2016 departed a proper send-off before marching forward. There are far too many names to mention, so let the following represent all of the dearly departed who have now joined ranks in heaven.
Dr. Stanley Earl Nelson died Sept. 6 at 100 years of age. Born in Northeast Washington, D.C., he graduated from Howard University Dental School, completed residencies in Ashrams all over the world and went on to build a successful practice on New York City’s Central Park South. A pioneer in reconstructive dentistry, he was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, taught at New York University, was an active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement and founded the American Institute for Preventive Dentistry. A man noted for his elegance and charm, Nelson was a lover of the good life: food, music, women, his family and all the natural beauty he could summon. Nelson, who was pre-deceased by wife A’Lelia Ransom Nelson, died at home with his son, documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson Jr., and his daughter-in-law Marcia Smith.
Lennie Myneola Berry Williams (Aug. 26, 1923-July 19, 2016) was the first of two daughters born to Emma Lucille Wells Berry and the Rev. Isaac Reed Berry, in Lewisburg, W.Va. Williams obtained her first degree from the University of Pittsburg, majoring in French and simultaneously pledging Delta Sigma Theta. Upon graduation, she headed to New York City, obtaining her master’s degree at Columbia Teachers College while spending the summer at the Sorbonne and Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, Paris, France. It wasn’t all work though, as one night on a boat ride, she would meet the man of her dreams, John Langston Williams Sr. Married in 1947, the union produced two sons, John (Langston) Jr., who pre-deceased her (Oct. 10, 1949-June 8, 2016) and Garrett Anderson Williams, who now lives in Dortmund, Germany, with his husband, Christian-Gerd Stolzenberger. Williams taught at J.H.S. 71 and J.H.S. 43, where she was both the French and the Spanish teacher. Fond of the good life and civic duty, Williams was a constant sight at political and social functions. She was a volunteer at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and a member of 100 Black Women, the French Institute Alliance Francaise and the Tioga Carver Community Foundation.
Franklin Wheeler Morton III (May 6, 1953-Nov. 11, 2016) was the eldest child of the late Hon. Franklin W. Morton Jr., justice of the New York State Supreme Court, and Gwendolyn Louise Morton. He had a talent for drawing, loved playing sports and, most of all with the ability to make friends easily, was the life of any party. After graduating from Boys High School, he attended Dartmouth College, where he met and married the love of his life, Robin Johnson. He is missed by a host of friends and family, including his lifelong friend, Dr. Curtis Cave, Brooklyn, N.Y.
A celebration of life was most recently held for Wilhelmina Billie E. Holliday (Sept. 10, 1930-Dec. 17, 2016). Born in Jacksonville, Fla., to John and Leah Holliday, she wasraised in Manhattan and graduated from New York University with a degree in psychology and sociology and from the New School with a master’s in human resources and manpower development. Holliday was a devoted member of the Ethiopian Hebrew Commandment Keepers Synagogue, the oldest Afro-American Hebrew congregation in New York. Billie, as she was affectionately known, had an illustrious career in law enforcement. In 1976, Governor Hugh Cary appointed Holliday to the New York State Parole Board. As commissioner, she presided over the parole hearings for inmates at the state’s 37 correctional facilities. In January 1984, she was appointed deputy commissioner of Community Affairs for the New York City Police Department, under Ben Ward, where she was the highest-ranking African-American woman in law enforcement in the United States. After retirement in April 1994, Holliday topped off her career by becoming police commissioner of Mount Vernon, N.Y. Although her civic associations are too numerous to mention, she was perhaps most proud of her presidency of the NAACP Mid-Manhattan Branch for eight years. She was a good friend of both Lennie Williams and Harriet DeLaney, and they are all interned at Trinity Church Cemetery & Mausoleum.
Passing way before his time was Jemel Shaquawn Crumes, a friendly fixture throughout the community, especially on 118th Street, where he was known as Hed. His funeral closed off 116th Street between Lenox and Seventh Avenue. The block was filled with people who came out to say goodbye.
Memorialized one day after Crumes was Zettie Burie Tarrant, eldest child of the late Jessie and Dorothy Tarrant. Formerly of New York City, Tarrant in later years had moved to Houston to be with her brother, Stanley, and his family. Her youngest brother, Kevin, now lives in Kuwait, where he works on a very sophisticated technological assignment for the Navy, and her daughter, Lisa Brodus, lives in San Francisco.
There are many more loved ones, such as Estelle B. Noble, Barbara Bunn and the Rev. Julius Jackson, who brought the first 16 years of this decade to an end and whose light, love and spirit we must carry on. There is, however, one person who is not from our community, whose name we may never have heard of before but should remember just the same. Abdul Ali Shamsi, deputy governor of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, was killed along with 10 other officials in a terrorist attack. Shamsi, 38 years old, was founder of the Afghanistan 1400 youth political movement whose mission, Shamsi stated, is “to stand up against things we believe are wrong, but the other more important factor is we project courage.” Shamsi consoled thousands who lost loved ones to the constant violence that plagues the country at the hands of the Taliban. He restored their hope, their courage to live on.
The Taliban spreads death, destruction and terror throughout the world and would love to get a foothold in the United States. We are more than lucky to have a Homeland Security Department both in New York City and across the country that is vigilant 24/7 to protect us. I look forward to the new administration keeping their promise to build our military, wipe out ISIS and the Taliban, to end the reign of terrorism and to make America (and the world) safe again. Let’s be supportive, hold those in power accountable and carry on the torch of those who have passed on before us.
Until next week … kisses.