THURSDAY JUNE 4, 2015
www.lasentinel.net
By Delorace Daniels
Far Western Region
of National Sorority of Phi
Delta Kappa, Inc. recently
celebrated 50 wonderfully
glorious years of serving
the community, boys and
girls at Four Points by
Sheraton Hotel, Los Angeles International Airport on
March 20-22, 2015. The
Conference Theme was
“Keeping the Spirit Alive:
Through Innovative and
Creative Dimensions” and
the Regional Theme was
“Renewing Our Spirit of
Sisterhood to Serve.” Regional Director Hattie McFrazier, President Debra
Moody and Host Chapter
Beta Phi did an excellent
job of coordinating the
well-planned, innovative
educational conference. It
was a fun filled weekend
full of surprises and events.
Guests had traveled from
far away and near by for
the conference and were
not disappointed. Some of
those far away guests were
President Charlotte M.
Williams from Baltimore,
MD; Past National President Betty J. Dixon from
Beachwood, OH; Past National President Margaret
Nelson from Washington,
D.C.; Southeast Regional Director Yvonne Ben
from Violet, LA; Past Far
Western Regional Director
Mary Jane McCoy from
Spokane, WA; Southwest
Regional Director Margarette Galloway from
DeSoto, TX and President
of Perpetual Scholarship
Florence O. King from
Bedminister, NJ. It was
also the special occasion
to acknowledge Regional
Director Hattie McFrazier
who is ending her four year
term of office as leader of
the Far Western Region in
June.
Members attended the
Standing: Mary Jane McCoy, Past Far Western Regional Director, Kim McCoy Pate, Hattie
McFrazier, Far Western Regional Director, Charlotte Williams, National President, and Debra
Moody, President, Beta Phi Chapter. Seated: Mrs. Della Skinner, “Mama Della,” 100 years old.
Leadership Workshop on
Friday and later on in the
evening, the conference
officially opened with the
Friendship Dinner. Guests
enjoyed a delicious meal
and participated in an exciting game of “Jeopardy.”
On Saturday, after the
Vital Issues Breakfast,
Emma Henderson, Mistress of Ceremonies introduced the panel of guest
speakers. Prepared questions were asked of the
panelist and anyone could
respond. The panel was
composed of Reverend
Ivan S. Pitts, Pastor, Second Baptist Church, Santa
Ana, CA, Judge Karen
Ackerson Gauff, Compton Courthouse, Dept. 5,
Compton, CA, Reverend
Dr. Virgil Jones, Pastor,
Calvary Baptist Church,
Los Angeles and Euridic
Fitz Johnson, Teacher
Consultant, Peer Assistant
Review (PAR), San Bernardino, CA.
Professional
development workshops were
informative and filled to
capacity. “Senior Scam,”
alerted guests to various
types of scams imaginable
that occurred all hours of
the day; “Common Core
in Action Across the Curriculum,”
guests were
inquisitive for more information on best practices,
what worked and did not
work and “Dancing to
the Groove at Any Age.”
Four dances were taught
and demonstrated: “Cupid Slide,” “Mississippi
Shuffle”, “Old School,”
and “Let’s Go.” There was
some type of dance with
movements for all ages.
Following the workshops
was a guided tour of Black
Historical Sites of Los
Angeles led by Dr.
Genevieve Shepherd. Dr.
Shepherd kept the guests
entertained with loads of
knowledge and facts about
various locations. Many
guests were surprised
when they passed the familiar sites of Jefferson
High School and Tommy’s
Burgers.
The Awards Program
was dynamic. The ladies
were dressed beautifully
and festively in red and the
Anthropos, “Men in Our
Lives” were very handsomely dressed. Everyone
was full of expectations
for the evening’s event and
they, too, were not disappointed. President Moody
of Beta Phi Chapter welcomed everyone to the
banquet followed by the
Introduction of the Dais
by Mary Jane McCoy and
Greetings extended from
several, The Honorable
Dr. Shirley Weber, State
Assembly Member, 79th
District, The Honorable
Isadore Hall, III, Senator
35th Senate District, National President Charlotte
M. Williams, Past National President Betty J.
Dixon and Regional Director Hattie McFrazier. We
were honored with “The
Spoken Word,” a dramatic
presentation by Miss Janae Burney, an eleven year
old seventh grade student
from Westchester Charter
Middle School. Janae was
very articulate and spoke
with conviction. She was
very talented and awesomely great! Guests were
entertained with a musical
selection by The William
Sims Band.
The Citation Award
was presented to Florence
Avognon, Senior Manager
for Los Angeles Community Development Department’s Gang Intervention
Program, Youth Award to
Mayisha Akbar, Executive Director, Compton Jr.
Posse Youth Equestrian
Program, Education Award
presented to former Mayor
of Compton, Doris A. Davis and Service Award to
Reverend Rafer Owens,
Pastor of Faith Inspirational Missionary Baptist
Church. A Special Award
from the Far Western Region was presented by
Member-At-Large Dr. Elcendia Nord to Regional
Director McFrazier.
Mrs. Della Skinner of
Spokane, WA was honored
as the oldest member of
the Far Western Region.
Mama Della as she is rightfully called is 100 years
old and still full of life and
energy. She is very supportive of the sorority and
is the mother of Mary Jane
McCoy, the Past Regional Director of the Far
Western Region.
Entertainment was provided by
The Moody Brothers.
Director
McFrazier
thanked and praised everyone for their commitment and unending support during her four year
tenure. She acknowledged
National President Williams, visiting dignitaries,
Sorors of the Far Western
Region and her Chapter,
Delta Kappa. She asked all
to Stop, Reflect, Serve and
Renew the Spirit of Sisterhood. She then acknowledged and asked each
Regional Officer to stand
and said, “Through all the
blood, sweat and tears, we
are still standing.” She
continued acknowledging
individuals until everyone had been thanked with
much appreciation. She
graciously turned over her
leadership position to her
successor, Velma Brown
who will be installed at
Conclave in July.
Florence O. King Presi-
C-4
dent Perpetual Scholarship
and her committee have
given National Sorority
of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc.,
$50,500 for Scholarship
Awards. The money is
used to provide scholarships to deserving students. National President
Williams presented National Scholarship Awards
for $6,000 to Brianna
Washington, Beta Nu (San
Francisco) and Robert
Butler III, Delta Kappa
(Inglewood). Far Western
Regional Secretary Berta
Norwood presented Winnie Palmer Scholarship
Awards for $750 to
Logan Patton, Gamma
Lambda, (Pasadena) and
Brandon Ojogho, Gamma
Lambda (Pasadena) and
Winnie Palmer Scholarship Awards for $500 to
Kimberly Mejia, Gamma
Lambda (Pasadena) and
Robert Butler III, Delta
Kappa (Inglewood).
The conference culminated with Sunday’s
Awards Breakfast. The
welcome was brought by
Director McFrazier followed by Greetings from
National Anthropos President Rudolph Brown. Far
Western Regional Anthropos President, Joseph Daniels presented five Book
Grant Awards for $250 to
the following: Emmanuel
Punty, Gamma Lambda
(Pasadena), Joseph Hamilton, Beta Theta (Los Angeles), Dezara Lowery,
Beta Nu (San Francisco),
Kandice King, Delta Kappa (Inglewood) and Khari
Bush, Delta Rho (San Bernardino).
The conference was
well attended. Local and
visiting dignitaries and
guests enjoyed shopping
with the vendors and left
with their arms filled with
packages and souvenirs
from the 50th Far Western Regional Conference.
Gamma Lambda Chapter
will host the 51st Regional
Conference in the beautiful
city of Pasadena in 2016.
History of Black Nurses and Genius of Dr. Charles Drew Topic of Nurse
Evelyn Allen Johnson’s Presentastion for Recent Nurses Week at CDU
of her news articles from
the Los Angeles Sentinel:
“Don’t Forget Slavery”
and “ A Black American
Icon, Dr. George G. Gas-
ton.”
Her revealing article, “Nursing Then and
Now” was distributed to
students for nursing appreciation. Nurse Johnson
donated all proceeds from
the sale of her books to the
MMDSON’s Scholarship
Fund at CDU.
Memorial Services Set for
Wilbert Williams, Jr.
From left: Dean Sheldon D. Fields, of the Mervyn M. Dymally School of Nursing, Nurse Evelyn Allen Johnson, keynote speaker for National Nurse Week, the
new Provost Dr. Steve O. Michael, and Jackie Brown, chief of staff for Charles
R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) where the event was held
History was revived
when author and nurse Evelyn Allen Johnson, RN,
BSN, P.H.N. spoke to nursing students and staff at the
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) Mervyn M.
Dymally School of Nursing (MMDSON) in honor
of National Nurses’ Week.
After being introduced by
the MMDSON Dean and
Professor Dr. Sheldon D.
Fields, PhD, RN, FNP-BC,
AACRN, FNAP, FAANP,
she revealed the almost insurmountable, discriminatory obstacles confronting
young, black women attempting to enter the nurs-
ing profession during the
midst of segregation and
the difficulties they had
to overcome in obtaining
employment after receiving a nursing education
and passing the examining
boards necessary for becoming a Registered Nurse
in America. The highlight
of the presentation were
her experiences while serving as a student surgical
nurse for Dr. Charles R.
Drew at Howard University. Dr. Drew, an African
American, is an American icon, who discovered
the method of separating
plasma from whole blood
and preserving the plasma
which has saved countless
lives during war and peace,
throughout the world. He
set up the first blood bank
and anyone who has received a blood transfusion
since the 1950’s owes Dr.
Charles Drew. The audience was both stimulated
and electrified at Nurse
Johnson’s candid revelations from the past. Following her presentation,
Nurse Johnson, also a poet,
signed her books, “Pillar of Salt” and “Get The
Show On The Road” in
the beautiful and modernistic reception hall where a
catered lunch was served.
She distributed reprints
Memorial services will
be held for Los Angeles
native Wilbert Williams, Jr.
on Friday, June 5 at 10:00
at Angelus Funeral Home,
3875 Crenshaw Blvd.
Williams
attended
Dorsey High and Mount
Vernon Junior High. He
worked for Los Angeles
County Rec & Parks, and
the City of Los Angeles
before retiring in 1998. He
was a member of Metropolitan Baptist Church and
was active until his passing
this past Friday evening.
In addition to being
known as one of the nicest
and most generous people
one could ever meet, Wilbert was well known for
his annual Fourth of July
pool party that he held in
the backyard of his beautiful Ladera Heights home.
Left to cherish his
memory are his three sons
– Wilbert III, Travon, and
Jonathan, his daughter,
Tarra, his sister, Sharron, his aunt Albertine,
his grandchildren, nieces,
nephews, a host of friends
and long-time companion,
Valerie Jackson.
A repast is being
planned.