Long-time Midstate residents
recognized for efforts to serve others
MURFREESBORO — For Murfreesboro City
Councilwoman and MTSU alumna Madelyn Scales Harris, being among the five
honorees at Tuesday’s Unity Luncheon at MTSU represented the legacy of a father
and mother who instilled in her the desire to serve her community.
“I’m
standing on the shoulders of my parents, and I’m trying to continue the
legacy,” she said following MTSU’s 19th annual gathering, which was
held in the Student Union Ballroom. “I got a good start because I was born and
raised in a home where … not only did they teach, but they showed by example
that we serve God by serving our fellow man.”
Scales
Harris and the other honorees — Clifford Allison, Dr. Barbara Canada, Percy
Ford and Karl Thomas — were all smiles upon receiving their engraved crystal
awards before an admiring crowd who came to show their support. A hallmark of
MTSU’s Black History Month observances since 1996, the luncheon highlights the
achievements of citizens whose guiding principle is service to others.
Nominees
for the award must be age 60 or older, have resided in the Middle Tennessee
area for 25 years or more and who have made outstanding contributions to their
community.
Inspired
by the theme in the famous poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, Jonell
Hinsey, director of MTSU’s Intercultural and Diversity Center and chair of the
Black History Month Committee, applauded the honorees for taking the road less
traveled, one filled with selflessness and sacrifice for the benefit of others.
“You
stopped and you recognized where there needed to be help … what needed to be
done,” Hinsey said. “And for that, we celebrate you. We celebrate you while you
are here.”
In
his remarks, keynote speaker Bishop Joseph W. Walker III, pastor of Mt. Zion
Baptist Church in Nashville, used the biblical story of Jesus raising Lazarus
from the dead — rolling the stone away from his grave — to illustrate the point
that we shouldn’t give up on people or prematurely label them as “dead and
powerless and hopeless.”
“Today
we honor people who dared to roll the stones away. People who were not
satisfied with being apathetic or casual regarding the various concerns of our
community, but are true heroes and she-roes in our community,” he said. “And we
honor you today because your light literally symbolizes that you would do what
nobody else was willing to do. …To tell somebody that the people you gave up on
have value.”
Clifford Allison: A veteran of
World War II, Allison was drafted at age 18 and served in the European Theater
of Operations. In peacetime, Allison ran a well-respected mortuary business.
The 91-year-old Allison is an active member of the American Legion.
Dr. Barbara Canada: A retired
Tennessee State University assistant professor and cooperative extension
specialist, Canada is the founder and chief executive officer of Aspire to
Educate-Empower-Encourage. Known as “AE3,” the nonprofit organization was
founded to help people and groups achieve business, health and
community-building goals.
Percy Ford: A nationally
certified drug and alcohol counselor, Ford is a member of Omega Psi Phi
fraternity, the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Key United Methodist
Church and the Murfreesboro chapter of the NAACP.
Karl Thomas: A poet and
oral historian known as K.H.A.O.S., Thomas worked for 10 years at The Village
Cultural Arts Center, which provided programs designed to deter teen pregnancy,
juvenile delinquency and high-school dropout rates. Previously, Thomas founded
and managed the Outreach Program from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s to help
the underprivileged access disability benefits or drug and alcohol
rehabilitation services.
Scales Harris, the only
woman on the Murfreesboro City Council, is retired from State Farm Insurance
Company as a business account underwriter. She is the owner of New Beginnings,
a youth motivational speaking company. Her community service legacy includes
activism with the League of Women Voters, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Scholarship Fund of Rutherford County and First Baptist Church, among other
groups.
Her
late father, Robert “Tee-Niny” Scales, was the city’s first black councilman
when he was elected in the early 1960s. Her late mother, Mary Scales, followed
in his footsteps more than two decades later, becoming the first black woman
elected to the City Council.
Scales
Harris continued the family legacy by being elected to the council in 2010.
With Tuesday’s honor, she follows in the footsteps of her mother, who was
honored at the 2012 Unity Luncheon before succumbing to cancer in 2013.
In welcoming attendees to the luncheon, Dr. John Omachonu, vice
provost for academic affairs, stressed the importance of events such as this to
celebrate the diversity within the community.
“The more
inclusive we are as a university, the stronger we are, not weaker,” he said.
“The more unified we are, the stronger we are as an institution.”
For
more information about MTSU’s Black History Month events, contact Hinsey at
615-898-5797 or jonell.hinsey@mtsu.edu. Find a calendar of events at http://tinyurl.com/mtsubhm2015.
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