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February 26, l*W2...The Portland O b server-P ag e 7
Heroes and Heroines Gone
But Not Forgotten
Northwest African American Writers
Workshop Host Two-Day Conference
Last week we ran an article on Rev. John Garlington Jr. A typographical error inadvertently
confused Rev. Garlington with his father who was also a minister. This week we have printed
the corrected version. We ap o lo g ize for any inconvenience to our readers.
John Garlington, Jr.
BY D. BELL
The late John Garlington, Jr.,
former pastor at Maranatha Church,
was himself from an interesting family.
Rev. Garlington, Jr. was bom in 1937 in
Buffalo, New York, the son of a suc
cessful barber. At the age of 40 John
Garlington Sr. had a born-again experi
ence and became saved. By the time he
was 40 he owned two barber shops, one
in Buffalo and one in Detroit, Michi
gan.
Within a few years of his becoming
saved, John Garlington, Sr. met a young
woman named Valdese Peeler whom
he married.
At this point in time they became
involved with the denomination of The
Church of God and Holiness, in which
John Garlington, Sr. became a m inister.
Rev. Garlington Sr. subsequently expe
rienced a religious revelation, and sev
ered his ties with that church, and with
his congregation founded the Church of
MARCO
WASHINGTON
God and True Holiness. At the time of
his death, Bishop Garlington, Sr. headed
a group of 16 churches. The Church of
God and True Holiness is still in exist
ence today on the east coast of the
United States.
His father died when he was only
eight years old, leaving his mother to
raise her family asa single parent, which
she did by doing domestic work.
John Jr. attended elementary and
high school in Buffalo and left home at
the age of 16 for Cleveland, Ohio. After
three years there he enrolled in the
Cleveland Baptist School of the Bible.
Upon completion of his studies, he pur
sued a ministerial career in the church
his father had started, the Church of God
and True Holiness. When not working
in m inisterial related duties, Rev.
Garlington Jr. supported himself and
family by working as a postman and
barber.
At the age of 29, Rev. Garlington
Jr. wasapproached by his father’schurch
to be a bishop, the youngest person to
date to be approached for this position.
Upon accepting the office of Bishop,
Rev. Garlington moved back to Buf
falo, New York.
In his new position, Rev. Garlington
began receiving national recognition
and exposure. He began to travel exten
sively. It was during his travels that he
began to experience different points of
view, and came to see his church as
rooted in old inflexible pentecostal tra
ditions resistant to change. Conse
quently, he relinquished his responsi
bilities as Bishop in the Church of God
and True Holiness, and with his congre
gation he left the church and became
non-denominational.
Rev. Garlington still traveled exten
sively; however, it was during one of his
speaking engagements at the People’s
Church in Tacoma, Washington in 1975
that it was brought to his attention that
the Maranatha Church in Portland, O r
egon was looking for a pastor.
He applied for the position. After
one interview and an extended month
long visit to the “City of Roses,” Rev.
Garlington, Jr. accepted the open posi
tion for Pastor.
When Rev. Garlington, Jr. arrived in
Portland there was a bussing controversy
surrounding the Portland Public Schools
system and except for Rev. John Jackson,
few clergy were visibly involved in so
cial issues such as bussing, the possum
incident where police officers threw dead
possums on the door step of a black-
owned cafe, and the police audit commit
tee. To these incidents, Rev. Garlington,
Jr. brought with him the ability to medi
ate tense situations and the ability to find
some common ground for compromise.
On January 16,1986 at the age of 48,
Rev. Garlington, Jr. was on a working
vacation in Florida after making an evan
gelical stop in Jamaica. While driving on
his way to church where he was to ap
pear, Rev. Garlington, Jr. and his wife
were both killed in a tragic car accident.
The driver of the other vehicle, had he
been in Oregon, would have been consid
ered legally drunk.
At the time of his death, Rev.
Garlington, Jr. was the president of the
Albina Ministerial Alliance. He had
earned the well deserved reputation as a
bridge builder in the cause of social
issues.
Rev. Garlington Jr. leaves a cher
ished memory of one gone but not forgot
ten.
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notes, came a myriad of spell-binding
information which took us from the
state of Mississippi, where he was
bom, to the steps of the Ohio State
Union Merchant Institute where he
metaperson named Dr. Richard Snyder
and together they worked on “world
peace.” World Peace has always been
a major concern of Dr. Prophet’s. He
has joined every “Peace” group imag
inable.
Dr. Prophet is deeply entrenched
in the discovery of the “whys” and the
“how comes” being the education of
our young people and what are the
causes of conflict. He told the audi
ence, of approximately 150 persons,
that he came to Portland purposely and
one of the concepts he attempted to
introduce into the school system was
that of “World Peace.”
“If we could just find the right
formula that would cause other people
to respect the rights of others,” he said.
Dr. Prophet said that the text
books approval is controlled largely
by what transpires in the state of Texas.
In attempting to find answers. Dr.
Prophet has gone through great peri
ods of great frustration. He was not
seeking to find an answer for just one
geographical location but a solution
that would eventually bring about
change throughout the entire nation.
He and a team of colleagues had gotten
so close to bringing about a change
that would have impacted school sys
tems across the United States. But —
the two million dollar grant to rewrite
the social studies text, that was ap-
proved, was put on hold. It was to go
before congress...and - then it hap
pened. Election was coming. It was
November, 1980. Then the dark days
came -- “Reagan.” Everything came to
a screeching halt.
Dr. Prophet said that he worked in
the military in the Defense Department.
During a vacation period, he had the
opportunity to go to England to see their
Multi Ethnic Educational Curriculum
Program, which was initiated through
the military. This was all well and good
but he couldn’t go public with the pro
gram as long as it was under the auspices
of the m ilitary. There was much
transitionalizing; then, he heard about
an opening in Portland. He had also
heard that Portland was attempting a
similar program, though imperfect, he
still came.
When Dr. Prophet reached Port
land, he discovered that Portland’s teach
ing staff was below even at the marginal
levels as far as Multi-Ethnic staff was
concerned. In 1985, Joseph Franklin
was the first non-white teacher to be
recruited outside of the state of Oregon.
This was to be their method of supplant
ing the already existing system’s hiring
procedure. This proved to be a success
ful method; but of course it didn’t fly
without a fracas from within the existing
ranks. People came from everywhere.
One night at a board meeting, Dr.
Prophet got views from one thousand
directions. He was at his wits-end but
the concept was good and he said, “It
will be published but it is not intended to
represent wrong truths but fa c t”
The Baseline Essay is not an an
swer to the Multi Cultural problem that
the school district is facing but a posi
tive method to assist in its implementa
tion and resolution. “If I were to judge
and rate Portland Public Schools about
their Baseline Essay” says Prophet, “I
would give the elementary level an ‘A ’,
the intermediate level a *B’ and the
high school level a ‘C ’.”
Prophet had heard about reforms
all over the place. “I have 59 reforms
with very little movement. Missing —
is the affective domain. How do kids
feel about themselves?” Dr. Prophet
expounds. Prophet says that a com
parator permits you to list. But - you
can choose between:
•Self worth
[which is the most important?
•Learning to respect others
•Cognition
These three elements are the most
important areas we should develop in
our lives and the lives of our children.
Margaret Carter followed his flat-
footed, unrehearsed, moving, coherent
speech with “If I Could Help Some
body." The song moved everyone to
tears.
Homer Kearns, Superintendent of
the Salem/Keizer Public Schools, who
was present, said, “Prophet must have a
Baptist preacher somewhere in his roots
because of the manner in which he
developed a few notes on the back of a
program and turned them into such an
overwhelmingly powerful speech. I
was truly impressed. Salem will have
to host this event next year.”
r D ¡ Tr-*
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Portland Public Schools
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F ebruary ,
1992
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