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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1998)
• ■ * * - a - • — ' j ■ < ” ¿ f. ~. • » . • 4 •<- •MM * JAN. 21, 1998 li j e Portiani» <db«mwr Page B2 KO HO NT Literacy P rogram Brings H ope to Y outh Obituary yii/fia/n QRenson C^ay/or August 29, 1907 - January 13, 1998 William Benson Laylot. affectionately known as I )addv by hiseldesi daughter. “Dad" by his youngest daughter; “Papa by his grandchildren, "Uncle Willie" by his nieces and nephews; "Lil Man" by his cousins; and "M r.I Byhislriends He was born August 29, 1907 in Okluskee County, Oklahoma He went Io be with the Lord on January IL I99K al S;(K) P.M. in Portland, Oregon al l.manuel Hospital He lived lor Ninety Blessed Years He was raised by his M other and L ather. L.iz/ie T hom pson and 1 I T aylor in C astle. O k lah o m a The fam ily m oved to Sand C reek. O klahom a w here he atten d ed school and began to larm cotto n His M other p assed aw ay w hen he was very young, so he m oved to Ix l. O klahom a w ith his first C o usins. Pearl E thel and Sadie. As he approached adulthood, he met Ins close friend Sam Halloway who convinced him to leave the Dust Bowl o f O klahom a and seek a better life in El C entro, CA During this lime in his life he was working as a plum ber and thought he could be more resourceful with his hands in the kitchen so he learned how to cook He learned how to cook many delicious meals and with the perfection of these culinary delights he look Ins skills on the road to Portland. Oregon. Once there lie- became a dishw asher for the Union Pacific Railroad. He was quickly prom oted to the position o f C hief cook He worked with the railroad lot over 40 years until Ins retirem ent During Ins time with the railroad he traveled from Portland. < )R. to C hicago, II. many times file on one m om entous trip he met a beautiful lady by the name ol Mary D aniels It was love at first sight. Ihey were married in 1952 in V ancouver. W ashington. Mary T aylor passed away on D ecember 17. 1996 in Portland, Oregon. Follow ing W ill iams retirem ent he truly enjoyed woi king at the M emorial ( oliseum as a Cashier and as a Parking Lot Attendant. From this union. Tw o lovely D aughters w eie boin. Phyllis H arris who lives in W alnut. CA . and D arlene T a y lo r w ho lives in Portland. OR He was the G ran d fath er o f K heoshi T aylor- M ayes, Sum iko T ayloi Hill and K eona T a y lo r - H ill. He was the U ncle o f A lvin Tay lor. C harles M eins. H arvey B ooker. R ichard T a y lor. Joann W ash in g to n . H elen M ason. G ladys B ooker. Iva Lee H olly and Erma M ems He has tw o S ister in L aw s. L averne Hamm and L ouise T ay lo r. T here are m any co u sin s and a host of frien d s who will m ourn his passin g . gram was working as well as it was. Rev Johnson told me that the tech niques he used were something called Study Technology, which had been developed by I- Ron Hubbard There are reasons students lose interest in study, become bored, dis tracted or decide they hate school Mr Hubbard has written extensively about these problems Best of all. he provided tools to resolve them, called Study Technology. After checking the World Literacy Crusade and the Study Technology proerams out. 1 decided to do what ever I could do to help I became a vocal advocate for the World L it eracy ( i usade. and saw it spread- first to church and community groups throughout Los Angeles, and then to other cit ics and even other countries. We now have thirty groups operating in the US and around the world and we recently formed an alliance with the NAACP. with the goal of having a World Literacy Crusade program in every city that has a NAACPchap- I've been involved in helping the community tor most ol my adult Ide I've seen many heartfelt efforts to achieve social justice It s always seemed obvious to me that the prob lems of our inner cities trace back to education - that is to say, failed edu cation. We could do more good with effective literacy programs than with all the police and jails that money can buy. From where I sit. failed education means that the lives of friends oi family could be destroyed and the door shut on their opportunities Gur inner city children are still often la beled as needing special education or "diagnosed as victims of c arious fictitious educational maladies that spread likedisease through our com munities. When our children believe these labels, they are marked for life with false and oppressive shackles about their own abilities and poten tial and they become victims ol a new form of slavery . We can't work too hard to prevent this kind of tragedy A few years ago, I found a pro- ter. Isaac Haves T h e F lo w e r o f V is io n ! ( P a r t I) B y S am P ierce I’ve often recited a verse from the Book of Proverbs that states; "With out a vision, the people perish.' It is such a clear and precise statement. It also carries a simple matter-of-fact quality that seems to say; "If you want to live seek a vision; seek out a visionary. But if you want todie, then do neither. Take it or leave it!" And still today, these words of the writer of old still beckon us. For all around us we can see the impact of his wis dom. so in another season of celebrat ing one of the world’s greatest vi sionaries, Dr. Martin Luther King, J r , I thought I would reflect upon the power of Vision! But rather than focus on Dr. Kingperse, I’ve chosen to write about vision and visionaries, right here in our own city. For what better way to honor a hero of vision than honoring those who keep his inspiration alive Before beginning the task, how ever, of looking at local visionaries, let’s first define what is meant when Happy Birthday From Your Family we say—Vision We have heard it more in the nineties than any other time in our history. So the question is; is vision just another hip 90’s word that's catchy, sexy and politi cally correct, or does it have pro found meaning that transcends our time and space? The 1997 W ebster's College D ictio n ary g iv es sev eral definition’s for vision, but the one that equates nearest to our purpose is defined as; the power of antici pating what might come to be , fore sight: entrepreneurial vision. But let's go beyond Webster and put vision in its proper context--which is spiritual For at the very core of vision is wisdom. And wisdom only comes from God and is defined as the righteous application of knowl edge. In other words, wisdom is the God given ability to wade through piles and piles of knowledge and decipher those precious nuggets of truth. Therefore the other pillar of vision is truth. Happy Birthday Mark Washington From Your Family & Friends (Ltnrannnitg flltjurcl] of (®oi> friendly Church" ‘P.HC 'Brown •Pastor and Counselor We Extend Our Hand To Everyone Services Sunday 11 A.M. and 6 P.M. Sunday School 9:45 A.M. Community Church of God 202 N.E. Skidmore 281-5678 Church ^Fusiera/ You 're Gone But Not Forgotten You'll Always Be In Our Hearts. We Miss You. NTna 2756 NE Roditeli Portland. OR 97212 503-251-4591 ô This is pour commun/tp based funeral home supported bppou. We make the loss o f pour loved ones easier to bear. Let us guide pou through our fadtitp and explain about pre arrangements with pou. C. Cox Tanner Owner Jerome Cox Tanner Funeral Director
