[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 179 (Monday, November 13, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2167]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF MILTON F. FITCH

                                 ______


                          HON. EVA M. CLAYTON

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, November 13, 1995

  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday, November 8, 1995, at 1 p.m., 
the family and many friends of Milton F. Fitch celebrated his life. 
After 75 years on this Earth, God's finger gently touched him, and he 
now sleeps.
  The business of the House of Representatives kept me from joining the 
Fitch family and Milton's friends on that day, but I shall forever be 
influenced by the power of his life and the rich legacy that he leaves.
  Milton F. Fitch spent his lifetime on a journey for justice. Born on 
June 25, 1920, in New Haven, CT, he passed quietly at his home in 
Wilson, NC, on November 2, 1995. While his passing was quiet, his deeds 
will resonate and reverberate for years and years to come.
  A veteran of World War II, he served, with honor and distinction, in 
the U.S. Army, earning several medals and three battle stars under the 
leadership of Gen. George Patton in the 3rd Army. It saddened him 
greatly that upon his return to the United States, nothing had changed. 
He and other African-Americans still labored under the burden of 
second-class citizenship.
  When he felt the sting of discrimination from the U.S. Postal 
Service, he sued the Government and earned the position of the first 
African-American letter carrier in Wilson since reconstruction. After 
24 years with the Postal Service, he joined the Southern Christian 
Leadership Conference under Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as the North 
Carolina State coordinator. As such, he worked in demonstrations 
throughout the South, including the North Carolina school boycott of 
1968-69. Many of the demonstrations in which he was involved and 
lawsuits in which he participated resulted in advances and gains for 
African-Americans throughout North Carolina and the United States.
  He devoted much of his energy to fighting for the franchise for 
African-Americans. His efforts in a lawsuit against Wilson County over 
voting patterns, which went to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of 
Haskins versus County of Wilson, resulted in success, and the proud 
election of his wife, Cora, as a county commissioner. His daughter, 
Christine, was later elected to the Wilson County Board of Education 
from the same district.
  Of course, I shall be forever grateful for his service as my campaign 
manager in 1968, during which I launched my first, yet unsuccessful, 
effort to become a member of the Congress of the United States. That 
effort spawned other efforts, and those efforts, history now records, 
resulted in my election as the first African-American woman ever to 
represent North Carolina in Congress.
  Milton's membership in the Masonic family was one of his most favored 
associations. After joining in 1951, he rose through the ranks and, on 
October 7, 1995, he was elected Most Worshipful Grand Master at the 
125th Annual Grand Communication. This was the fulfillment of a 50-year 
dream.
  Always at his side, Milton's wife of 47 years, the former Cora Jordan 
Whitted, had pre-deceased him. This husband, father, grandfather, 
community leader and activist, pathfinder and agent of change, always 
found time to give of himself to his family, to his State and to his 
Nation. He shall surely be missed. I feel certain, however, that he 
would want all of us to rejoice in his life and the time we had with 
him.
  May God comfort and help his family and friends and help them to hold 
on to treasured yesterdays; and reach out with courage and hope to 
tomorrow, knowing that their beloved is with God. Death is not the end 
of life. It is the beginning of an eternal sleep. Rest, Brother Milton, 
you have labored long. God's finger has touched you, and you now sleep.

                          ____________________