[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 6 (Wednesday, February 4, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E90-E91]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING THE REVEREND HARRISON T. SIMONS FOR PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE AREA 
                           OF RACE RELATIONS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB ETHERIDGE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 4, 1998

  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to call the attention of the 
Congress to the work of the Reverend Harrison T. Simons of Oxford, 
North Carolina, for outstanding public service in the area of race 
relations. Reverend Simons received the Nancy Susan Reynolds Award on 
November 22, 1997 given by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. The Nancy 
Susan Reynolds Award was founded ``to seek out unsung heroes who have 
made a difference in their North Carolina communities.''
  On January 1, 1998, Reverend Simons retired from his position as 
rector of St. Stephen's Church and vicar of St. Cyprians Church in 
Oxford. As our nation prepares to celebrate Black History Month, it is 
appropriate to honor the work of Reverend Harrison, for his more than 
twenty-five years of service to the cause of racial harmony. I commend 
the work of Reverend Harrison and all members of the Oxford, North 
Carolina community of all backgrounds for their work in enhancing 
relations among people of every race. The Nancy Susan Reynolds Award to 
Reverend Harrison proclaims the following:

                  The 1997 Nancy Susan Reynolds Awards

       When Z. Smith Reynolds died in 1932, his two sisters and 
     brother wanted their portion of his estate to benefit the 
     people of North Carolina who had helped to create that 
     wealth. So they formed the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in 
     1936. When their uncle, William Neal Reynolds, died in 1951, 
     he left the majority of his estate to provide additional 
     support to the Foundation.
       One of the founders of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation was 
     Smith Reynolds' sister, Nancy Susan Reynolds, who has been 
     called ``the most remarkable woman of widely diversified 
     philanthropy in Twentieth Century America.'' She believed in 
     taking risks, even risking failure; she respected leadership 
     and those who exhibited the courage ``to try again and 
     again.''
       She held strongest to the conviction that the best 
     societies are those built from the bottom up and that a good 
     community is not improved by grand gestures alone but by many 
     people working together for common goals. In 1986 the 
     Trustees of the Foundation created the Nancy Susan Reynolds 
     Awards to honor her by seeking out unsung heroes who have 
     made a difference in their North Carolina communities.
       This is the twelfth year that the Z. Smith Reynolds 
     Foundation has presented the Nancy Susan Reynolds Awards, 
     recognizing the uncommon leadership of North Carolinians 
     whose vision, determination, resourcefulness, and strength of 
     character have caused them to succeed where other individuals 
     would have failed.
       Even today, few people outside the recipients' 
     neighborhoods would recognize their names. You will not find 
     among the previous winners a governor, a corporate executive, 
     or a bishop. You will find a priest, a teacher, a carpenter, 
     a forester, a farmer, a librarian, and a physician assistant. 
     What is remarkable is how each, usually with limited 
     resources and in spite of the odds, has accomplished 
     extraordinary good in his or her community.

[[Page E91]]

       The recipients this year--a Catholic nun from Belmont, an 
     Episcopal priest from Oxford, and a dynamic young woman from 
     Sunbury--are no less remarkable.
       During its history, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation has 
     made grants of more than $240 million to projects in all 100 
     counties in North Carolina. While the Foundation's geographic 
     boundary of North Carolina is firm, the Foundation's 
     grantsmaking strives to be far-reaching. It often seeks to 
     initiate rather than to react, to question rather than to 
     accept, to challenge rather than to affirm. The Foundation 
     currently gives special attention to certain focus areas--
     community economic development, the environment, pre-
     collegiate education, issues affecting minorities, and issues 
     affecting women.

     

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