[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 150 (Thursday, December 7, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2141]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E2141]]
                      TRIBUTE TO CHARLES REID ROSS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB ETHERIDGE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 7, 2000

  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, one of the Titans of North Carolina's 
public education system, Charles Reid Ross, a pipe-smoking gentle man 
who left an indelible impression on the communities and state he 
served, died November 12, 2000, on his birthday. He was 93.
  If anyone deserves to be characterized as a Renaissance man, Reid 
Ross earned that title. He was a teacher, school superintendent, civil 
rights hero, political leader, builder of schools and colleges, 
champion of putting art and music in schools, husband, father, friend 
to thousands. All were roles Reid Ross played to the hilt.
  ``He was very ready,'' his daughter, Sue Fields Ross, said of her 
father's death. ``He wanted to have a big celebration. He felt very 
much that he has run the race.''
  ``He loved a good funeral,'' Margaret Ross, a niece, said of her 
uncle. ``He probably went to more funerals than anybody in North 
Carolina. He did it out of honor.''
  Arthur Ross III, a great-nephew who helped preach at the funeral, 
said that if his uncle could have attended the funeral, he would 
probably have done ``a little politicking on the lawn,'' all on behalf 
of the Democratic party, and would have loved the music provided by a 
string quartet from the school named in his honor.
  Ross began his teaching career on Hatteras Island when the only way 
of communicating with the island was by the mail boat. He went from 
there to spend 40 years in the schools of Lenoir County, Harnett 
County, and Fayetteville. He was superintendent of schools in Harnett 
County for 10 years before becoming superintendent in Fayetteville in 
1951, a post he would hold until his retirement in 1971.
  The times and man coincided when the civil rights revolution hit 
North Carolina. As The Fayetteville Observer said in an editorial at 
Ross' death, Ross ``was an educational visionary. He instinctively knew 
when the public education system needed to go to be viable in the 
future. More important, he knew how to get it there, and had the 
personality to do it. That gift became crucial during the years of 
school integration. While many school systems in the South fumbled and 
stagnated, schools in Fayetteville kept moving forward. He pushed for 
buildings and for increased funding. Politically courageous at a time 
when schools had been separate and unequal, he insisted that spending 
had to be fair and equitable.''
  One observer of the period said: ``Don't ever negotiate with a man 
who smokes a pipe. Between the packing and re-packing and the lighting 
and re-lighting, he's eventually going to get his way.''
  The Fayetteville newspaper went on to give Ross credit for shaping 
the response of other school superintendents across the state and the 
South.
  ``In fact, to look back a the best educational decisions made in the 
history of this community's schools is to look closely at Ross' career. 
If's his managed style that helped shape the standard of how school 
superintendents should lead. it's his personality and insight that 
influenced educators throughout the state. It's the people he hired and 
the people he inspired who, long after he retired, continued to make 
lasting contributions to the betterment of public education.''
  Ross was responsible for building 12 schools during his years in 
Fayetteville. One high school named in his honor and exists today as 
Reid Ross Classical School.
  During the period involved, Ross was also a power behind the scenes 
in the North Carolina Education Association, at that time the 
organization representing most of the white educators in the state. 
Ross' gentle advice and courage was deeply involved in the merger of 
NCEA and the North Carolina Teachers Association in 1970 into the 
present North Carolina Association of Educators. Quietly, firmly, 
without fanfare, he insisted that his colleagues do the right thing.
  Ross' other contributions are numerous. He established sheltered 
works for the handicapped. He insisted that art and music had a place 
in the public school curriculum and eventually won that battle. He 
helped found the Fayetteville Industrial Education Center that became 
Fayetteville Technical College.
  He started the first girls' basketball at Fayetteville High School. 
He served two terms as president of the High School Athletics 
Association, helping to put in place many of the policies that still 
prevail for high school sports.
  Ross was a deacon and elder in Lillington Presbyterian Church. He was 
a charter member of the Lillington Rotary Club. And until his death, he 
was active in the Democratic Party and cared deeply about how the 
University of North of Carolina basketball team was doing.
  Our state has lost one of its great educational leaders. A man in the 
same mold as the late Terry Sanford. A man who did his duty as he saw 
it for the good of the fellow men and women he loved.
  As Ross' funeral, the Call to Worship was as he directed:
  ``The strife is over, the battle done. The victory of life is won. 
The song of triumph has begun. Alleluia.''

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