[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 46 (Tuesday, April 23, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3156-S3157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SCOTTIE STEPHENSON
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, this past week a deep sense of sadness
settled in on the Helms family--and countless other families as well.
Scottie Stephenson's life was finally ended at age 80 by an unyielding
illness.
Scottie had gone on to her reward after 80 years of loving and being
loved by everybody around her. For various reasons, I had to cancel my
plans to be there when the final tributes were being paid to this
remarkable lady who was declared many times to be the First Lady of
Capitol Broadcasting Company in Raleigh--which, is where I began my
years in broadcasting--and where I ended them when in 1972 I allowed
myself to be talked into seeking election to the U.S. Senate.
Mrs. Louise ``Scottie'' Stephenson never quite accepted the death of
her handsome husband, Nelson W. Stephenson, whom she married in 1948
but who died in 1961.
Scottie knew the end was approaching early this year. We discussed it
a number of times always with the conclusion that when it happened, she
would probably be the No. One Gate Keeper serving Saint Peter. As her
condition worsened, I set aside a time each day to be devoted to
discussions with Scottie about those years gone by when she and I were
officers of Capitol Broadcasting Company. Those, she used to remark,
were the ``salad days''.
Then came that inevitable morning when I called and a tape responded.
Scottie had mentioned that she would arrange that.
Jim Goodmon, now president and CEO of Capitol Broadcasting Company,
was in high school when he began working nights at Capitol
Broadcasting.
Our hometown morning paper, the News and Observer, published in its
April 17 editions a comprehensive obituary outlining many of the
aspects of
[[Page S3157]]
Scottie's remarkable life. I ask unanimous consent that it and an
editorial from the same paper be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[The News & Observer, Wed., Apr. 17 2002]
Louise `Sottie' Stephenson--`First Lady of Capitol Broadcasting' Worked
There 58 Years
(By Sarah Lindenfeld Hall)
Louise ``Scottie'' Stephenson, known as the first lady of
Capitol Broadcasting Co., who helped win the original license
for WRAL-TV, died Monday morning after a long illness. She
was 80.
Stephenson starting working for Capitol 58 years ago and
was the communications company's longest-serving employee,
with a tenure even longer than that of its founder, A.J.
Fletcher. She spent at least three days a week at work until
October, when she became ill, but continued to work at home.
In February, she attended a board meeting of the A.J.
Fletcher Foundation, held at Springmoor retirement community
where she lived so she could participate.
``She was a great lady, and she had the respect of
everybody that's ever worked for Capitol, and we're going to
really miss her personally and we're going to miss her
professionally,'' said James F. Goodmon, president and CEO of
Capitol Broadcasting Co. ``Scottie was sort of our contact
with who we are and what we stand for and was an important
continuity beginning with the founding of the TV station. She
was there when it started.''
Stephenson started her career as a receptionist, secretary
and record librarian for what was then WRAL-AM. She answered
the phones for the popular radio show ``The Trading Post,''
with Fred Fletcher as host, where listeners could swap and
sell goods over the air. She became the company's corporate
secretary and member of the board of directors in 1953.
She was the only woman on a five-member team seeking a
television station license for WRAL.
She helped prepare 3,000 pages of paperwork and testified
before the Federal Communications Commission in Washington,
D.C., during the 75-day hearing, according to a Capitol press
release. The company received its license in December 1956.
Stephenson, a native of Goldsboro, graduated from Broughton
High School and took classes at N.C. State University. She
married Nelson W. ``Steve'' Stephenson in May 1948. He died
in 1961, and she never remarried.
Stephenson served on the board of the Fletcher Foundation
and volunteered with local arts groups. For more than four
decades, she coordinated the Golden Agers Club Christmas
parties in Raleigh. And for a half-century, Stephenson had
lunch once a week with her good friend Pota Vallas, whose
family founded National Art Interiors at Hillsborough Street
and Glenwood Avenue.
Scottie was active in the Triangle community as well,
serving on the board of the A.J. Fletcher Foundation and
supporting the arts through volunteer work with the Raleigh
Fine Arts Society and the North Carolina Symphony. She
coordinated the Golden Age Club of Raleigh's annual Christmas
luncheon for over four decades and saw that luncheon grow
from 50 to over 1,500 people. Scottie served on the Board of
Directors and as Secretary of the Tammy Lynn Center, a
resident care facility for severely retarded children, and
worked with a variety of other community organizations.
In 1992, she was named Business and Professional Woman of
the Year of the Wake County Academy of Women, sponsored by
the YWCA. She was also the first recipient of the Junior
Women's Club Outstanding Working Member award.
Scottie most recently resided at Springmoor where she was
once again a leader and an inspiration to many. She organized
and coordinated outings for her friends to everything from
dinner parties to Durham Bulls games.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Nelson W.
``Steve'' Stephenson, in 1961. Her brother, Sam D. Scott,
Jr.; sister, Nancy Scott Reid; and niece, Betty Scott Toomes,
also preceded her in death.
Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Thursday, April 18 at St.
Michael's Episcopal Church in Raleigh. Burial will be at
Montlawn Memorial Park.
Surviving family members include niece, Alice Reid Ritter
and husband, Doug of Severna Park, MD; nephew, Samuel Scott
Reid and wife, Kathy of Raleigh, NC; niece, Nancy Scott Young
and husband, Gary of Manhattan, KS; nephew, Sam D. Scott III
and wife, Carolyn of Lousville, KY; great-nephew, Christopher
James Stephenson and wife, Ann; and many great nieces and
nephews. She is also survived by longtime friend, Roberta
Glover.
____
[From the News & Observer]
Always on the Go
Even after she moved to the Springmoor retirement community
in Raleigh, Scottie Stephenson had not retired from her
vocation, and avocation, of getting things done. At
Springmoor, she organized her neighbors in all sorts of
activities, getting them out and about.
For 58 years, Stephenson, who died Monday at the age of 80,
served Raleigh's Capitol Broadcasting Company--the first
employee and the one who worked there longer than anyone,
including the founder, the late A.J. Fletcher. She was out
and about there, too--from helping the company obtain the
first television station license in Raleigh for WRAL-TV, to
writing commercials, to filing complicated federal reports.
Stephenson, a gracious and merry person, also served in a
multitude of community endeavors through volunteer work in
the arts and as a board member of the A.J. Fletcher
Foundation. For thousands of citizens in the Capital City,
she'll be remembered as coordinating the Golden Age Club's
annual Christmas luncheon.
Pillars of the community, such people are called, and too
often as they become older their accomplishments seem to fade
in memory. It should not be so, for those accomplishments, by
one person at a time, build a city. And thankfully, it was
not so with Scottie Stephenson, who was acclaimed after her
death in on-air tributes from her latest generation of
admirers at WRAL. She would have appreciated them. And they
were well-earned.
____________________