[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.

     

                          ____________________