[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 25 (Tuesday, March 2, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E277]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING SENATOR JOHN WINTERS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DAVID E. PRICE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 2, 2004

  Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to pay 
tribute to one of North Carolina's most beloved leaders, former State 
Senator John Winters, who died on February 15.
  John was one of North Carolina's towering business and political 
leaders of the Twentieth Century. John was a member of the Raleigh City 
Council beginning in 1961, went to the N.C. General Assembly in 1974 as 
one of two African American state senators elected since 
Reconstruction, and served from 1977-1983 on the N.C. Utilities 
Commission.
  John had a dignity about him, and a tenacity as well, that infused 
every job he held. He began as an amateur boxer in New York City and 
later worked as a milkman and skycap in the 1950s.
  He opened John W. Winters & Co. in 1957 and built new homes or 
apartments almost every year afterwards. His developments included 
Biltmore Hills, where he named streets after famous African-Americans, 
Madonna Acres, Wintershaven, and several small shopping centers. John 
understood that homeownership was an important way for people to build 
economic independence and a stake in their community, and he made it 
available to hundreds of families.
  He practiced his craft of bringing people together during the most 
turbulent of civil rights times by being respectful, confident, 
compassionate, and wise in the ways of political and business 
leadership.
  As we go forward from February's Black History Month celebrations, it 
is appropriate that we remember this African-American pioneer now and 
throughout the years as a model of kindness and practical assistance to 
those who sought a step up. He completely understood how to ``walk with 
kings and princes but not lose the common touch.'' I personally 
benefited from his counsel and encouragement and appreciate the trail 
he blazed for all seeking social justice and expanded opportunity.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to place in the Record ``The 
Lion in Winters,'' an editorial from the Raleigh News & Observer 
extolling John Winters' personal qualities and numerous civic 
contributions.
  John Winters had a gentle smile, but he was tenacious at everything 
he did, and possessed of the grit and courage to back it up. It helped, 
because during the era in which Winters came along, an ambitious black 
man faced many obstacles constructed of the stern stuff of prejudice.
  Winters, a former Raleigh City Council member and one of the first 
black state senators elected since Reconstruction, died Sunday at the 
age of 84. What a marvelous life he led, and what a gutsy one.
  Winters used savings from his days as a milkman and skycap to build a 
successful development business with a multitude of projects, many of 
them in southeast Raleigh. Federal and state initiatives would help 
make home ownership possible for people of average means, but in this 
area Winters had an important role in offering people a chance at that 
dream.
  All the while, he was working as a City Council member to advance 
civil rights and make Raleigh's transition into an integrated community 
a peaceful one. Winters was a forceful advocate for his beliefs in 
equality and opportunity, and in the North Carolina of the 1960s that 
wasn't an easy thing to be. Thankfully, he lived long enough to see 
many of his dreams realized.
  Former Gov. Jim Hunt called Winters a ``bridge-builder,'' and that's 
a good description. That Winters was a skilled business leader helped 
with the bridges, and gave him a chance also to help others who aspired 
to follow him into a business community where opportunities for 
minorities were few in that era.
  John Winters made his mark. His hometown of Raleigh will wear it 
proudly, forever.




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