[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 22 (Monday, February 22, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E179]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


               A TRIBUTE TO MRS. JOHNNIE BAMPFIELD JAMES

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                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS-

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, February 22, 2010

  Mr. TOWNS. Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Mrs. Johnnie 
Bampfield James who turns 90 years old this month.
  Born Johnnie Elizabeth Watts, on February 25, 1920, in Fairfax, S.C., 
to the Rev. John Quincy Watts and Estella English Watts, Mrs. James was 
one of thirteen children. She remembers walking with her brothers about 
2 miles to attend the Huspah School, a two-room school located on the 
grounds of the local church. Her basketball uniform is currently 
displayed at the ``Old Colored School'', which has been formally 
certified as a historical landmark in South Carolina.
  In 1937, she attended South Carolina State University for a semester, 
met and married James Howard Bampfield, from Yemassee, SC. She left 
school, began a family, and moved to Beaufort, S.C. Her daughter, Ethel 
was born in 1940. Joining her husband in New York City, she worked as a 
domestic until she returned home to Hampton, S.C. and gave birth to her 
daughter, Gwen, in 1951.
  She began substitute teaching and was encouraged to return to school 
to complete her college education with a promise of a job when she 
graduated. She attended Claflin College graduating in 1957 and began a 
teaching career in Dale-Lobeca, S.C. (Beaufort area) where she taught 
1st grade. When an opening became available at home, she joined the 
staff at the Hampton Colored School.
  In 1958 Ms. Johnnie returned to New York and joined her husband in 
Brooklyn where she began a near twenty year dedicated career of working 
with at-risk children at the Spofford Juvenile Detention Center, Bronx, 
N.Y. As a ``dorm mother'' Ms. Johnnie gained the respect, admiration 
and love of hundreds of young girls as they passed through the juvenile 
justice system. On more than one occasion she requested special 
permission to take a young girl home with her, and in one such instance 
became a foster parent for a youth who had no family resources. Cutting 
across ethnic, racial and religious differences, Mrs. James, a skilled 
seamstress, was a mentor for the girls sharing her talent for arts and 
crafts and design and decorating. She was also a supportive and 
reliable employee always demonstrating awareness and consideration of 
others. In 1965 her adopted daughter Barbara J. Lee joined the family.
  In 1976 she retired from service in New York and returned to her 
hometown of Hampton, South Carolina, the same year of her husband's 
death.
  In 1978, she married the late Deacon Felder James. Ms. Johnnie joined 
the Huspah Missionary Baptist Church at an early age and has been a 
faithful member and a Deaconess for more than 30 years. Ms. Johnnie 
continues to enjoy her arts and crafts, volunteering at the Council on 
Aging Center in Hampton. Her cooking ministry provides infamous Sunday 
fellowship dinners for all who come.
  She is a member of the Eastern Star-Glad Tidings Chapter, an active 
member of the Brother & Sister Benevolent Society. She is a mother of 
two daughters, one adopted daughter, one stepson, six grandchildren, 
ten great grandchildren, and three great-great grandchildren.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Mrs. Johnnie Bampfield 
James who turns 90 this month and I encourage my colleagues to join me 
in this effort and celebration.

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