[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6299-6300]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    IN MEMORY OF EVANDER S. SIMPSON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, tonight I rise to pay homage to Evander 
S. Simpson of Smithfield, North Carolina, who died on April 27 after a 
long and fruitful life. His passing has removed from North Carolina's 
Second Congressional District a giant of community service, a leader of 
humanity, and a man who has left the world immeasurably better than he 
found it.
  The death of Evander Simpson leaves a void that will not soon be 
filled. Mr. Simpson was a member of what Tom Brokaw called ``The 
Greatest Generation.'' Those were the men and women who went off 
collectively to save the world when World War II was thrust upon them. 
And it was they who, when the war was over, joined in joyous and short-
lived celebrations, then immediately began the task of rebuilding their 
lives and the world that they wanted.
  Brokaw's description certainly fits the life of Evander Simpson. Born 
in 1914 in Sampson County to a father who served for 35 years as a 
teacher and principal, his future and career direction was 
foreordained. Mr. Simpson attended the University of North Carolina, 
eventually receiving a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, and an 
advanced certificate for school administration from that institution. 
By the age of 24, Evander had become principal of Newton Grove High 
School.
  World War II intervened; and Mr. Simpson, then serving as Secretary 
to the Committee on Education in the U.S. House of Representatives, 
volunteered for the Navy, answering the call, as Tom Brokaw said, ``to 
help save the world from the two most powerful ruthless and military 
machines ever assembled, instruments of conquest in the hands of 
fascist maniacs.'' Mr. Simpson served as a gunnery officer in action in 
the Arctic and in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
  With the end of the war, Mr. Simpson came home to North Carolina, and 
for the next 3 years worked at North Carolina State University 
counseling the thousands of Tar Heel veterans who were flooding into 
our colleges and universities determined to make up for the time that 
they had lost while they were off fighting the war. A position as a 
high school principal followed, but in 1951 Mr. Simpson was appointed 
superintendent of Johnston County schools, a position which he would 
hold for 29 years and that would define the rest of his life and leave 
an indelible impression on the people of Johnston County and North 
Carolina.
  Evander Simpson and Johnston County's schools were at the heart of 
the county's progress over those 29 years. Eighteen schools were 
consolidated into five. Accreditation for all schools in the country 
from the State Department of Public Instruction and the Southern 
Association of Schools was obtained. Teacher pay supplements were 
established, kindergarten programs were established county wide, and 
Mr. Simpson was deeply involved in the establishment of the Johnston 
County Community College. Mr. Simpson earned a reputation of being one 
of the top school superintendents in the nation during those years.
  An indefatigable man whose devotion to his county was legendary, 
Evander found time to serve 14 years on the Board of Trustees of the 
University of North Carolina, to serve as president of the North 
Carolina Education Association, to serve for 30 years on the Johnston 
County Board of Health, and to serve for six years on the board of the 
University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
  Mr. Simpson was a Paul Harris Fellow in Rotary International, a 
member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the 
Chamber of Commerce. That organization awarded him its Distinguished 
Citizen Award in 1969. He was a deacon, Sunday school superintendent, 
and Brooks Bible Class teacher for more than 35 years at Smithfield 
First Baptist Church.
  No man has ever loved his country and its history more than Evander 
Simpson. Johnston County residents know that his every speech would 
include references to the great documents of this Nation. A speech to 
veterans might include George Washington's prayer on his inauguration 
as President. A speech to a civic club would include a reference to the 
Declaration of Independence or Lincoln's Gettysburg address, both of 
which he could recite to memory. The great speeches of history were 
fodder for his mill, including the great inaugural speech by President 
Kennedy, ``Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can 
do for your country.''
  Generations of Johnston County individuals were influenced by the 
great good of Evander Simpson. He believed in the innate goodness of 
men and women, that people of good will could find acceptable answers 
to any problem, that the spiritual needs of humanity must be served, 
that planning for the future was preferable to lamenting of the 
failures of the past.
  The great sportswriter Grantland Rice could have had Evander Simpson 
in mind when he wrote the following: ``For when the great scorer comes 
to mark against your name, he writes not that you won or lost but how 
you played the game.''
  Evander Simpson played the game with dedication to God and his 
community. We who are left can only thank a kind providence that placed 
him along beside us on this highway of life.
  I am also pleased this evening to say to this body that I am also 
placing with this speech a tribute to Evander Simpson read by Miss 
Carolyn G. Ennis at Mr. Simpson's funeral on April 30, 2000, and that 
tribute follows my remarks herewith, Mr. Speaker:

                          A Man Named Simpson

                         (By Carolyn G. Ennis)

     And God stepped out on space
     And he looked around and said,
     I'm lonely, I'll make me an educator.
     So God made many teachers and principals.
     And the young children were taught.
     And the young children learned. And God said, ``That's 
           good.''
     And God said, I'm lonely still. I need a dynamic leader

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     A man who knows how to look like a banker,
     How to act like a gentleman,
     How to think like a politician,
     And how to work from sunrise to midnight like a homegrown 
           country farmer.
     So God made many, many more educators,
     But he was lonely still. And God said, ``I'll make me an
     Excellent educator:
     A man with vision, values, agility and versatility;
     A professional man and Crusader with a pioneering spirit.
     One whom the power of office will not spoil nor kill,
     One who has a conscience and a will,
     To do the right thing at the right time, the right way.
     So God sat down by the side of the river
     In a place called Sampson County.
     With his head in his hand he thought and thought.
     Then God said, ``I'll make make me an extra--special educator
     --A superintendent for schools.
     A man for consolidation, accreditation, and integration,
     A man for providing sources and resources to develop
     The best educational opportunities for all children and
     For all teachers in Johnston County;
     A man who will know how to ``command'' from his experience
     In the military so others will learn how to march in unity
     To the same drumbeat for excellence in education.
     So God made this ``Educator of Excellence''.
     And Johnston County, North Carolina, the United States of
     America and the entire educational arena of the world
     Have never been quite the same, since God created
     Mr. Evander S. Simpson, who was and still is an extra-
     Special, excellent educator. And God said, ``That's Good,''
     And today, we echo again in fond memory of Mr. E. S. Simpson
     Relections of your life to repeat. That's good

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