Director's Insight Magazine - Fall 2017

DIRECTOR’SINSIGHT WWW.DIRECTORSINSIGHTMAG.COM | SUMMER 2017 | ISSUE 12DickGregory, dies at 84FOUND HUMOR IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE - Page 08ST. LOUIS MUSEUM BENNIE SMITH WHY THE TRADITIONAL CFITOR’SUEMNADAMIENYRSSWTOEEFRRYSEWT.LHPAYHIDITLHTIOPE’SCELEBRATES AFRI- FUNERAL HOME FUNERAL THRIVES IN THE REST IN CORPUS CHRISTICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY PLEDGES $100K TO 21ST CENTURY Page - 18WITH “FOUND” ARTIFACTS UMES Page - 12Page - 04 Page - 06

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CONTENTS 04 15 ST. LOUIS MUSEUM FORMER NAACP PRESIDENT CELEBRATES AFRICAN- CONSTANCE PARKER DIES AMERICAN HISTORY WITH AT 74 “FOUND” ARTIFACTS 16 06 NEW FUNERAL HOME BENNIE SMITH FUNERAL CARRIES ON MIDDLETOWN HOME PLEDGES $100K TO FAMILY’S LONGTIME LEGACY UMES 18 08 IT’S A MYSTERY WHY THE CREMAINS OF ST. PHILIP’S DICK GREGORY, 84, DIES; FOUNDER WERE LAID TO FOUND HUMOR IN THE REST IN CORPUS CHRISTI CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE 22 10 FAMILY, FRIENDS CELEBRATE THE TOMBSTONE HEARSE THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF AND TRIKE; BECAUSE MARTHA RIVERA CHAVIS NOBODY TAKES PICTURES 25OF CADILLACS OR LINCOLNS HOW WATCHING MOVIES 12 IN A CEMETERY BECAME AN WHY THE TRADITIONAL L.A. SUMMER STAPLE FUNERAL THRIVES IN THE 21ST CENTURY22 3PAGE

St. Louis Museum Celebrates African-American History With “Found” ArtifactsCalvin Riley has spent years searching through musty basements and dusty attics to rescue the objects of historical significance that he displays in his George B.Vashon African-American Museum in north St. Louis.“What I show here, you’re not going to see in other muse-ums,’’ Riley said.His collection of “found” artifacts numbers in the thousands,and it’s wide-ranging: There are photographs and documentsof prominent St. Louis African-American families from theearly 1900s. Wooden chairs handmade by a slave. Manne-quins dressed in uniforms once worn by Pullman porters andnurses at Homer G. Phillips Hospital, the only city hospitalthat served African-Americans during segregation. Memo-rabilia from black social clubs of the 1950s and civil rightsposters from the ‘60s.Riley, 66, is a retired English teacher who began collectingblack memorabilia 40 years ago.“Many times people don’t know what things are collectible.When you clean out homes, people throw things away, andthey don’t realize they’re throwing away history,’’ he said. “Alot of times, it’s just getting water damaged. Mold damaged.’’Riley prizes his collection of items that belonged to GeorgeB. Vashon, the museum’s namesake. Vashon fought toimprove education for African-Americans. He was the first 4PAGE

black graduate of Oberlin College in Ohio and the first Some of Riley’s artifacts are in-your-face remindersblack professor at Howard University in Washington. of the past. Like the signs that once hung in bus andAfter Vashon’s death in 1878, his family moved to St. train stations during the Jim Crow era. Among them isLouis, where they played important roles in education a sign that designated a “Colored Waiting Room” thatand civic affairs. Riley said both the Smithsonian and he says came from St. Louis Union Station.Oberlin College showed interest in acquiring theVashon documents, but he decided they should stay “Young people need to see that,’’ he said. “Whenin St. Louis. So he bought a vacant building in the St. they hear about segregation, they need to know thatLouis Place neighborhood and in 2015 opened his was real life and people lived that life. It’s not justmuseum. something that people talked about. It was real life.’’Riley said the artifacts are a tangible connection to Riley estimates that 5,000 people have visited hisSt. Lousians who made a difference. museum during the past two years, and he’s still working to get the word out.“It’s the things they lived with day to day,’’ he said.“This museum allows them to live forever. And it’s “When the people come in, they expect one thing,my hope that this museum stays here forever. I’ve but they wind up with something else,’’ she said.already told my kids they cannot sell this. I want ei- “They learn new things that they hadn’t known —ther an organization or the St. Louis history museum even those that come in that are pretty good in blackor the city or the state to take it over one day if my history. They always find something new.’’family chooses not to keep it going.” 5PAGE

Bennie Smith Smith, 69, also is the first funeral home director to con- tract with Dover Air Force Base, preparing the remains ofFuneral Home servicemen and women and their family members from all branches of the military for 14 years.pledges $100K to UMES He also established a scholarship program for high schoolAGeorgia farm boy who earned money for his seniors from Delaware, Maryland and Virginia who plan family as a driver at a local funeral home went on to further their education. to own a mortuary service of his own. The Smiths and their business have financially supportedNow one of the leading funeral home directors in the tri- university projects and students for more than two dec-state region is giving back to universities in communities ades, according to UMES.that helped distinguish his Dover-based Bennie SmithFuneral Homes as among the nation’s largest owned and The endowed scholarship fund, Smith said, supports theoperated by an African-American. UMES mission. “We commit to supporting UMES stu- dents because we believe in the mission of the university,Mortician Bennie Smith and his wife, Shirley, have pledged the impact it has on our region,” he said.$100,000 to establish an endowed fund for undergraduatestudent scholarships at the University of Maryland Eastern Qualifying undergraduate students from all majors couldShore, the university announced Thursday, Aug. 3. begin receiving scholarships from the fund as early as the 2019-20 academic year, UMES officials said.The gift mirrors a $100,000 endowed scholarship fundpledged by the Smiths in the spring to Delaware State “We want to do our part to help students graduate withUniversity, a historically black university in Dover and a their peers,” Smith said.sister 1890s land-grant institution to UMES.UMES President Juliette Bell called the financial pledgegenerous and said scholarships from the fund would helpposition students to follow the Smiths as an example andfulfill their career goals.“The Smiths want to see our students complete theirdegrees and become leaders in their chosen fields, just asthey themselves have been,” said Bell, adding that financialsupport to students is needed.Bennie Smith left the family farm in Faceville, Georgiaand joined the military as a way to pay for college. Afterthe military, he attended the John A. Gupton School ofMortuary Science in Nashville, and then the Universityof Minnesota, from where his bachelor of science degreepositioned Smith to operate as a licensed mortician.The Bennie Smith Funeral Homes currently operates 13locations across Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Smithbecame the company’s chairman and chief executive in1982.Today his business employs more than 75 people andcontractors, and he is licensed to practice funeral servicesin Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and NewYork. 6PAGE



Dick Gregory,84, Dies; Found Humor in the CivilRights StruggleThey were goingto laugh anyway,but if I madethe jokes they’dlaugh with meinstead of at meDick Gregory, the pioneering get laughs, not to change how Though he clearly seethed over satirist who transformed white America treated Negroes the repression of blacks, he cool humor into a barbed (the accepted word for African- resorted to neither scoldings force for civil rights in the 1960s, Americans at the time). “Humor nor lectures when playing big- then veered from his craft for a can no more find the solution to time rooms like the hungry i life devoted to protest and fasting race problems than it can cure in San Francisco or the Village in the name of assorted social cancer,” he said. Nonetheless, as Gate in New York. Rather, he causes, health regimens and the civil rights movement was won audiences over with wry conspiracy theories, died Saturday kicking into high gear, whites who observations about the country’s in Washington. He was 84. caught his club act or listened to racial chasm. his routines on records came away Mr. Gregory’s son Christian with a deeper feel for the nation’s “Segregation is not all bad,” he Gregory, who announced his shameful racial history. would say. “Have you ever heard death on social media, said more of a collision where the people details would be released in the Mr. Gregory was a breakthrough in the back of the bus got hurt?” coming days. Mr. Gregory had performer in his appeal to whites Or: “You know the definition of a been admitted to a hospital on — a crossover star, in contrast to Southern moderate? That’s a cat Aug. 12, his son said in an earlier veteran black comedians like Redd that’ll lynch you from a low tree.” Facebook post. Foxx, Moms Mabley and Slappy Or: “I heard we’ve got lots of black White, whose earthy, pungent astronauts. Saving them for the Early in his career, Mr. Gregory humor was mainly confined to first spaceflight to the sun.” insisted in interviews that his first black clubs on the so-called chitlin order of business onstage was to circuit. 8PAGE

I’ve got to go up there as anindividual first, a Negro second.I’ve got to be a colored funnyman, not a funny colored man. Mr. Gregory was wrote, he endured “the first failed Equal Rights Amendment, a national sensation really good beating I ever had in police brutality, South African in the early 1960s, my life.” apartheid, nuclear power, prison earning thousands of reform, drug abuse and American dollars a week from club He added: “It was just body pain, Indian rights. dates and from records like “In though. The Negro has a callusLiving Black and White” and “Dick growing on his soul, and it’s His activism came at a price,Gregory Talks Turkey.” He wrote getting harder and harder to hurt however. For one thing, thethe first of his dozen books. Time him there.” cascade of cash that he had oncemagazine, enormously powerful enjoyed turned into a trickle. Histhen, ran a profile of him. Jack Increasingly, he skipped club family paid, too.Paar, that era’s “Tonight Show” dates to march or to perform athost, had him on as a guest — benefits for civil rights groups. Despite having sworn off night-after Mr. Gregory demanded that Club owners became reluctant to clubs in 1973, saying he couldhe be invited to sit for a chat. book him: Who knew if he might no longer work in places whereUntil then, black performers did fly off to Alabama on a moment’s liquor was served, Mr. Gregorytheir numbers, then had to leave. notice? As the ’60s wore on, the returned to them on occasionTime on Paar’s sofa was a sign of college lecture circuit became his in later years, a thin presencehaving arrived. principal forum. wreathed in white hair and beard. Though his best days were wellIn 1962, Mr. Gregory joined a In 1967, his head now ringed behind him, his approach neverdemonstration for black voting with a full beard and bushy hair seemed to waver from principlesrights in Mississippi. That was a — no more the thin mustache of that he set for himself whenbeginning. He threw himself into earlier years — he ran for mayor of starting out. He put it this way insocial activism body and soul, Chicago, more or less as a stunt. his autobiography:viewing it as a higher calling. The next year he ran for president on the Freedom and Peace Party “I’ve got to go up there as an in-Arrests came by the dozens. In a ticket, getting by his count 1.5 dividual first, a Negro second. I’veBirmingham, Ala., jail in 1963, he million write-in votes. The official got to be a colored funny man, figure was 47,133. not a funny colored man.” There seemed few causes he would not embrace. He took to fasting for weeks on end, his once-robust body shrinking at times to 95 pounds. Across the decades, he went on dozens of hunger strikes, over issues including the Vietnam War, the 9PAGE

The Tombstone Hearseand Trike; Because NobodyTakes Pictures of Cadillacsor LincolnsWe help funeral Imagine riding motorcycles your over 8 million registered motorcycles. homes gain entire life only to be driven to your That is such a large population that exposure; final resting place in a boring old was previously excluded in the funeral hearse. To put it lightly, that would profession. This type of service will nobody takes be quite a let down. Tombstone attract so much attention to your funeral pictures of Hearse & Trike has spent over a home. How many funeral homes do you Cadillac’s decade perfecting motorcycle hearses know that have a hearse like this? or Lincolns. to attract the huge population of motorcycle enthusiasts. They take about eight to ten weeks imagination is to finish start to finish and come in a incalculable. A funeral is about commemorating variety of colors. But, they create more the life of a loved one. If every funeral than just works of art at Tombstone was cookie cutter there would be no Hearse & Trike; they know how to have significant meaning behind having one. Tombstone Hearse & Trike has taken fun too. such a huge step forward in customizing funeral services. Since 2002, this This is such a unique way to honor a innovative business has been designing loved one that made motorcycles such tripod-motorcycle hearses to sell to a big part of their lives. This would be funeral homes for private use. an investment that will pay for itself hundreds of times over for any funeral According to the United States home. Jack puts it perfectly, “We help Department of Transportation, there are funeral homes gain exposure; nobody takes pictures of Cadillac’s or Lincolns.” 10PAGE

Mesoloft Scatters Ashesat the Edge of SpaceMesoloft, a Kentucky-based company “To be able to offer a more personal and launching cremated remains into the interactive experience to our customers is atmosphere, is introducing a 360-degree incredible,” says Co-Founder Alex Clements. “Our camera to capture the scattering of ashes like hope is that customers will feel like they are up never before. there with their loved one for one last journey.” Customers will now be able to experience Customers will also receive a custom-branded an immersive, 360-degree panoramic view Google Cardboard headset to experience the as the ashes of a loved one or pet are gently 360-degree videos as virtual reality. lifted almost 15 miles above Earth’s surface, before being released into the atmosphere, Mesoloft is currently preparing for its Summer where the Earth’s winds will carry and scatter Launch Campaign, with multiple launches the remains across the globe. The videos can scheduled in the Bend, Oregon area this August. then be uploaded to Facebook and YouTube for The company plans to release new content from customers to share with friends and family. its summer launches on its website as well as on 11PAGE

raditioinnatlhFeu2n1ersatlCentury“Traditions persist— y T es otherwise, they wouldn’tWh the riv be traditions. But h traditions evolve with T the times, too. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t persist for long.” 12PAGE

Afuneral is a powerful thing: a ritual that all New Orleans jazz funeral’s parade serves the same at once publicly acknowledges a death, processional purpose as does the line of cars that follows says a final goodbye to the deceased, a hearse from church to cemetery elsewhere in the gathers together a support group of those country. affected by the death, and allows them to begin to move forward in the grieving Every funeral, whether or not it’s completely traditionalprocess. in tone or not, allows friends and family “to mourn properly as they work through their loss,” says HughEvery funeral is unique, of course, because every person Strebeck. He’s the general manager and owner of Ott &is unique. Yet across the entire spectrum of individual Lee Funeral Homes, a historic Southern institution that’sfunerals, they all work to serve those same basic ritual been in continuous operation since 1934. That basic roleneeds. of facilitating mourning, he says, “does not change even with the different fads we face in funeral service.”The traditional American funeral is structured as it isbecause it meets those needs well. Even in today’s Which is to say that if a unique element serves thesocial-media age, when it sometimes seems that we’re family, it becomes completely appropriate. Familiesalways seeing stories online about unusual funerals each make decisions about which traditional elementsinvolving colorful costumes and exotic ceremonies, they want to emphasize and others they may want tothere are still generally a number of elements that most change: eschewing the dark, formal clothing that’s mostfunerals share in common: traditional, for example, or using contemporary popular music.— a visitation where friends and family gather, comfortone another, and (often) view either the body, casket or So, while Ott & Lee may hew closely to traditionalurn; practices much of the time, Strebeck also proudly notes their expertise in what they’ve come to call Signature— a spiritual ceremony that reflects the family’s beliefs; Moments, “special moments we create during the funeral service that highlight a particular aspect of an individual’s— a eulogy and/or other ways of recognizing and life.”honoring the deceased’s life; One family, for instance, told hunting stories about the— a procession to the place of final disposition; deceased at his visitation. So the funeral home staff quickly organized a “hunter’s salute,” a variation on— and burial or entombment. traditional military rifle volleys, in which the deceased’s fellow huntsmen “were positioned around the edge ofWhile the details vary with the regional, ethnic and the nearby woods to give a gun salute at the end of thecultural diversity of the United States, the structure graveside service.” In another case, while memorializinglargely remains the same. Both an Irish wake and the one woman who loved butterflies, vases full of themJewish practice of sitting shiva are kinds of visitation; were included with the floral arrangements, andan African-American homegoing has a strong religious presented to the family after the funeral services wereelement; the rifle volleys and flag-draped casket of complete.a military funeral honor the deceased’s life; and a In crafting moments like these, Strebeck says, a funeral home can help a grieving family create “a very unique experience that is directly linked to the individuality of the deceased.” Thus tradition isn’t ignored—it’s simply supplemented with something extra and personal. 13PAGE

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Former NAACP presidentConstance Parkerdies at 74Constance Parker, a civil rights leader and the second woman to serveas president of the Pittsburgh NAACP, died Thursday, July 27, 2017.Parker, who was 74, had been ill after suffering multiple strokes.Alongtime NAACP member, Parker was she remembered her mother going out of elected the president of its Pittsburgh town for school when she was younger, branch in 2012, and served in that learning to fix technology like copiers and role until her health worsened several typewriters. She added that it was not easymonths ago. at the time for a Black woman to work in that industry.Parker, was born Aug. 29, 1942 inPhiladelphia. She had been involved with the Carlisle said her mother was firm, but loving.NAACP for more than 25 years at the time of She would give her and her brother “theher election, having held multiple positions eye” when they misbehaved at the store, butwithin the organization, including first vice would still buy them a treat.president. Parker also hosted a weekly Saturday radioShe formerly worked as a community relations program on WAMO in the early 2000’s,coordinator for the Pennsylvania Department featuring celebrity guests like Dick Greg-of Transportation’s District 11 headquarters, ory. Carlisle fondly recalled her mother’sand was a member of the Port Authority of radio catchphrase: “Wake up, everybody.”Allegheny County board of directors. Herdaughter, Twanda Carlisle of the East Hills, “What she meant was, know what’s goingsaid her mother loved working as a liaison on around you and be a part of what’sbecause she got to interact with people. going on around you,” she said.Parker served on several advisory boards, In addition to her daughter and son, she isincluding those of Pittsburgh Community survived by: two brothers, James DowningServices and Duquesne University. Jr. and William Downing, both of Califor-“She would have been doing it ‘til the dayshe died if her health didn’t interfere,” shesaid, describing her mother as a “woman ofcharacter and dignity.”Carlisle said her mother also was the firstAfrican American woman in the region tocomplete IBM’s customer engineering pro-gram, and she remembered her mother goingout of town for school when she was young-er, learning to fix technology like copiers and 15PAGE

New Funeral Home Carries On Middletown Family’s Longtime LegacyThe Roosevelt Boulevard location will be used mainly forfuneral arrangements, meetings and small viewings. 16PAGE

“ His dad gave so much to the community and that’s what Junior’s trying to do. ”When The Rev. Donald Jordan Sr. meetings and small viewings. died in January, his family’s more than 60-year involvement in Jordan Sr. started the business in 1953Middletown was about to become a thing out of his parents’ Ninth Avenue home,of the past. making it one of two African American- owned funeral homes in the city at theThat’s because the property owner of time, according to the business’ funeralwhere Hall-Jordan & Pretty Memorial director, Al Milton. The South Main StreetChapel once sat on South Main Street sold location opened in the late 1950s.it without giving the family the opportunityto purchase it, according to owner Donald Jordan Jr., who had worked in the businessJordan Jr. during several other careers, including pilot, truck driver and police officer, saidRealizing he had to act quickly to preserve continuing his father’s business is “anhis father’s legacy, he opened Donald awesome task” and one he doesn’t takeJordan Memorial Chapel at 4083 Pleasant lightly.Ave. in Hamilton in March and thena location at 3520 Roosevelt Blvd. in “I’ve come across so many people myMiddletown last week. dad has helped over the years,” he said. “Whether it was giving them a job, helping“It actually worked out better because them out with some money, doing a freewe couldn’t grow the business where funeral for them. He built a tradition inwe were,” Jordan Jr. said. “This location the funeral service to where the funeralgives us more opportunity to expand the director is more of your friend andbusiness.” counselor rather than the businessman.”Expand is exactly what the business “Not everyone has the resources or thecontinues to do, having purchased insurance … my dad, in the 60-plus yearsEmmanuel Baptist Church on Young that he did it, never once turned a familyStreet in Middletown two months ago. away because they couldn’t afford it,” heThat building is set to be renovated for said. “Never once. He always would findmemorial chapel use with a planned a way to work within their means and Iopening in early 2018. operate the same way.”“I want to restore the history of the Milton said the Jordan funeral homechurch,” he said. “Different functions legacy would not have continued in Mid-going on (where) they need a place to dletown and Hamilton, where a locationmeet … give (us) an opportunity to say, opened in 1959, if it wasn’t for Jordan Jr.,‘Hey, you can use our building for your who is licensed as a funeral director inchurch services on Sunday,’ because we three different states.don’t typically have funerals on Sundaymornings.” “He’s a reflection of his dad,” Milton said. “His dad gave so much to the communityThe Roosevelt Boulevard location will be and that’s what Junior’s trying to do.”used mainly for funeral arrangements, 17PAGE

It’s A Mystery Why The Cremains Of St. Philip’s Founder Were Laid To Rest In Corpus ChristiWhy was Artemisia Bowden, longtime administrator of St. Philip’sCollege, interred at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd inCorpus Christi instead of somewhere in San Antonio?This is a timely question, since Aug. 18 is the date when the Episcopal Church celebrates Bowden and her ministry as an educator at ahistorically black college. Since 2015, the nationalchurch has included her — the first person fromthe Diocese of West Texas — on the calendarthat commemorates people cited in its liturgicalpublication, “Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating theSaints.”A prayer for that day gives thanks for “gifts ofperseverance, teaching and wisdom made manifestin (Bowden) … called far from home for the sakeof educating the daughters and granddaughters offormer slaves in Texas.” The institution to which shedevoted most of her life started in 1898 as a classfor a few African-American girls held at St. Philip’sEpiscopal Church. This was a historically blackcongregation founded in 1895 by the Rt. Rev. JamesS. Johnston, first bishop of the independent Dioceseof West Texas, who is thus sometimes considered thefounder of St. Philip’s College (covered here Feb. 23,2014), although the title also is applied to Bowden. 18PAGE

She and the school grew up together. According fewer people of color were at that time. She to U.S. Census records, she was born in Georgia; spoke to women’s groups, church groups and civic various documents give the year as 1879, 1882 organizations. She chaired the Negro Hospitaland 1883. It has been said that both her parents Committee and the Volunteer Health League, servedhad been enslaved so she probably didn’t have a on the board of the Bexar County Tuberculosisbirth certificate. Bowden had taught two years in Association and the community organizationFayetteville, North Carolina, before being called in committee of the San Antonio Council of Churches.1902 — barely out of her teens — by Johnston to She also was a fundraiser “for (her) own race” for theteach and serve as principal of the fledgling school. women’s division of the Red Cross.During her long career, Bowden made a name for the Yet her remains repose in a place with which sheschool by putting its mission and accomplishments in had no obvious connection. “Her ashes are interredfront of all kinds of audiences. She spent summers in at Good Shepherd Church, Corpus Christi, in ourthe 1910s on fundraising tours, speaking to African- Memorial Chapel, Niche No. 14,” says parish secre-American audiences in cities such as Baltimore, tary Susan Linnane. “Our records indicate that herPhiladelphia and Alton, Illinois. The rest of the time, brother, Rev. H.J.C. Bowden, purchased the nicheshe made shorter trips to cities within the Diocese for her cremains on Nov. 15, 1969 and had theof West Texas but concentrated most of her efforts ashes interred.”in San Antonio. Odit, inus eicaer beatendem cum ocommodi sime et eum facereniti voluptius autesti Why Corpus? Good Shepherd doesn’t know. Nei-quiaestiatem autemos que videndam dis et fugita ther does the school she served for decades.doluptae voluptas ea sitate cus vellign ihiliquaturni. Bowden’s home parish, St. Philip’s Church, doesn’tIn the Depression years of the 1930s, “It was Miss have a columbarium (space for storage of funeraryBowden’s personal determination and persistence urns) or cemetery, says Elizabeth Applin, administra-that kept the doors open,” Clarence W. Norris, a tive assistant; and St. Mark’s didn’t have a columbar-former St. Philip’s dean, wrote in the San Antonio ium until the 1980s, says the Rev. Carol Morehead,Light, Aug. 26, 1969. At the same time, she was associate rector. Maybe Bowden’s family looked forlobbying to turn the private college over to the San a safe, respectful space for her remains and couldn’tAntonio public school board. The transfer was made find exactly what they wanted in San Antonio. Orin 1942, ensuring the school’s continued survival. maybe the family had some largely unknown con- nection with the coastal city.As dean and president of St. Philip’s, Bowdenwas a public figure in a way few women and even 19PAGE



A Inside Look at the WE RECOGNIZE THAT IT IS OUR EMPLOYEESFuneral Profession’s FIRST AND FOREMOST THAT ALLOW ASD TOLargest Answering EXCEL.ServiceWalking in to ASD’s Operations Center, it is obvious that our company is much more than a Call Center. We aretruly a family. The strong rapport and enduring friendships between our employees is supported by ASD’s positiveworkplace culture. We are proud to offer our employees the opportunities to grow within our company and to helpthem achieve their goals.As a family-owned company, we understand that reliable employees are not replaceable. Our team is comprisedof experienced staff who have worked at ASD for an average of six years. Most of our videos and blog posts fea-ture stories about ASD’s advanced technology and patented tools. However, we recognize that it is our employ-ees first and foremost that allow ASD to excel. Their expertise and skills have helped us to grow and evolve intothe company we are today. 21PAGE

Family, Friends Celebratethe Life and Legacy ofMartha Rivera Chavis Family and friends from across the globe, gathered to celebrate the life and legacy of Martha Rivera Chavis in a multicultural service,Martha died at the age of 53 of natural Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial causes in her home on July 6, due to Justice (CRJ) in New York City. complications of heart failure. The Chavis-Rivera family hosted Martha’s Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras memorial at Martin’s Home for Service, Baraka, who was a student at the Inc. on Tuesday, July 11; the printed program featured time, offered his condolences. her obituary in English and Spanish. Baraka said that the couple did Dr. Chavis thanked Jim Farmer of General Motors; a lot for the Black community the Murphy, Falcon and Murphy law firm in Baltimore, in the United States and for Md.; hip-hop and business mogul Russell Simmons; Black people around the the President of the Detroit branch of NAACP Rev. world, especially those Dr. Wendell Anthony and many others for their who were oppressed and contributions and generosity.Many of the speakers struggling. during the memorial service met Martha and Dr. Chavis in the late 80s, when Dr. Chavis served as the “You and your wife worked together as a unit, which executive is an example for many of us. Sometimes director we work, but our wives are not present,” for the said Baraka. “Martha was very present and United ensured that she was present all the time.” Baraka continued: “Martha is an example, for many women out here of all nationalities; Martha was an internationalist and a very conscious and very brilliant woman. Today, we just don’t get that; you get one or the other. Martha was the whole package.” Author and activist Sister Soulja also said that she met Dr. Chavis, when she worked at CRJ—before he met Martha. “When Martha came, I knew she was the one,” said Sister Soulja. “I knew she was the one that would 22PAGE

become his wife and I knew that she was in Dr. and willingness to help anyone. John said that aboutChavis’ heart. When she used to come to the office, a week before she died, his mom was looking outher face used to light up.” of her window and saw an African American woman trudging up Union Street with a heavy basket on herMinister Abdul Hafeez Muhammad, New York repre- back attached to a leather tumpline. The midday sunsentative of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan was sweltering.and the Nation of Islam said that he met Marthawhen Dr. Chavis served as the east coast regional John said that his mother yelled to the woman,minister of the Nation of Islam. “Excuse me, do you want a bottle of water, sweetie?”“When death comes, it is a time to celebrate life and Even though she wasn’t feeling well, she cameto thank God for the life that has been given, for outside in her pajamas, crossed the street and gavewhatever time it was given,” said Muhammad. “Every the lady a cold bottle of water, John said.day with the Lord is like a thousand years, so forthese 53 years of our beloved sister’s life, celebrate “Even when she was sick my mom was still ait and honor it.” humanitarian, still looking to help people,” said John. “That’s one memory that will last with me forever: herJohn Chavis, one of Martha and Dr. Chavis’ sons, said legacy of being a humanitarian.”that he’ll always remember his mother’s kind heart 23PAGE

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HowBWecaamtcheianng LM.Ao.vSieusmInmaeCr SetmapelteeryJune Gloom; barbecues; sand, surf and bikinis — all conjure images of summer in Los Angeles, that time of year when the sun lingers just a little longer above the rim of the San Gabriel Mountains and cinephiles from all across the Southland seek refuge from the blistering heat in the oasis of their local theater, sipping iced colas as they bask in the air-conditioned indulgence of the cinema. However enmeshed the visages of beach, sun or chilly theater are with summer in Hollywood, perhaps nothing screams “dog days” quite as much as packing a picnic basket and heading down to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on a Saturday evening to watch a classic film under the stars at one of Cinespia’s weekly outdoor screenings. Since 2002, Cinespia has welcomed film fans to partake in their public showcase at the cemetery on Fairbanks lawn from late June to early September, and the screening series quickly became synonymous with the warm season in Los Angeles. “Cinespia started with my film club, as I was looking for a place to screen some classic films,” John Wyatt, founder of the film organization, explained. “With all the Hollywood history at the cemetery I thought it would be a unique place to watch some of the films made nearby.” For Wyatt, the biggest takeaway is sharing the films he loves with a large audience and creating a summer tradition for a new gen- eration. “To be honest, the whole thing has been like a beautiful dream,” Wyatt said. “To share the movies I love, to provide some- thing meaningful to the people of the city where I was born and raised and to add a new chapter in Hollywood history has been nothing short of an honor. Everyday I’m grateful.” 25PAGE

PRSRT STDUS POSTAGE PAID DALLAS, TXPERMIT NO. 2247