{"id":104,"date":"2014-03-23T19:51:57","date_gmt":"2014-03-24T00:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joelanderson.org\/blog\/?p=104"},"modified":"2019-03-23T08:55:53","modified_gmt":"2019-03-23T13:55:53","slug":"happy-birthday-grandmother-cleo-dix-williams-1895-to-1981","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joelanderson.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/23\/happy-birthday-grandmother-cleo-dix-williams-1895-to-1981\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy birthday – Grandmother Cleo Dix Williams – 1895 to 1984"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Scan<\/a>She raised career educators, doctors, lawyers, ministers: \u00a0Six very successful children in addition to being an accomplished musician and community leader. \u00a0And in recognition of that, she won Mother of the Year in the 1952 context sponsored by The Washington Afro-American.<\/p>\n

My grandmother was born Cleo Dix in Chattanooga, Tennessee this day in 1895.<\/p>\n

Mama Cleo (as we called her) was a music student and a concert pianist. \u00a0That is apparently what attracted the attention of my grandfather. \u00a0She was in school in Henderson, N.C. at the Henderson Normal Institute where her uncle, Dr. John Cotton, was principal and president. \u00a0 My grandfather was sent there by his parents to attend school because there was no available school in Abington, VA. \u00a0A “normal school” is what we today might call a teacher’s college: \u00a0it is a program designed to teach people to be teachers. \u00a0She went on to Knoxville College in Tennessee. \u00a0My grandfather was apparently so smitten, that when Mama Cleo \u00a0finished and moved back to Philadelphia with her mother, he moved as well and attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania so that he could be near her. \u00a0He finished his education with a PhD in Theology.<\/p>\n

\"henderson\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mama Cleo was honored as the Baltimore Afro American’s 1952 Ideal Mother, an annual award. \u00a0The award festivities included receiving a key to the city from the Baltimore mayor, speeches, luncheons – and lots of news articles. \u00a0They apparently follow the winner around and document ever step, in addition to all the details that made the winner the ideal mother. \u00a0While chronicling the achievements of her life, you \u00a0find articles with sub-headings like, “Selected from Hundreds,” and “Accomplished Pianist,” and “Children Outstanding.” \u00a0We also find, “Wore Brown Outfit” and details about the “brown rayon crepe suit with matching silk blouse\u2026.,” concluding, “Mrs. Williams is a slim (size 16), stylishly dressed matron, who posses a sweet voice and a winsome personality.” \u00a0Even got the size. \u00a0They covered it all.<\/p>\n

\"screenshot\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Of particular note is the fact that Cleo Williams was what some used to refer to as the “Lady of the Manse” – she was the wife of a minister, and one who moved a great deal. \u00a0 She raised six very successful children in the process.<\/p>\n

As for Cleo, she was an accomplished musician, studying music while in school, and continuing varied work in music ranging from directing The Twilight Singers, \u00a0to organizing the production of concerts, to performing in local concerts herself. \u00a0She was actually one of the musicians who would play piano in silent movies. \u00a0!! \u00a0Of course, as the wife of a minister (more on him on his birthday), she had a role and presence in every community in which they lived.<\/p>\n

\"arrives\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Her talent in music no doubt stretches farther back than I can reach. \u00a0But perhaps most notably in the entertainment world is Jim Burris, her uncle. \u00a0He was a Broadway entertainer, but also a composer who is best known for the song, “Ballin the Jack” — now a jazz standard — that was performed in a number of movies, including Me and My Gal (1942).<\/p>\n

And six children:<\/p>\n

My uncle Art (Arthur Franklin Williams) was the eldest. \u00a0He retired a colonel after a very successful career in the Air Force, one that he began as a Tuskegee Airman. \u00a0Second is my mother (for whom there will be no shortage of posts) who finished her degrees in English and became a college professor — and was Delta sorority’s Miss Ohio State in 1940. \u00a0The birth order eludes me from here, but John Mark was a psychiatrist. Sadie Virginia was a music director in the Philadelphia public schools. \u00a0Burton Dix was a minister following his seminary training. \u00a0And Hattye Lorraine became a lawyer, and was the first black female federal law clerk.<\/p>\n

She lived a very long life–the anniversary of her passing in 1981 was on the 19th of March.<\/p>\n

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mama Cleo! \u00a0And more of your stories yet to come\u2026…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She raised career educators, doctors, lawyers, ministers: \u00a0Six very successful children in addition to being an accomplished musician and community leader. \u00a0And in recognition of that, she won Mother of the Year in the 1952 context sponsored by The Washington … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lycG-1G","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joelanderson.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joelanderson.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joelanderson.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joelanderson.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joelanderson.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.joelanderson.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118,"href":"https:\/\/www.joelanderson.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions\/118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joelanderson.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joelanderson.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joelanderson.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}