Literary Writings of Frederick Marshall Finney

"The Delta Tractor Driver and Mr. Charlie," short story, North American Review, Vol. 1,  No. 3,          September, 1966.

"Fools Glory," Manilla Black Magazine, 1966.

"Parchman's Corner," short story, North American Review, vol. 22, No 1, January, 1967.

"A Balm In Gilead," play, Confrontation Change/Review, 1976.

"An Old Man's Glory," short story, Confrontation Change/Review, 1976.

"Trouble on the Gandy," Confrontation Change Review, Vol. 2/No 1, Spring 1977.

"Show Me Your Hides," Confrontation Change/Review, Vol. 2 No. 1, Spring 1977.

"Dark Shadows," short story, Confrontation Change/Review, Winter, 1978 pn S.O Himes.

"The Drivers Changeth," short story, unpublished.

"The Breasted Hen," short story, unpublished.

Unlikely Coin Collector

                                                          A Recollection

My mother, Mary Bluford Turner, was an unlikely coin collector. She acquired U.S. coins, not in the sense of an organized systematic hobby but largely as a random finder and saver of coins. When she was a young woman, she developed the habit of saving every old coin she found, Indian head pennies, Barber dimes, Buffalo nickels,  Over the years her collection grew. She traded dollar bills for silver dollars.

She was especially fond of the Peace Silver Dollar. My sister and I were given a Peace Dollar with our birth year on it, and a two dollar bill with the admonition to never spend because "you will never be broke."

 Following her own advice, she was never broke.The Peace Dollar was minted from 1921 to 1928 and then again in 1934 and 1935. It was designed by Anthony de Francisci. It was to memorialize the peace following the Armistice of WWI. On the obverse is Liberty. On the reverse is a perched bald eagle. It was 90% silver and 10% copper.

In her collection was the  Morgan Walking Liberty Silver Dollar, and an 1888 V-Nickel.
Once when a coin dealer drove from Little Rock to Pine Bluff to offer her a quarter for an Indian head penny, she reasoned he would not have come that far for a worthless coin. She refused the offer. She did not understand the fundamentals of grading a coin. Whether the dealer was trying to take advantage of her was never known.

When her brother, James, came home from serving in Europe during WWII, in the Rhineland Campaign, he gave her a box full of European coins. They were coins which had been in circulation and brought home as souvenirs. Mary valued them and kept them alongside her other coins which were in a locked metal box under her bed. They included a 1936 German 3 cent
Reischspenny, a 1930 George IV sixpence (Great Britain), a Republica Peruane Veintiuno 10 Tavos.

Throughout her life she continued to save coins and collected every Kennedy Half Dollar that came her way.
       
When I was about thirteen, I won ten Peace Dollars on the local KOTN Radio Station. My entry was selected. I was elated.

(c) copyright 2014

A Minute of Thought

                     "A minute of thought is worth more than an hour of talk."

                                                          Unknown
Everyone is a poet. I recently came across some minutes of thought I crafted as poetry. The first, Invitation, was inspired by the actions of my cat, Tammy to sit on my lap. The second, An Old Oak Tree, was inspired by a large oak tree in my yard which I could see from a bedroom window.

                                                           Invitation
                                       Meow, meow, and a purr around the leg
                                               an invitation to sit on my lap.
                                         Slowly green eyes meet brown eyes.
                                         Presto! Tammy jumps on my lap.
                                  rolling and wiggling like a little wiggly worm
                                       until sound asleep and snoring aloud.

                                                    An Old Oak Tree
                                               There grew an old oak tree
                                        I could see from my bedroom window,
                                              reaching  towards the sky.
                                              its  bough close to the ground
                                              its trunk sunken in the cold wet snow
                                              on a glistering January day.
                                            So we like this old oak tree live
                                             between earth's cold embrace
                                             and lofty planes of hope and faith
                                                   on this celestial planet.
                                                     But still we live!

                                     
                                           

Charles R. Kilby Retirement- 57 Years of Service to Social Work

When the history of Social Work is written for Dayton and the Miami Valley, Charles R. Kilby will be there.

It is a pleasure to say a few words about my long-time colleague and friend, Charles Roland Kilby.  I worked under him seven years at Day-Mont West Community Mental Health Center and an equal number of years at the Dayton Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital.

When Charles Kilby entered Ohio State University, followed by a Master of Social Work degree at Wayne State, he chose a career path that truly allowed him to make a change in the life of people. He has combined a life-time of service in the profession of social work while taking care of his family.

The profession of social work has certain core values. Among these are service, a belief in social justice, and a belief in the worth and dignity of all human beings which Charles Kilby has aptly displayed.

He has been a "Man for all Seasons" in Social Work. He has been a clinician, administrator, supervisor, mentor and teacher of social work students.

He has made a difference in social policy and program development, administration, leadership, especially in mental health. During his administration as Executive Director of Day-Mont West Community Mental Health Center, he oversaw the writing of a federal grant that brought ten million dollars of mental health services to west Dayton and the western part of Montgomery County. This was the beginning of a new birth
of mental heath services to the community.

 He has served the profession faithfully with dedication and devotion. He worked diligently to secure passage of licensing for social workers, and was key in getting State Representative, C. J. McClin's support.
We now know the decade- long outcome of trying to bring licensure to the state as the State of Ohio Counselor, Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapy Board.

During those years, we know as the Civil Rights era, and the struggle to bring diversity and inclusiveness in the professional organization,National Association of Social Workers (NASW), Mr. Kilby was there at the National Conference of Social Workers when the African-Americans walked out and founded the National Association of Black Social Workers, (NABSW), and the Welfare Rights Movement of America at Glide Memorial Church, in San Francisco in 1968.

He has always been there when (NASW) needed him and has served on every committee. He is the recipient of the prestigious Social Worker of the Year Award (1976), and the Life-Time Achievement Award, Ohio Chapter, NASW, Region VII.

On behalf of myself, the countless people you served at Day-Mont West, the Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital, those you mentored, supervised---I than you Mr. Kilby. I also thank your family for allowing you to serve. I wish you well in a well-deserved retirement.

Gladys Turner Finney
St. Margaret's Episcopal Church
July 12, 2014

Papa Babe's Clock

"My Grandfather's Clock, a song I sang during my youth in Arkansas, tells a wonderful story of reminiscence (joys and sorrows) of a grandson about his grandfather's clock.
     The first stanza of the lyrics: "My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf;
     So it stood ninety years on the floor.
     It was taller by half than the old man himself,
     Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.
     It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born,
     And was always his treasure and pride,
     But it stopp'd-never to go again
     When the old man died."
     Papa Babe's clock sat idle and uninterrupted for twelve years on top an old humidor in a
bedroom in my house following the death of my mother in 2002. It sat idle and uninterrupted in my parent's house for fifteen years between the death of my father's step-father, whom we affectionately called Papa Babe, and my father's death in 1989.
     The 1807 William L. Gilbert Tambour Style Mantlel Clock was bequeathed to my father. My father brought it to his home in Arkansas after Papa Babe's funeral in Los Angeles. Papa Babe's home was in Compton, California, and so had been the home of the clock.
     To my surprise Papa Babe's 1807 clock is most likely a 1930 clock. The 1807 date which appears on the inside is the patent date and not the manufacturing date.  Like other Tambour Style Mantlel Clocks, it measures nine and a half inches in height and twenty-one and five eights in length. it has a "Bim Bam" strike on the hour and half hour.
     I do not know how long papa Babe owned the clock, when it was purchased, or if it were purchased in Arkansas before he moved to California in the 1940s. The clock was mass produced and its sentimental value exceeds its monetary value. It's a family heirloom to me.
     Papa Babe, born Aaron Shelton, February 17, 1880 in Tamo, Jefferson County, Arkansas died in Los Angeles on January 28, 1974. He was next to the youngest of seven living children of Cap and Caldonia Shelton. Among his siblings were Griffith, Dock, Matthew, Alice, Allen, David, and Lillie. His father was born in March 1840 in Tennessee. His mother, Caldonia, was born in Africa in January 1844.
     His first wife was Miss Eliza Nichols and they had many children. His second wife was my father's mother who called herself "Arned" instead of "Inez Mary" (Williams) Turner. They were married around 1927.
     I remember Papa Babe's annual train visits to Arkansas and my fun-filled summer vacations with him, his wife "Miss Tamer," and her grandson, Earl, and Papa Babe's grandson, John Henry, at 510 West  Plum Street in Compton. ( a white stucco bungalow with an immaculate lawn).
     Papa Babe was quite a dandy. He smoked cigars, was well-dressed, and did not display any gray hair. He was a farmer in Arkansas but went to work for the Pacific Fruit Railroad in California until he retired.
His obituary said he "leaves to mourn, a devoted wife, Mrs Tamer Bolden Shelton whom he married May 2, 1952, 14 children, 32 grandchildren, 69 great grandchildren, and five great-great grandchildren.
     Papa Babe's clock sat silent, and uninterrupted for twenty-seven years not because I had forgotten him. Dr. Timekeeper now has it up and running, (since May 22, 2014) "bonging" every hour and half-hour to great joy and delight
in remembrance of one held dear.
                                                                           

   

(c) copyright 2014

Private First Class Essix Johnson, United States Army, 3843878

I am proud of the men in my family who served in the United States Military. There are no biographies and whatever contributions they made are lost to history.

One of these men was my maternal great uncle who served in the United States Army during WWI. This year is the 100th Anniversary of the beginning of that war. World War I was started when the nations went to war, so we are told by the history books, to avenge the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the Hapsburg throne, June 28, 1914.

Essix P. Johnson was born April 20, 1890 in Grady, Lincoln County, Arkansas to Essix Johnson and Jessie (Benson) Johnson.

His dates of service were July 29, 1918 to August 21, 1919. Place of Entry was Grady, Arkansas. Place of Separation was Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Decorations and Awards received were the World War I Victory Medal and the World War I Victory Button.

He died August 9, 1967 at Pine Bluff, Jefferson County, Arkansas. His place of burial was Grady, Randolph Cemetery, Lincoln County, Arkansas, August 13, 1967.

Oberlin College Hosts International Filmmaker Branwen Okpako-March 14-16-2014

At a two day film screening on the grounds of historic Oberlin College, noted for its Conservatory of Music and early education of women and African-Americans-faculty, students, community residents, and invited guests met filmmaker, Branwen Okpako, and screened three of the filmmaker's films. Born in Nigeria, Filmmaker Okpako studied film making at the German Film & Television Academy in Berlin where she now lives.

The film screening, an original idea of Professor Sabine Marina Jones-Faculty-in Residence and German Lecturer, was sponsored by the Jantz Foundation, the Max Kade Foundation, the German Language and Literature Department, and the Afrikan Heritage House.

My presence at the screening was that of an invited guest with Mrs. Elveria Goolsby of Trotwood, Ohio. We had met Professor Jones two years ago when she traveled to Trotwood to interview Mrs. Goolsby regarding the "German Brown Babies."

Two of the films were in German with English subtitles and one was in English. The first film told the life of Auma Obama, President Barack Obama's sister, from her homestead in Kenya during the 2008 USA Presidential Election. The second film screened told the life of an Afro-German police officer, "cop turned robber" due to psychological pressures. The third film was about an Afro-German woman who was transferred from Frankfurt to Dresden and discovers her forgotten past.

There was a Reception for the Filmmaker and dinner with invited guests at Weia-Teia Restaurant. There were many cultural lessons learned from the films and the Question & Answer Sessions.

We stayed at Schurleff Cottage, a Bed & Breakfast. It was once the home of General Giles Waldo Schurleff who rose to Brigadier General during the Civil War, and commanded the 5th U. S. Colored Troops of Ohio that earned four congressional Medals of Honor. A bronze stature of General Schurleff stands on the grounds near the corner of Morgan and Professor Streets.

Oberlin, the college and town, were founded in 1833. Inspired by the idealism of French clergyman, John Frederick Oberlin, who devoted his life to educating impoverished people, John Shipherd and Philo Stewart (two christian evangelists) started Oberlin to produce ministers and teachers for missionary work.
The town was a "hotbed" of abolitionists and primary stop on the  "Underground Railroad."

50th Anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society and War on Poverty

Many of our nation's poor were helped by the various War on Poverty programs.
When I graduated from college in 1957 there was no Title 18 (Medicaid) or Title 19
(Medicare) to the Social Security Act. There were no Pell Grants or Student Loans.
These programs have made life better for many. Yet, many still remain in poverty.
The War on Poverty did not go far enough. There is a tendency for short-term thinking-
solutions to long-term problems. There is no economic safety net for the poor.

As a social worker, I saw poor children in Dayton see a pediatrician, a pediatric dentist
for the first time through the Children & Youth Project at Children's Medical Center, and
attend the newly created Head Start Program. In 1960, 95% of Dayton's African-
American population lived in Inner West Dayton where there was high poverty, infant
mortality, and unemployment.

As a backdrop of the urban riots of the 1960s, Dayton was designated and funded in 1966
as a "Model City" Project under Title I of the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Act.
It was the first time those residents had access to their government and a voice directly
affecting their lives and conditions. Forming a new approach to planning and working
with city leaders, The Manpower Programs, The Charles R. Drew Health Center, and
Project Cure were founded; the latter two remain the most visible from the Model Cities
Program.