Page 17 - Florida Sentinel 11-24-15 Edition

Memoriams
Local
National
Popular Author, Motivational Speaker Dies Suddenly
IN MEMORIAM
TELLECIA ‘SHARRON’ JOHNSON January 31, 1976 – November 24, 2009
Here’s celebrating another Thanksgiving without you in my life. I’m cooking all your favorite foods and thinking what would “Sharron” be doing now.
With love from: mommy, sis- ter, Shan; brother, A’min; and kids, Loronda and Arriajah. Miss you always.
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
A popular motivational speaker died suddenly on Thursday. James M. Evans was 52-years-old.
According to his wife, Mrs. Gail Evans, Mr. Evans was rushed to Brandon Regional Hospital on Thursday, where he died of a heart attack.
“We had been to our daughter’s track meet earlier in the day and he seemed fine. He has left a legacy and he has changed lives,” she said. Mrs. Evans further said her husband had no known heart problems.
A native of Mobile, Ala- bama, Mr. Evans was the author of several motiva- tional books, served as a mo- tivational speaker, and life coach.
After graduating from Mat- tie T. Blount High School, Mr. Evans attended South- ern University. An athlete, he played football for the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
After a knee injury ended his professional football ca-
JAMESEVANS August 17, 1963 to November19,2015
“The greatest essential in life is service, so keep servingothers.”
reer, Mr. Evans focused his attention on motivating youth. He formed the Tampa Bay Academy of Hope in 1996, and served as its Presi- dent and CEO until 2009.
At that point, Mr. Evans launched the Eagle Quest Group in 2010 and became a Mentor, Author, Motivational Speaker, and Life Coach.
Long before others began
concentrating on youth Mr. Evans saw the plight of young, African American teenagers. He formed the Tampa Bay Academy of Hope to serve as a mentor and give teenagers, especially males, a sense of self-worth and value. He also stressed the need to give back through service.
Through this organiza- tion, Mr. Evans touched the lives of countless young, African Americans.
The books he wrote all served as reminders that seemingly insurmountable odds could be overcome. Mr. Evans often used his life and circumstances as examples that not only surviving, but accomplishing was possible.
He often spoke of growing up in Alabama to a mother who gave birth to 21 children, 17 of which survived.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Evans is survived by two daughters, Triniti and Destini.
Ray Williams Funeral Home is in charge of handling arrangements for Mr. Evans. The services were in- complete at press time.
IN LOVING MEMORY OF OUR BEAUTIFUL MOTHER
CATHERINE CHESTER
Though it’s only been a few months since God called you home, no one said that it would be easy, nor this hard as well.
We miss you so much Mom, and some day we shall see you again. Until then, you will always live deep within our hearts.
Happy birthday, the Chester, Johnson and Ander- son family.
CARD OF THANKS
HOWARD LOCK
The Howard Lock family would like to extend our sin- cere gratitude to everyone for your prayers, thoughts, love and support during the loss of our beloved family member.
Special thanks to: Pastor Clethen Sutton, Harmon Fu- neral Home, New Progressive Missionary Baptist Church; and family members, Nettie Matthews and Queen Matthews. Thank you all.
Original Tuskegee Airman Flight Instructor Milton Crenchaw Dies
Milton Pitts Crenchaw, one of the last original Tuskegee Airmen instructors and an Arkansas aviation pioneer, has died. Cren- chaw passed away at the age of 96 in Georgia after battling cardiovascular disease and pneu- monia according to his family.
Crenchaw was the recent subject of a profile by the Dothan Eagle newspaper in Arkansas, which detailed some of his historic exploits as a pilot and flight instructor. Crenchaw, who left his home state and lived in Atlanta with daugh- ter, Dolores Singleton.
Crenchaw, of the original Tuskegee Airmen, was one of the first African Americans in the country and the first from Arkansas to be trained by the federal government as a civilian licensed pilot. He trained hundreds of cadet pi- lots while at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute in the 1940s and was the catalyst in starting the first successful flight program at Philander Smith College in Little Rock (Pulaski County) from 1947 to 1953. His combined service record ex- tends for over forty years of federal service from 1941 to 1983 with the U. S. Army (in the Army Air Corps) and eventually the U. S. Air Force.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Decem- ber 7, 1941, his focus shifted from living the life of a normal college student to flying in the Civil- ian Pilot Training Program (CPTP), sponsored by the Army Air Corps, and becoming a flight in- structor. This was possible due to the landmark government decision of December 1940 regard- ing the training and inclusion of Black pilots in the army. This idea was first initiated by Presi- dent Franklin Delano Roosevelt and then revisited by the Department of War in response to the shortage of personnel in the aviation, pilot, and engineering sectors of government.
Crenchaw received partial training and physical examinations at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, before return- ing to Tuskegee for another phase of primary in- struction and advance courses in aviation piloting. He graduated with his civilian pilot li- cense and then commercial pilot certificate on
MILTON CRENCHAW
August 11, 1941. Crenchaw became a primary civilian flight instructor and eventually one of the two original supervising squadron com- manders under Chief Pilot Charles A. Ander- son. He and Charles Foxx were the first instructors for the first group of student pilot trainees between 1941 and 1946.
He retired from the Defense Department in 1972 and was a member of the Arkansas Avia- tion Hall of Fame. He and other Tuskegee air- men were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007.
He was the first Black instructor at what is now known as Fort Rucker in Alabama, teaching at the predominately white camp in 1954 ac- cording to his daughter’s account. Ms. Single- ton said at the time of the profile that her father was one of two remaining original Tuskegee Air- men instructors.
The Tuskegee Airmen were part of the mili- tary’s early integration efforts, officially forming the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bom- bardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces.
Crenchaw became a pilot while studying at Tuskegee Institute, making him the first Black pilot in Arkansas trained as a civilian licensed pilot.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 17