Tribute to Claudette from T. Dianne Bellamy Small

I had the honor of serving my first term on the Greensboro City Council with Claudette Burroughs White.  She was a servant leader with true grit and wisdom. Claudette and I had engaged in a number of other activities through the years in the community; BCDI, Kwanzaa, NAACP and Chavis Library. She enjoyed African attire and elephants and she often joked with me when we were on council to take off what I was wearing because it would look better on her.  When she retired from the council, I gave her a sitting elephant indicating she could get some rest now. Our professional lives crossed in juvenile justice. 

I considered her a mentor, a friend, a Sistah, a soldier in the battle for civil rights and a colleague on council. I am saddened that she did not have more time to do the things she had planned to do after she retire from the Council in 2005. But I am glad that she touched so many as she passed along her way. If I were going to sing a tribute to her it would be this song, “Walk Around Heaven”. It was a favorite of my grandmother but I would change the words to say:

Claudette told us……
One of these mornings and it won’t be long, You’ll look for me and I’ll be gone

She’s gone to a place where she has nothing, nothing to do but just walk around Heaven
All day

When she got to Heaven, she just sang and shouted. Nobody tried to put her out.

Her mother was waiting and other loved ones, too. And they joined hands and walked around Heaven - All day

Lord, up above heard her praying.  Please walk right by my side.

And Lord, when her way, her way got cloudy - Lord, she needed you
Lord, she needed you to be her guide way.

Now, EVERYDAY is Sunday. Sabbath will have no end. She’ll do nothing but sing, sing and play. God knows we’ll pray.

And when He said well done, Your race, your race has been won.
That’s when she’ll walk around Heaven … All day long.

Many will say much about Claudette Graves Burroughs White and her legacy but I know that all we have to say is “may the works she did speak for her”. I am proud that I had the distinct honor of serving with her on the City Council and for the greater good of Greensboro and beyond. All of us will miss this soldier from the battlefield of life, but she will sing, shout and walk around heaven all day long.

 For more Information:

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070917/NRSTAFF/70917004