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Vol. 83 No. 10
CAC Audited JUNE 9 – 15, 2011
COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
Clay’s Career Fair draws 5,000
Photo by Wiley Price
The Rev. Dr. William Gillespie, longtime pastor of Cote Brilliante Presbyterian Church, passed on Friday of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 80.
Rev. Gillespie passes Pioneer in ‘War on Poverty’ retires at 80 Photo by Wiley Price
Andy Meyer of Boeing Corporation talked with Staci Bonds about job opportunities at U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay’s 6th Annual Career Fair held at Harris-Stowe State University on Monday. Overall attendance numbered more than 5,000 job seekers. Clay said, “It shows the urgency of unemployment and underemployment in the 1st Congressional District and throughout the St. Louis region.”
Ruth Smith leaves HDC after 46 years of community service By Rebecca S. Rivas Of The St. Louis American Ruth Smith pulled out a piece of notebook paper with handwritten notes. “I jotted a few things down this morning over coffee,” said Smith, the president and CEO of the Human Development Corporation of Metropolitan St. Louis (HDC) since 1994. It was a list of dates, some even including time of day, when crucial moments occurred in the 46-year history of HDC, an agency that
offers social service programs. Highlighted in yellow was the date September 30, 1981. On that day, President Ronald Reagan called former CEO Harold Antoine at “five minutes till five” to tell him that the White House would be dismantling the Community Service Agency, the federal agency where HDC received the core of its funding. “I’ll never forget that day,” she said.
“My mother said, ‘No matter where you are in life, you should always look back and pull someone along with you.’”
ICONIC RELIGIOUS AND CIVIC LEADER
– Ruth Smith
By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American
See SMITH, A7
Destination: Yale
Jennifer Lunceford, a 2011 graduate of Metro Academic and Classical High School in the St. Louis Public School District, will attend Yale University to pursue its American Studies track.
Jennifer Lunceford is one of four SLPS students bound for the Ivy League By Rebecca S. Rivas Of The St. Louis American And the lucky winner is ... Yale. Metro Academic and Classical High School graduate Jennifer Lunceford chose Yale out of many universities she was accepted to – including Princeton, Brown, Vassar and Georgetown. “It’s pretty much a full ride,” she said. “They gave me a work study, but I’ve received outside scholarships so that’s the first thing that goes away.” She’s one of four St. Louis Public Schools graduating seniors who will go on to Ivy League universities, all of them Metro students.
SERVICES FRIDAY AND SATURDAY FOR
“My family’s history of teen pregnancy really pushed me to do well in school.” – Jennifer Lunceford
St. Louis is full of heavy hearts following the passing of spiritual and civic leader the Rev. Dr. William Gillespie, who passed on Friday of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 80. “Dr. Gillespie in my estimation was iconic,” said James president and “If it weren’t Buford, CEO of the Urban for him, we League of Metropolitan St. wouldn’t be Louis. “When you do where we are that much – save right now.” souls, build educational institutions and – Martin serve our youth – Mathews, what more can you Mathews-Dickey expect from any one Boys & Girls man’s legacy?” Club Dr. Henry Givens Jr., longtime president of Harris-Stowe University, benefitted from and relied on Rev. Gillespie’s spiritual and educational leadership. “Rev. Gillespie provided counsel and spiritual guidance to me personally,” Givens said. “Much of the university’s outstanding accomplishments must be credited to Rev. Gillespie’s strong leadership.” “He gave everything he had to Cote Brilliante Church and its members and the See GILLESPIE, A6
See SLPS, A7 Photo by Wiley Price