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Vol. 3
1 I ®A A % ft A H WARREN A. CANDLER
Dr. Pitts Last Dav s
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■ pne of Dr. Pitts, proudest moments was receiving
9 SIOO,OOO in pledges and cash from the Black
W community of Augusta to rebuild Haygood Hall which
■ was burned down in 1968. Here “Build It Back”
M chairman Edward Mclntyre presents symbolic check.
By Mallory K. Millender
“Sometimes you wonder
whether you are pushing time
or whether time is pushing
you,” murmured Mrs. Juanita
Addison as she sat at her desk
Tuesday reflecting on the
death of Dr. Lucius H. Pitts,
president of Paine College, who
died of an apparent heart
attack in his office Monday
night. Mrs. Addison was Dr.
Pitts’ secretary.
As she talked, she looked
over his schedule during the
last week wondering whether
he might have live longer had
he lived at a less torrid pace.
He would have been 59
today, , February 28th.
Last Tuesday and
Wednesday,he was in St. Louis
attending a meeting of the
college of bishops. Thursday he
flew to Washington for a
meeting with the National
Science Foundation. Friday, he
went to New York for a
planning workshop for college
presidents sponsored by the
Moton Development
Consortium. Saturday he
returned to Augusta rather
than stay over in New York for
his next meeting in Boston on
Wednesday.
A few days in New York
would have meant that he
probably would have gotten
some much needed rest, but he
preferred to spend that time
working at Paine College where
he knew there was important
work that needed his attention.
And just as important, his son,
Lucius, Jr., was speaking at a
church in South Carolina
Sunday and he wanted to hear
him.
Dr. Pitts had planned to
leave Augusta Tuesday night
for the Woodrow Wilson
Internship program in Boston
on Wednesday. But Tuesday
never came.
Monday started out very
routinely for Dr. Pitts. He sat
quietly with the students
mid-way the Gilbert Lambuth
Chapel during the Monday
11:00 chapel hour. During
the singing of a hymn, he rose
from his seat on the right side
of the chapel, strode to the
front of the auditorium, and
ordered the organist to stop
the music. He was disturbed at
the way the hymn (“All Hail
the Power of Jesus’ Name) was
>' being sung. They were dragging it.
Addressing the students, he
pleaded, “I know that the song
is difficult and some of the
notes are kind of high, but let’s
take a deep breath and try to
sing it better.”
Then giving the pitch
himself, he led into the song,
strutting up and down the
center aisle, his arms pumping
and pulling out the desired
tempo.
U NATIONAL BLACK NEWS SERW .CE
MEMBER
After the services, he urged
the students to attend the
research workshop being held
on campus. It was the last time
he was to address the student
body.
In the afternoon, he met
with Academic Dean Dr. Willie
Coye Williams from 2-4. Then
he met with a student, dictated
a letter to Mrs. Addison, and
talked about how his hand had
improved.
During the first week of
January, he was hospitalized
after losing use of his right
hand, which was paralyzed by
a pinched nerve. He talked
about some of his own theories
he was going to put to the
doctor about his hand, he
talked about the college in
general and at about 5:30, he
talked with another student
who came to see him about
financial aid.
THE LAST CONVERSATION
Next he talked with Nelson
Hall, the last person he ever
talked with. Nelson Hall is an
accountant at the Pilgrim
Health and Life Insurance
Company. As a child, he
played at the Bethlehem
Community Center when Dr.
Pitts was a student at Paine
College doing volunteer work
at the Center.
Hall said they talked about
the past and future of Paine
College and just “lost track of
time” but he was sure they
talked an hour or more. Then
as he was about to leave he
said, “Well, I guess I better go
out and get away home.” But
Dr. Pitts said, “ ‘No, I’ll take
you.’ He started to get up and
just fell back in the chair and
slumped over, groaning. I said,
‘Dr. Pitts? Is something
wrong? Can I get something for
you?’* But he didn’t answer.
“I thought I saw him reach
toward his pocket.
“I didn’t know how to
operate his phone to get an
outside line. I just kept
punching buttons until I got a
dial tone and called his wife
and told her,” Hall said.
Mrs. Daffemeeze Pitts
arrived quickly and thought he
was suffering from insulin
shock. He was a diabetic. She
tried to get sugar into his
mouth and called his doctor
and ambulance. She also called
Albert Jasper, Dr. Pitts’
brother-in-law, who works at
the college.
About the same time,
Charles Smith, a faculty
member, called to tell Dr.
Pitts he would be late for his
8:00 appointment. Mrs. Pitts
told Smith to meet them at
University Hospital. Smith, was
there when the ambulance
P.O. Box 953
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Last April, he was inaugurated as the first Black
president in the 92 year history of Paine College ...
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The student was the center of his work. Here he salutes
Miss Paine College 1973-74”, Mary Faye Harris, as
Michael Thurmond, president of the Student
Government Association looks on.
arrived and gave the following
account: “At the hospital they
rolled him into a room. I went
in with him. They immediately
saw that it was a total
emergency. All the attendants
and staff went in.
“I heard the doctor ask,
‘How long has he been this
way?’ I couldn’t hear the
answer to the question, but
then the doctor asked, ‘You
mean he hasn’t been breathing
for 15-20 minutes?’
“The doctor called Mrs. Pitts
into an office and Jasper
turned to me and said, ‘He’s
gone.’ ”
Within minutes the news
began spreading across the
county.
About 9:30, faculty, staff,
students, friends and local
ministers began to arrive in
large numbers at the Pitts’
Beman Street home.
Dr. Pitts’ daughter, Etha,
received visitors at the door,
Mrs. Pitts sat on the sofa in the
livingroom, visibly shaken but
poised and talking quietly in a
controlled voice as she thanked
guests for their expressions of
sympathy.
Paine College’s
administration and cabinet
officers assembled at the house
and went quickly into a
meeting.
Lucius Pitts, Jr. walked
about serving coffee and
tending to the needs of visitors.
JUST ONE BIG FAMILY
Around 11:30 entertainer
James Brown arrived with his
wife, Deidre, his father, Joe
Brown, and his radio station
manager, Mai Cook.
He talked briefly with Mrs.
Pitts who was then seated in
Dr. Pitts’ study with former
Paine Vice President Stewart B.
Gandy, who along with Lucius,
Jr. answered the telephone
calls that started to pour in.
Brown talked about Dr. Pitts
as a “great man who did so
much for Augusta”
“I was just talking to him
this afternoon. I’m just
dumbfounded. I don’t know . .
. . It was a real honor to have
talked to him on this day. He
made my day. I had been
depressed until then.” Brown
talked a few moments more,
then wrote down his private
phone number and handed it
to Gandy and instructed him
to call him if he could be of
service. Then turning to Mrs.
Pitts, he said, “We’re just one
big family.”
Michael Thurmond,
president of the college’s
Student Government
Association, said, “I guess the
realization will come to us later
that he was a genius and a
THE PEOPLE’S PAPER
giant.
“I just hope people won’t
stop because it’s a very critical
time for the college. Black
people and America will'miss
him.”
Cyrus Hickson, an instructor
at the college said, “I was at
first shocked then
disheartened. It’s always sad
when somebody dies that you
have a lot of respect for.
Although I did not agree with
some of the policies that he
used, I did feel that he
sincerely loved Paine College
and was concerned about the
best interest of the college.’’
TWO PREVIOUS HEART
ATTACKS
Charles Smith, the college’s
federal relations officer, kept a
constant check on Dr. Pitts’
health. He was fully aware that
Dr. Pitts had previously
suffered two previous heart
attacks during the 60s, one of
them massive.
Smith said, “Normally when
I asked Dr. Pitts how he was
doing, he’dsay‘l’m going to be
better.’ But in the last week
he’d say ‘l’m not doing too
well.’ 1 had never heard him
express negativism before.
“He was really pushing these
last few weeks, pushing harder
than he ever has, I guess he
knew these last few weeks were
critical in the life of the
college.”
The Nationally known
educator had been president of
Paine since 1971. Before that
appointment he had served as
President of Miles College in
Birmingham, Ala. for 10 years.
A native of James, Georgia,
Dr. Pitts attended public
school in Macon and attended
Paine College for his
undergraduate work. After
graduating from Paine in 1941,
he entered Fisk University,
Nashville, Tenn, where he
obtained a Master of Arts
degree in 1945.
He did further post-graduate
study at Atlanta University,
Peabody College, Nashville,
Tenn, and Western Reserve
College in Cleveland, Ohio.
His Honorary degrees
included the Doctor of
Divinity from Paine College in
1962, a Doctor of Laws degree
from Rhode Island College, a
Doctor of Laws degree from
Wooster College, Wooster,
Ohio, and a Doctor of Laws
degree from Miles College.
He was a charter member of
the Augusta-Richmond County
Human Relations Commission,
having served as its vice
chairman. He was a member of
the Board of Directors of
Greater Augusta Chamber of
Commerce. He served in the
National Advisory Council on
Education Professional
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He is joined (L-R) by Mrs. Dan Collins, Dr. Benjamin
Mays, president emeritus of Morehouse College and
trustee of Paine College, and Dr. David Collins, first
Black president of Paine College’s board of trustees.
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In a rare moment of leisure, Dr. Pitts posed for the
News-Review before jetting off to Europe on a pleasure
trip.
Development, the Board of
Directors of the National
Association for Equal
Opportunity ,in Higher
Education and on the advisory
committee for education of the
National Science Foundation.
He was chairman of the
Specialized Training advisory
Panel of the Boy Scouts of
America and served on the
policy board for the National
Council of churches’
Deoartment of Education,
Commission on Religion in
Higher Education of the
Association of American
Colleges and chairman of the
President’s Council of the
Christian Methodist Episcopal
Belair Residents Rip Madison
Woo, County Commission
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JAMES E. CARTER, ID
Jimmy Carter 111,
spokesman for the Belair Hills
Association, called a press
conference Monday
threatening to take legal action
if their grievances continue to
be ignored.
in a prepared statement
Carter said, “Some time ago, we,
the members of the Belair Hills
Association appeared before
the Richmond County
Commission to voice certain
grievances which we as
taxpayers of Richmond
County felt should not exist,
but have continued to exist
much to our dismay.
“We have petitioned the
Commission over a period of
years to have many
improvements made to our
community, only to have
promises made, but not kept,
verbal agreements presented,
Augusta, Georgia
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity for
his numerous contributions in
the areas of education and
human relations in the Augusta
community
He had recently met with
President Nixon in the White
House to discuss increased
federal participation for Black
institutions of hgher learning.
He was married to the
former Daffemeeze E. Bates
and they had four children:
Lucius, John, Eleanor, and
Etha Pitts.
Funeral arrangements will be
held in the Gilbert-Lambuth
Church.
In 1972, Dr. Pitts was
named Citizen of the Year by
the Psi Omega Chapter of
but as usual, not honored, and
finally, commitments given in
seemingly good faith, but for
some reason, our elected
officials have not seen fit to
carry out those pledges and
promises which they made,
even publicly, to the extent
that we feel the public should
at long last know what your
officials are doing and not
doing in the interest of the
citizenery of Richmond
County.
“More Specifically: Under
the tenure and chairmanship of
Commissioner Madison Woo,
we sought development ot a
ten (10) acre park, land of
which was donated free of
charge to the county. Money
was appropriated last year to
begin work on this park. After
our appearance before the
Commission, work was begun
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. With his right hand, Dr. Pitts grips singer James Brown i
a “soul” shake. With his left hand, he holds a check for
scholarship donated by Brown.
FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS
I
The funeral arrangements of Dr. Lucius Holsey
Pitts will be held Friday at 12:00 in the
Gilbert-Lambuth Chapel of Paine College. The
eulogy will be delivered by Bishop Joseph Johnson.
Dr. Pitts will be buried on the campus near the
chapel.
Chapel at Paine College on
Friday at 12:00 noon.
The family has requested
that instead of flowers, that
but not carried out according
to the Recreation Master Plan
as prepared by the
Augusta-Richmond County
Planning Commission.
“Approximately one acre
was cleared and three items
were arbitrarily placed on the
site. (One sliding board, one set
of swings, and one block and
frame multi-activity unity). If
this is supposed to fulfill the
park needs of this area, the
recreation committee and
Commissioner Woo are badly
mistaken.
“Delays and lies, promises and
pledges have run out. Excuses
seem to be the rule of thumb
when it comes to fulfilling the
needs of the citizens of this
area. For the little we have, we
have crowds to use the area
from the surrounding area. This
has not however, taken our
kids off the streets, thus
creating an extremely
hazardous situation with traffic
and the lives of the kids in the
area.
“We are sick and tired of
being told that they can not
develop the area because of
drainage. The engineers have
said over and over again that
the site is a beautiful one and
could be developed, but it
seems that ulterior motives are
being deployed to deny us the
services which we seek and for
Radio station WRDW will pay tribute to Dr. L.H. Pitts all
day Friday, highlighted by excerpts from many of his
speeches.
On Saturday, the Paine College Hour wil be alloted to
Paine College Students to pay tribute as they see fit.
February 28, 1974 No. 50
money be donated to the
Lucius H. Pitts Memorial Fund,
and sent to the Development
Office at Paine College.
which funds have been
provided.
“When the powers that be,
don’t want to fulfill a pledge or
promise, they find excusesand
lie in seeking away out. They
could do it if they wanted to.
We would like to know what
has happened to the
appropriated funds from last
year, and the funds from this
year. The total estimated cost
of the project is 548,560.00
but we have not realized this in
our neighborhood.
“We want our children off
the streets, we want our park
developed and we are prepared
at this time to seek legal
recourse if this service by our
elected officials is continued to
be ignored. Commissioner Woo
and those up for re-election
have been stumping the
community already telling of
their many achievements and
accomplishments. To us, this is
bunk. When they live up to the
true creed of the oath they so
faithfully recited at their
installation, when they define
priorities, when they serve
ALL the people of the county,
when they decide that the
office they hold is an elected
office and not one of personal
glorification, then and only
then, will the people of this
county get their fair share of
what is due as taxpayers.”
(fS)