Lou Brock Jr. remembers Lou Brock
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St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited SEPTEMBER 17 – 23, 2020
Serving, empowering and advocating equity in St. Louis since 1928
Vol. 92 No. 25 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
Betty Jean Kerr passes away at age 82 She led People’s with a ‘nurse’s heart’ and clear vision for community health
Betty Jean Kerr’s contributions to healthcare were celebrated at the St. Louis American Foundation’s 2004 Salute to Excellence in Healthcare. Left to right: KSDK’s Rene Knott, Betty Jean Kerr and KMOX’s Carol Daniel.
By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American Before going back to her hometown in Florida as her final resting place, the St. Louis community where Betty Jean Kerr built her life and legacy of serving the health needs of St. Louis families said their goodbyes on Wednesday, September 16. She died Saturday, September 12 in St. Louis. She was 82. Kerr was a nurse, a health leader and a woman with a vision who turned a St. Louis area storefront free clinic started by community activists and medical students in 1972 into People’s Health Centers. When Kerr retired in 2007, in her honor the clinics were renamed the Betty Jean Kerr People’s Health Centers. The Board See KERR, A7
Photo by Wiley Price
Darrion Cockrell is Missouri Teacher of the Year ‘Mr. D.C.’ teaches PE in Lindbergh Schools and serves on its strategic planning team By Chris King Of The St. Louis American Darrion Cockrell being selected as 2021 Missouri Teacher of the Year by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is a recognition of a teaching specialty that is not always taken seriously: He is a physical education teacher at Crestwood Elementary in Darrion Lindbergh Schools. Cockrell “We are extremely underestimated,” Cockrell said. “The PE teacher clichés are we all wear little shirts with a whistle around our necks and yell at kids like they are in military training – or we are lazy and overweight and throw balls at the kids and tell them to ‘go play.’ We See COCKRELL, A6
On October 17, Rev. Dr. Doris Graham will receive the 2020 Lifetime Achiever Award at the St. Louis American Foundation’s Salute to Excellence in Education virtual gala.
Photo by Wiley Price
Thank you on behalf on Lou Jackie Brock, widow of former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock, thanked everyone for the love they showed her husband after a wreath-laying ceremony at his statue at Busch Stadium on Saturday, September 12. Brock died September 6 at 81. See inside for a Lou Brock special section, and see B8 for an intimate tribute by Lou Brock Jr.
Webster University awards 10 Suggs Scholarships Five-fold increase in four-year scholarships for minority students By Chris King Of The St. Louis American Webster University has increased by a factor of five the number of scholarships it will offer every year to academically talented undergraduate students from ethnic groups typically under-represented in higher education, in the name of Donald M. Suggs, publisher and executive editor of The St. Louis American. Since 2013, Webster offered two Dr. Donald M. Suggs Scholarships annually. Starting this year, it will sponsor 10. n “We “We know all came these students together are engaged and agreed and talented and will this was become leaders meaningon campus,” ful and said Chancellor impactful Elizabeth (Beth) Stroble. and true to “We look forWebster’s to their values and ward contributions in mission, the classroom and it was and in the community during not difficult their time at to agree: Webster. We ‘let’s go big have confiand go to dence they will make their 10.’” mark in their world when – Webster they leave us.” University The 10 Chancellor incoming Suggs Elizabeth Scholars from (Beth) throughout Stroble the bi-state region new to Webster this semester are Machaela Brock, Francis Howell High School; Jessica Echols, Hazelwood West High School; Bolanle Akinyemi, Fort Zumwalt West High School; Juliette Ferch, Fox Senior High School; Khalisah Habeebullah, Francis Howell High School; Dashauna Mairidith, Soldan International Studies; Joi’ Johnson, Edwardsville High School; Naba Yasir, Parkway South High School; Jalalah Muhammad, Collegiate School of Medicine; and Khyree Plair, Hazelwood Central Senior High School. These scholarships are being instituted at a time when institutions of higher learning are reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impacts along with See SCHOLARSHIPS, A7
‘If I Can Help Somebody’ Servant-educator Rev. Dr. Doris Graham is 2020 Lifetime grade. And row three was third grade.” Achiever in Education The way Mrs. Jackson organized her classroom to By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American Longtime educator Rev. Dr. Doris Graham attended a one-room schoolhouse for Black students called Attucks Elementary, once located in Clayton. “Mrs. Jackson would teach first grade in row one,” Graham said. “And when she was done teaching, she would move down to row two — second
include both peer learning and individual instruction is something Graham will never forget. In fourth grade, Graham attended a majority-white school in the City of St. Louis — a completely different world from Attucks Elementary. “This is what I remember,” she said. “I was 33rd told to put my best foot forward, wherever I go: ‘Do your best, and let God do the rest.’” These formative experiences had a significant See GRAHAM, A6