Within the past two weeks, amongst the memory-filled and future focused emails that my fraternity brothers (new school and ol' school) and I share on our chapter listserve, there were two threads of emails that we were saddened to have to begin and reply to. Two of our beloved BROTHERS of our dear fraternity have passsed away but will never leave our hearts or memories! Brothers Major Franklin Blackmon of Fall '93 and Arthur Smith of Spr. '90 have now been inducted into the Omega Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Thus, a brother of A Phi A will always be a brother of A Phi A, even in death!
Brother Arthur Smith
Brother Arthur Smith was a ninth-grade English teacher. He was shot to death when being robbed Saturday night, October 4, 2009 while visiting family in Portsmouth, Va. Good brother!
Brother Arthur Smith was a ninth-grade English teacher. He was shot to death when being robbed Saturday night, October 4, 2009 while visiting family in Portsmouth, Va. Good brother!
http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local_story.aspx?storyid=69873&provider=email#
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Brother Major Franklin Blackmon
Brother Major Franklin Blackmon was felled by bacterial menengitis less than a month after getting back from a tour in Iraq. He leaves behind a wife and 2 young children. Good brother!
When writing this post, I went to the article written about Brother Arthur Smith and read the comments that were left by some of his students, friends, and family. One of the persons who left a comment...one of his 9th grade students, acutally brought me to tears while at work. I used to be a teacher and I guess you never really know how much of an impact you have on your students. A lot of times, as a teacher, you just look at it like, "This is just what I do...who I am...I'm a teacher."
However, I heard a quote a while ago that just stuck with me. And I think it's just so profound. "Being a teacher is the closest thing to touching the future!"
bsg9108 wrote:
Wow!! Like oh my gosh...me being a student at Rutland High, a student that personally has had Mr.Smith's class, I am so shocked! And at the same time I feel bad upon my self because I cant even remember the last time I spoke to him, and I saw him everyday.
I myself thought this was a joke when I heard it last night, but when I actually found out the truth from a teacher a few hours later it hurt! And it also hit me, no matter how nice, holy, or how much of a "christian life" for say that u live bad things will always happen. Mr.Smith was the nicest person in the world and he was never purposely rude to anyone and even when he would slip up he apologized. All he wanted out of us was to be SCHOLARS and we never gave him the respect he truly deserved. It goes to show life can be cut short whenever no matter what type of situation you're in.
It was always "young mr.this" and "young ms.that" and we thought it was the corniest thing in the world. lol. but hey he was Mr.Smith you had to love him. even when he walked down the hall singing "hopped up out the bed turned my swag on" I truly dont think I could ever walk past his class with the same attitude again. Its just so wierd. Mr. Smith we love you and miss you terribly. I'm so glad that I actually got the chance to know you! Being in your class was one of the best experiences I had as a freshman last year! We as your students make you the promise to always try our best to become the scholars you wanted us to be! And we have absolutely no "quarrel" with that :)
Rest in peace Mr.Smith. We love you. And I can say that the least we owe you as the class of 2012 is our respect to you! You taught us to never give up no matter what comes in the way. We will make it! R.I.P Arthur W. Smith Jr.
10/5/2009 3:47 PM EDT on 13wmaz.com
Brothers of the Epsilon Pi Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. had this to say about Brother Major Franklin Blackmon.
Brother Maurice Hakins wrote...
My prayers go out to Brother Blackmon and his family. I remember Frank as a brother with a wonderful sense of humor. He was always positive and up beat and a great representative of our beloved fraternity. "Manly Deeds, Scholarship and Love for All Mankind."
Brother Travonte Jenkins wrote...
The current brothers of Epsilon Pi send our thoughts and prayers out to Brother Blackmon's family.....
Fraternally,
TraVonte J. Jenkins
Chapter president
Stay informed...get the facts about Bacterial Meningitis!
In the United States, bacterial meningitis is relatively rare and usually occurs in isolated cases. Clusters of more than a few cases are uncommon. Approximately 80 percent of all cases are acute bacterial meningitis. Bacterial meningitis can be life threatening. The infection can cause the tissues around the brain to swell. This in turn interferes with blood flow and can result in paralysis, stroke or death.
1 comment:
Thank you for this tribute, Christopher. It was only through the epic, heroic oral narratives -- passed down through EPi, generation through generation -- that I knew Bros. Smith and Blackmon. As the tradition continues, they are not dead, but live on, eternally. Forever EPi.
May God forgive them, and provide peace to the families and loved ones.
Austin Jackson
Fall 1995
"Minister X"/"Chief Rocker"
Notorious E Pi
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