Bill Blakey
As long as there has been a Hill House Association, there has been Bill Blakey. He knew its first president, Jim Henry, when he was still a child, and worked with him throughout his tenure and for a decade afterward. If something needed to be done, if someone needed help, Blakey took care of it—not just at the Hill House, but also throughout the community. Blakey passed away June 24. He was 86.
“He was the driving force, the soul of the Hill House,” Alma Fox said. “It’s a shame because it just isn’t the same without him. He was part of that warm feeling you used to get, that invitation to everyone in the Hill. There was nothing he loved more than the Hill House. It was sad that he had to retire. He should have been there until they carried him out.”
Porky Chedwick
Disc jockey “Porky” Chedwick, who became a Pittsburgh-area institution by promoting R&B artists in the late 1940s and 1950s, has died. He was 96.
Chedwick, whose birth name was George though he informally changed it to Craig, was far better known as Porky. Chedwick claimed his mother gave him the nickname, and he developed others on the air, calling himself “the daddio of the radio” and “the platter-pushin’ papa.”
Chedwick took “Black” records, which could be heard only on jukeboxes and popularized them on the station, which eventually became WAMO in 1956.
“I want to see a monument built in this city to honor him,” said Pat DiCesare, a Pittsburgh concert promoter for decades. “This guy did so much for the civil rights movement. He played records by Black artists when no one knew who he was.
Dozier Frazier
Family and friends said farewell to a man who not only made a difference in the Pittsburgh area structurally, as the city’s first Black civil engineer, but also as a beloved member of the community. Dozier Newton Frazier, of East Liberty, died June 28 at the age of 87.
Wendell Freeland
Whether as a recruit in a segregated World War II Army base, as a lawyer in a courtroom or as a citizen marching on the streets of Downtown Pittsburgh, Wendell Freeland was a relentless fighter for racial justice.
Freeland who remained sharp and active until very recently, still doing the New York Times crossword every day before going to his law office, died at his home in Shadyside of pancreatic cancer Jan. 24, just weeks shy of his 89th birthday.
“He is one of my Civil Rights heroes,” said Tim Stevens. “He was one of the earliest stalwarts in the Civil Rights movement. He always carried himself with dignity and grace, always a gentleman. I’m proud to have known him.”
Thelma Lovette
When Thelma Lovette returned to Pittsburgh in 2012 for the dedication of the new YMCA that bears her name, the line of people waiting to say hello stretched out of the gymnasium into the next room. It was like meeting the queen, except she greeted everyone with, “Hello Sweetie.”
Veteran civil rights activist Alma Speed Fox said that isn’t far from the truth.
“She was a lovely person, and, how do I say, part of the Hill District elite. So, she kind of was like royalty,” said Fox. “She was a social activist, with her work at (Mercy Hospital) and with the schools. And of course her family was very politically connected and that helped in the Civil Rights struggle. It didn’t make it easy, but it was…easier. And she was a real lady. I can turn it off and on, but she was a lady all the time.”
Lovette, the long-time social conscience of the Hill District, passed away in her Mesa, Ariz., home May 24 following a recent stroke, she was 98.
Bill Nunn Jr.
Black sports pioneer Bill Nunn Jr. remembered after recent death at 89. He said he always based his life’s decisions on where he could do the most good.
Nunn died May 7 after suffering a stroke two weeks’ prior at a Steelers meeting in which he was helping the team put together information for the recent 2014 draft.
Nunn had two great careers, which impacted Blacks nationwide as he opened doors and kept doors opened in sports for Blacks, as a writer, editor for the Pittsburgh Courier and as a scout for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“I had some tough choices when I graduated from West Virginia State in 1948,” Nunn said in a previous interview. “I could have signed with the Harlem Globetrotters but I chose the Courier. I chose the Courier because I could do more good.”
Nunn left the Courier in 1969 to join the Steelers scouting team full time, once again stating that he felt he could do more good.
He became the first African-American appointed to a front-office position with the Steelers and held the title of senior assistant in their player personnel office when he died.
“We have lost a great friend and a great person who did so much for the Steelers organization with the passing of Bill Nunn,” said Steelers chairman Dan Rooney. “Bill was a special person who did everything in his career, from playing sports to being an excellent journalist, all of which led to his outstanding career in scouting for the Steelers.”
Judge Paul Simmons
Paul Simmons, the first Black federal judge in western Pennsylvania died Oct. 9 at his home of natural causes. He was 93.
He was born and raised in Monongahela, Pa. He lost one of his legs in a railroad accident and when no lawyer would take his case he studied the law, sued and won. From there he went to Harvard Law School and became a lawyer in the 1940s.
Bernadette Turner
As a woman with a vision for a better community, Bernadette C. Turner worked diligently and whole-heartedly at achieving that very goal. She made sure that whatever she did had a positive impact on her community and the people within it. Her journey ended on Dec. 26 after a long battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Turner was 42.
“Bernadette was a true ‘advocate for the people.’ The voice for those that needed to be heard and the hand when you needed help. She left us an example on how it is to strive forward in our personal goals and reach back to encourage others to dream,” Anthony Jackson, director of the Neighborhood Youth Outreach Program of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, wrote in the condolences section of Turner’s obituary on the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s website. “Lord thank you for your wonderful servant.”
Dr. Morris Turner
Services for Dr. Morris Edward Turner, 65, who died June 30 of a heart attack while playing tennis with his son, was held at the Mt. Ararat Baptist Church, July 8. Verena. He regularly engaged in tennis and was an avid fisherman.
At the time of his death, Turner was the Medical Director for the outreach sites sponsored by Magee Women’s Hospital at Wilkinsburg and Monroeville; the Medical Director for Adagio Health; and the Chief of Service for Obstetrics and Gynecology at McKeesport Hospital. Dr. Morris had served as a Gynecologist for more than 41 years.
Turner was the former president of the Gateway Medical Society, and the Medical Staff at Magee Women’s Hospital.
Follow @NewPghCourier on Twitter https://twitter.com/NewPghCourier
Like us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Pittsburgh-Courier/143866755628836?ref=hl
Download our mobile app at https://www.appshopper.com/news/new-pittsburgh-courier
Gone but not forgotten
From the Web
