Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 4, 1993 TAG: 9303040468
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE SIMPSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
ACHIEVING EQUALITY - ONE CHILD AT A TIME
While others fought for civil rights in the courts, William and Mary Hackley taught Roanoke schoolchildren what equality means.The Hackleys, who between them have spent 61 years in the city school system, watched Feb. 24 at Monterey Elementary School as about 100 children sang songs, recited poems and acted out a play to commemorate Black History Month.
Principal George Bell decided to honor the Hackleys this year after reading Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
"They exemplify some of the best characteristics of people today," Bell said. "Their focus is always on children regardless of color."
Mary Hackley, director of elementary education in the city schools since 1987, teaches children what her parents taught her - "that there's no one in this world any better than you. There's nothing you can't do."
The former elementary classroom teacher, principal and supervisor, now 56, started in the system in 1961.
William Hackley, 57, worked for 29 years in Roanoke as a social studies teacher, guidance counselor and principal for junior high and middle schools, before becoming assistant superintendent.
He did not think all the celebration was necessary but thanked the children for their efforts. "I'm a very low-key person, very humble," he said. "To think they've been working weeks in your honor. I'm very pleased."
The children prepared for about three weeks for the nontraditional salute, which stressed the importance of peace, sharing and equality, Bell said.
A section of the show devoted to King featured children wearing letters that spelled out King's full name. E stood for the belief that "every person should be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
L meant "love and peace for all people." T declared that "the Supreme Court's ruling that `separate but equal' was unconstitutional."
Children of different races filled parts as slaves and slave owners in a play titled "Oh, Freedom."
Alphonso Lawhorne, clad in blue jeans and a Duke Blue Devils T-shirt, swayed as he sang "Jesus Loves the Little Children" to the Hackleys.
Wide-eyed LaRue Dickerson, 10, smiled as he presented a plaque to William Hackley. "I was kind of nervous," he said after the presentation.
William Hackley reiterated what he has been teaching schoolchildren all along: "It's not the color of the balloon that makes it rise, but what's inside of it."