THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 11, 1996 TAG: 9604110309
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
It's been 21 years since B.J. Stancel worked for Ron Brown, but her impressions of the man remain strong.
That's why Stancel's eyes well up with tears when she talks about her former boss, who was killed in an airplane crash April 3 in Croatia.
``Ron made you feel real special,'' said Stancel, who worked for Brown in the early 1970s at an Urban League program in Washington, D.C. ``He took the time to talk with people. He didn't treat anyone as just another employee.
``And he never forgot where he came from.''
Brown was director of the Urban League's governmental affairs office, and Stancel, in her mid-20s, was the administrative assistant to one of Brown's aides. Brown passed her desk every day.
``He gave everyone a nickname,'' she recalled. ``He was the first person who called me `Beej.' And `Beej' stuck.''
Stancel remembers Brown's ability to smile at difficult problems. ``He always had the confidence that the people surrounding him could get the job done,'' she said.
Stancel lost touch with Brown in 1975 after she left the Urban League to work for an oil-pipeline construction firm in Alaska.
Looking back, Stancel believes her work with Brown is the reason she's become so involved in community-improvement activities. She's president of the Park Place Civic League in Norfolk and program director of CIVIC, a new leadership training program.
``I felt like I was in training for something important. I felt like I was being prepared,'' Stancel said. ``Of course, I didn't know where it would lead. But that's where it all started.''
Stancel heard of Brown's death on a voice-mail message from a friend. In disbelief, she called a former Urban League colleague, Lajuan Johnson, who works for the Commerce Department.
``She said, `Yes, B.J., it's true.' That hurt,'' Stancel said. ``Then the guilt set in because I always said I was going to write him . . . to let him know just how proud I was of him as secretary of commerce. But I never did. .
``I felt I had all the time in the world. And I didn't. It hurts.''
Stancel says she's recommitted herself to improving her neighborhood and city.
``Maybe in some way like this,'' she said, ``I'll still get that letter written.'' ILLUSTRATION: The Virginian-Pilot
File
Ron Brown directed the Urban League's governmental affairs office in
the 1970s when B.J. Stancel of Norfolk was an assistant to one of
his aides. Brown passed her desk every day.
by CNB