The Ester Davis Spirit of Excellence Award
My Day
By Dr. J. Ester Davis
The City of Dallas Memoir Writing Class met every Monday writing, reading, and discussing current and historic moments in Dallas’ history before the pandemic. In an effort to celebrate the glass brass ceiling broken by Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden, we planned the Inauguration Luncheon. Looking at the many African American women ‘secret heroes’, we found our 1st one.
The pint-size Mother of two cannot recall how much money she awarded nor how many students she was responsible for getting through college. All she really talks about is how much she ‘loved her job” and “how much she loved her students”. Her job was finding talent for the scholarships, completing the paperwork, writing recommendations, awarding grant funding for students which essentially not only kept them in school but made graduation possible.
Mrs. Deborah Kelley-Hill had an “unmistakable” necessary job for many years finding money for deserving students at Paul Quinn College, a historic HBCU listed as one of the oldest in the nation. She is considered a “hero” in many American Homes.
All the students that graced her office were also ‘in love with her’. She installed hope in each one and a ‘can-do’ attitude that in some will last a lifetime. The essence of her calling for this time in history is amazing.
After listening to her story and some from her successful students, the research was relatively easy.
As we evolved through the civil rights years, the new laws, affirmative action, with all its turburances
there emerged groups of corporate African Americans who wanted to do more. One of the most popular was the “Committee of 100”. At one time they had over 77 chapters through the United States. Dallas had a chapter and they embarked upon a mission of ‘loaned executives’.
In Dallas, there were several noted ‘loaned executives’ at Paul Quinn. Bill Jones, who worked for Xerox Corporation, as did Marvin Robinson. Gerald Borders worked at Texas Instruments and Thomas Jefferson was at General Motors. Ray Reed, Collins Radio/Rockwall. The Committee of 100 and their ‘loaned executives’ needed a link-on-campus to connect to the students. That was the couture designer job for Deborah Kelley-Hill. The ‘loaned executives’ served as mentors, fundraisers complimenting, cultivating, and increases the funds from NAACP, UNCF, and the growing Fortune 500 list of growing executives. If I put things in perspective, the city fathers had already purchased over 17,000 acres and the new DFW Airport had broken ground. Marvin Robinson and several other corporate executives reached across state lines to their alumnus, i.e., Southern University and Grambling with much-needed gifts for students. At Richland College, Mrs. Hill was part of the “GED-to-College Program” that introduced
more students to higher education. Richardson and Plano, Texas, were fast-growing towns moving north with major federal contracts and skilled jobs.
Thank you Mrs. Hill for your unmistakable dedication. And our continued gratefulness to the City of Dallas Memoir Writing Class, its members, and its support.
