Emily Jane Ball-Groom

A major force in my educational and growth cycle, A. B. Davis, was that for me.  I didn’t know it then, but all the early lessons proved to be an essential foundation for those difficult but exciting, growing, painful young, adult years.  In the fifties, A. B. was ranked as one of the schools in the United States achieving a high scholastic record.  Looking back, I just wish I had taken more advantage of all the great resources.  School life on the hill?...Faces and activities come back to memory; but are dimly placed for a time so long ago.  As a student at A.B., I remember being somewhat lazy.  I was a TV brat and stayed up most school nights watching the Late, Late Show or Broadway Open House.  Most times, I'd miss the Creek Bus which ran from South Third Avenue where I lived to Gramatan.  A.B. Davis, the building was a wonder.  I remember thinking, 'everyone looks so rich.'  My friends and I would always walk down the right side steps leading towards Gramatan Avenue and 4^th Avenue to find food. The high school rivalries between A. B. Davis and Edison High School and those football games – maroon and gray, rah, rah.  My tenth grade English Teacher, whose name I do not recall; but do remember the pride in knowing we were being taught freshman college English.  I got my first breakthrough in dissecting the meanings of great literature inhat classroom.  The hallways; teachers; friends; hair styles; bobby socks; hair dos - page boy and pony tails for girls and slick back for the boys.  All this and more was an essential part of my adult formation and eventual career field. 

After graduating in 1957, I worked in White Plains for the Court system.  Married in 1958, I lived with my husband in the MV Projects, had five wonderful babies – 4 girls and one boy. In1968, I saw an AD in the Daily Argus and applied and obtained a job as an Administrative Secretary at McKissick Enterprises, in Harlem, New York.  McKissick Enterprises was a conglomerate of civil rights, entertainment, and community development enterprises; and served for me and my family; as an impetus for a major life style change.  In January, 1970, we moved, with the project developer Floyd McKissick; to rural, very rural, Warren County, North Carolina (talk about culture shock..)and became part of the building of a new town community, called Soul City.  

Part of the dream had come true. I had always wanted to live on a farm which is what we did for the first three years; we and three other families. From 3000 acres of rural farmland, I became part of a movement helping to transform the red clay into paved streets; housing subdivisions, recreational complex; regional water system, underground infrastructure, fire department, comprehensive health clinic and many more community amenities.  As the administrative, legal assistant, I wrote grants and participated in and helped to organize several non profit agencies – forming community branch programs which when all weaved together formed the comprehensive, new town development plan. 

Divorce taking its toll, I left the project and became employed with the State of North Carolina in 1979; then incorporated a non profit agency which I directed for three years; then became employed as a regional planner and eventually Workforce Development Director for a six county rural area in North Carolina.  After retiring in December 2003, I  incorporated another non profit and am now busy directing an employment and training motivational program along with developing community revitalization plans for the Soul City community. 

Now for the good stuff, I am a proud mother of five children, grandmother to 22 grandchildren, and great grandmother to five!!  I wrote and published a book of poetry, 'When the Rainbow Was Gray'; a motivational career manual. EMERGE, The Powerful Journey; and am currently at work on writing the 'Soul City' story.  My journey from A.B. Davis to the 'me' of now hasn't been easy; but it has surely been blessed!!!!!