Also passing on Wednesday morning was The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, an Alabama native who worked tirelessly to help change the nation. On his 80^th birthday he was hailed as a “black Moses”. He was described in a 1961 CBS documentary as “the man most feared by Southern racists” In a Thursday, October 6, 2011 Montgomery Advertiser article, there was an excerpt from a speech delivered by United States Attorney General, Eric Holder. He said, “ Before Rosa Parks refused to give up a bus seat in Montgomery, before four little girls were killed by a bomb at their church in Birmingham, before: Bloody Sunday” in Selma and even before the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. became a household name, there was the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. He will be greatly missed by all that loved him. Rev. Shuttlesworth was 89 years old. 

Also passing the following day was Mr. Amos Harris. Mr. Harris, the founder and CEO of the Nat King Cole Society in Montgomery was a wonderful man who brought a lot of class and wisdom to Montgomery. He was also a mentor to my oldest son Greg Jr. He was born on Feb. 17, 1931, in Chicago and grew up there. He served in the Air Force during the Korean War; he worked as an officer in the Chicago Police Department for 27 years.

John McGowan, the mayor of Union Springs and the chairman of the Nat King Cole Society, was quoted in the Montgomery Advertiser on October 15, 2011 where he said: “I remember Amos being a very proud American. Committed to family, committed to what this country stands for and the fact that he pretty much lived by the serenity prayer. “He was always doing the right thing and stepping forward and being out front.” His wife Rozelia and nieces and nephews survive Mr. Amos Harris. He was 80 years old.

 In the words of my dad, “You must honor the chair whether it is sitting, walking or lying down.”