Archive for category: Homeland Center News

Rosa Walker is the granddaughter of a slave who endured racism in the segregated South. She remembers the heartbreak over such tragedies as the 1963 killing of four girls in an Alabama church bombing. In the midst of the nation’s civil-rights struggles, she and her husband decided there was one way to help drive change: They would vote in every election.

Homeland Center resident Rosa Walker loves to get outside and enjoy Homeland’s gardens and fountains.

Sixty years later, Rosa Walker, 94, has kept that pledge, never missing a vote. About 10 years ago, after her 50^th year of consecutive voting, she and her husband, World War II veteran William M. Walker, were inducted into the Pennsylvania Voter Hall of Fame.

Today, the Homeland Center resident remembers that decision, made in the era when African-Americans were struggling to end segregation and secure equal rights.

“There was all the upheaval in the country, and people were dying for it,” she says from her room at Homeland. “My husband and I decided that if they could die for it, the least we could do was vote. We made that commitment to each other, and we kept it.”

Walker grew up in the South Carolina home of her grandparents. Her grandmother, Lavinia White, was born a slave. The family were sharecroppers on a cotton farm.

“They were one step away from slavery,” she says. “It was a horrible life. It was the saddest life because of the conditions you lived under. We walked to school for miles. We didn’t have proper food. We did the best we could on the farm because there was no light, no gas. Everything was outside. You had a pump, and that was your water. You had a fireplace, and that was your heat.”

Beverly Walker, right, visits her mother, Rosa Walker, the granddaughter of a slave who has voted in every election for 60 or more years.

Seeking a better way of life, she went to live with loving relatives in Washington, DC. She worked as a maid in an upscale apartment complex, where she met her husband, who was also working there. He served as a first sergeant in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II and was on his way to the Pacific, readying for a possible invasion of Japan, when the war ended.

In 1950, the couple moved to Harrisburg. Though they encountered segregation in the North, too, they eventually purchased a home in Uptown Harrisburg, near Homeland, and raised two daughters. “My husband and I worked night and day to find a better life for our kids,” she says.

Walker remembers all the U.S. presidents during her lifetime. Jimmy Carter and Harry Truman were “true men” and “good people,” she says. “The rest of them had their problems, all of them, including Roosevelt.”

Voters have the power to remove even rich people from their elected posts. “I can’t take your money, but I can take you out of that seat,” Walker says.

William Walker died in 2006 and is buried at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery. Since Rosa Walker moved to Homeland, her daughter has taken her to vote at the Neighborhood Center on Third Street.

“Right now, I’m still voting,” she says. “If I’m alive, I vote. Even though I’m incapacitated, I’m still going.”

“Two heads are better than one,” goes the old saying. In the case of Homeland Center, residents benefit from the collective talents of not one but two boards, guiding management and staff through daily operations.

Homeland’s Board of Trustees is a traditional board, overseeing finances and business decisions. But unique to Homeland is the Board of Managers, an outgrowth of 19^th century laws that has stayed relevant well into the 21^st century.

In the post-Civil War years, the leading women of Harrisburg banded together and started the process of founding a “Home for the Friendless” to care for Civil War widows and orphans. However, those smart, capable women could not, under existing laws, perform such critical functions as making contracts and holding real estate.

Those duties fell to the Board of Trustees, who managed them well, while the women stayed involved through a Board of Lady Managers. As the years passed, Board of Managers members spent considerable time coming to Homeland to sew curtains, plant flowers, and take residents on shopping trips.

Even as times change, the Board of Managers has survived and thrived, contributing to Homeland’s homey atmosphere. Today, its duties include:

• Hosting special events, such as the 2016 “Signs of Summer” picnic with strawberry shortcake and the sounds of a jazz band.
• Meeting all newly admitted residents, when possible.
• Helping staff decorate for seasons and holidays.
• Accompanying residents and staff on outings to movies, shopping, restaurants, and other activities.
• Producing some activities, such as musical events.
• Weekly flower arranging in the dining areas.
• Helping select interior décor.

“We hope to continue to be part of the residents’ lives,” says Board of Managers Chair Susan Batista. “Our job is making sure that Homeland is a true home.”