Oral history interview with Cynthia Doyle, 2008

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PRESERVING OUR HISTORY: ROTARY CLUB OF GREENSBORO
ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION
INTERVIEWEE: CYNTHIA DOYLE
INTERVIEWER: KATHELENE MCCARTY SMITH
IN ATTENDANCE: HERMANN TROJANOWSKI
DATE: February 12, 2008
KS: Today is Tuesday, February 12, 2008 and my name is Kathelene Smith. I am with Mrs. Cynthia Doyle. We’re here to do an oral history for the Preserving Our History: Rotary Club of Greensboro oral history project. Hello Mrs. Doyle. I’m just testing right now. So if you would like to say your full name into the microphone, we can just make sure our voices will tape.
CD: My name is Cynthia Doyle.
[Tape turned off. Tape turned back on]
KS: Mrs. Doyle, please tell me when and where you were born.
CD: I was born in Rochester, Minnesota, on November 26, 1927.
KS: Wonderful. And how did you come to be down here?
CD: That’s a good question. [Both laugh] Two reasons. My husband is a radiologist and he is from New York state. He had a very illustrious academic career, and then he had to make the decision of where we would like to live. I had a sister who lived here. Her husband was a surgeon here in Greensboro. He is now deceased. So we came to visit them and my brother-in-law was so enamored with Greensboro that he said to my husband, “I wish you’d consider moving to Greensboro.” It had never dawned on us that we would move from the North to the South, and so we took that under advisement, and then he met a radiologist here who was an outstanding individual, personally and professionally. And that’s what brought us here. Also, the fact that Greensboro had just built a beautiful new hospital with a very excellent Department of Radiology.
KS: Well, that makes a lot of sense. Well, tell me about your family and home life back in Minnesota.2
CD: My father was a dentist. We had a very comfortable, I would say, bringing up. I’m one of four daughters – five daughters. There are five of us. And it was a small town we grew up in, but it’s unique in the fact that this is where the Mayo Clinic is, and we were totally, completely accustomed to seeing a sheik walking down the street or the Queen or Egypt; prominent politicians from around the world who came to the Mayo Clinic. Several of our relatives were directly affiliated with the clinic, so I really grew up into a medical center kind of environment.
KS: Your father was a dentist. Did your mom work, or was she a stay-at-home mom?
CD: She was at home. She had all she – we had a rather large house, and she had all she could do taking care of the five of us.
KS: I can imagine. Five girls! So where did you go to high school, and what was your favorite subject there?
CD: Where did I go to high school? I went to – first of all, interestingly, I went to a grammar school. We used to call it a grammar school. And I would say it was a grammar school. The students were all in the neighborhood, so there were professional kinds of families in this school. Then, I went to a Catholic high school, which was completely different population of students; everything from wealthy children to very, very poor families. It was the Franciscan nuns and they have a reputation for teaching for centuries. As a matter of fact, there was a nun there who said that she was going to pray ‘til her dying day that I would become a nun.
KS: Well, that didn’t work for her. [Both laugh]
CD: No. Every time she’d see me she’d say, “I’m still praying. I’m still praying.” I’d say, “Thank you very much Sister Ursula.” So that was two different kinds of experiences with people that I did not willingly get into, but we had a Monsignor, Monsignor O’Day, who got up on the pulpit and he looked at my father and said, “It’s against Canon Law if you don’t send your Catholic children to a Catholic college, or university, or grammar school.” And that was a big issue in those days so my father acquiesced really, and I was the first one to go to the Catholic high school. And it was an adjustment for me because I felt the tensions of – among the students themselves and with me. So, I think that it’s probably one of those valuable experiences I had. It taught me so much about how to react to people, whoever they are.
KS: That is really interesting. Were all the teachers at the time nuns or did they have other teachers supplementing?
CD: Oh no. Oh no. All nuns. 3
KS: All nuns at that time.
CD: Then I went from there to Rosary College in Chicago. Those are Dominican nuns. Franciscans are, please don’t write this down [Laughs], Franciscan nuns are a little more gentle in their teaching, but the Dominicans are a little more strict. That’s been their heritage for centuries. So that’s my education. Then I graduated from Rosary College which is now called a university, much to my dismay. And that’s it.
KS: Just an aside. We do write it word for word. The transcripts are transcribed word for word. So, you went to Rosary College. What was your major there?
CD: English and Sociology.
KS: Were those your favorite subjects? What other kind of subjects did you like?
CD: I don’t think I had one. No.
KS: How was going to school in Chicago?
CD: Well, really never went to Chicago too much. We were in the suburbs and you had to get on the elevated and go around in all kinds of weather to get downtown. Unless we went to the Chicago Library, we didn’t really go there very often, but often enough that I came to like that city very much. There’s something very, very friendly about Chicago, I felt, and I still do. I don’t get there often, hardly at all, but that was my impression then.
KS: Now, did you stay there after college? Did you get a job there?
CD: I graduated from college, at Rosary.
KS: Did you stay in that area, in the Chicago area, or did you go back home?
CD: Well, I had – one of my sisters showed my to-be husband a picture of me and she said he was going to Chicago and had some layover time with his plane and she said, “You should meet my sister.” So we met each other at the Palmer House in Chicago, and I was married two weeks after I graduated from college.
KS: That’s wonderful. It must have been love at first sight.
CD: Yes, yes. I guess it was.
KS: So then what did you do?
CD: He – we lived in his home town, Buffalo [New York], for a year and he did an internship there. And he made house calls at night and I would go with him 4
because he would go into these very, very, almost violent kinds of neighborhoods. So I would go with him and sit in the car while he was in the house taking care of the patients. We did that during his internship for about a year, and then he was accepted in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to do his radiology training there, which was a very, very difficult residency to get, so he was pleased, very pleased to go there. And we had three wonderful years there, in Ann Arbor.
KS: So then, what did y’all do after that? Was that right before you came down here?
CD: I’m sorry Kathelene, I can’t hear you.
KS: I’m sorry. Is that before y’all came – then did y’all come directly there, here from Michigan?
CD: We did.
KS: That’s wonderful. So you’ve been in Greensboro for a long time.
CD: Yes, I have.
KS: Now did you work between that time? Did you have a job?
CD: No. Within about four and a half years, I had three sons. So I was working.
KS: So you were working hard. [Both laugh] So you have three sons?
CD: Three sons.
KS: That’s wonderful. That’s great. So you were obviously very involved with philanthropic causes and volunteerism in the community of Greensboro. Can you tell us a little about that?
CD: Well, we lived in a little neighborhood, Kirkwood it’s called, in Greensboro. We had a little house and we were all kind of crammed in this house when my husband first started working here. And it was nice because the children had lots of space to play outside. It was really a wonderful neighborhood. Friendly. Other people were in the same situation we were in, relative to their income and children and family. Still is. Kirkwood is still like that. It always will be, I think.
And so one day I had a call from a man who was the Executive Director of Family Services, and he told me that he would like to talk with me. And so I said, “That’s fine.” So his office was down at the United Way Building on Elm Street. And he asked me to come on their Board of Directors. And I thought, “And what do I do on the Board of Directors?” And so he was a very patient fellow to me about the responsibilities of board members, on setting policy. He had a list of all of the things that were expected of his Board members. And he said, “You set the 5
agenda.” I wasn’t even sure what an agenda was. So years later I said to him, “Harold, where did you –” I mean this was twenty years later. And I said, “You got me started into all this, now how did you ever – why did you call me?” And he said, “Well, there was an older lady who lived in your neighborhood. She was on our board and she said, ‘I don’t know anything about her, but she has a lot of energy because I see her running around with these three little boys all the time.’” And I said, “You mean that was my recommendation?” And he said, “Yes, to be honest, that was it.” [Both laugh]
KS: So, that’s how you got started. So which organizations have you worked with through the years?
CD: Which organizations? Many, many of them. That’s been my whole life here except being a mom and a wife.
KS: Well, any particular favorites?
CD: No. They’ve all been interesting and captivating subjects that I’ve worked with.
KS: Well, in what order did you join them? So you started out in the United Way and then did you stay with them for a while? What did you move on to after that?
CD: Well, I guess, I haven’t thought about the sequence of events here, but in thinking about it, I guess what I did is that I went in on the Board of Directors of the United Way itself at which time Family Life Service organization and affiliate, and I guess what happened after that is I started initiating things instead. Yes. I went on the board of the Chamber of Commerce and began to think about how important it was for a coalition of well-trained people in this community could do for the community. And I guess that is how it occurred to me that we should pull these young people together, and we called it Leadership Greensboro. And they were just a dynamic force in this community, and they still are. And that was a long, long time ago. But Kathelene, all of this is listed here, and that is why – [Ms. Doyle picks up an article]
KS: We’re determined to get you to talk about it. [Both laugh] This is an oral history, so we would love to hear it in your own words.
CD: Okay, okay. Well, that was one wonderful thing. To remind myself, what did I do with it? I have to remind myself what we’re doing here. I have been involved in adult literacy by being one of the founders of Reading Connections which is still very, very prominent and very important agency in Greensboro. It teaches adults who don’t know how to read, how to read. And it was a gut-wrenching experience for me when I got into that because you just don’t realize what it’s like when you wake up in the morning and you can’t read anything. You can’t even read a label on a medicine bottle, you can’t read the paper. When you go to work – these people are geniuses in memorizing. I remember there was a young person who 6
worked at Greensboro College, and she said later that she would deliver things to the different buildings and she couldn’t read any signs and so she’d ask somebody once, “Now which building is that? Is that the one to the left?” And she would memorize all the places that she had to go and they never knew for years, she was there for years, that she couldn’t read. And that was typical of many of them. I remember the story of the grandmother that came in. She used to love to read to her grandson, but she wasn’t reading, she was making up stories with the pictures. And this little boy grew up with her. I think she took care of him a great deal of the time because his mother worked and one day after he started school, he looked at her and said, “You aren’t reading to me. You’re making all that up.” And she told us she was just devastated. She came in to learn how to read at fifty-five, sixty years old.
KS: That’s incredible. Now did you get involved with that through the United Way?
CD: No, all donations. That was that. Wonderful. Then we did – some things that happened in Greensboro. Some that I’d heard from my husband and other sources about some of the tragedies that go on in child abuse in families. And there’s a pediatrician here in town whose probably one of the most dynamic physicians in the whole world and she, Martha Sharpless is her name, and she and I put our heads together and we started the Child Abuse Prevention Program here, which has been, I’m happy to say, very effective, and that took several years.
Then, the Children’s Museum. I get telephone calls, “Is this Mrs. Doyle?” And I say, “Yes.” [Both laugh] “I have an idea I’d like to come and talk with you about.” “Fine.” [I said] So we come in here, we sit down, and this one man came to me, and he said that he had been in California and he had some time on his hands and he happened to go to a children’s museum. “What in the world do they have in a children’s museum?” [I said] And he said, “I’d like to come and talk with you about it.” And I said, “Fine.” So we went in the dining room and he had all these papers and books all over the table and he said, “This is the most effective teaching mechanism, not only in mental development, but children getting along with other people, but other children, other adults, families coming together.” He said, “I’d love to see this happen in Greensboro.” And I said, “You know I’ve looked at it and I think it’s a good idea.” And he left me with all of his literature. And he said, “I’d like you to do it.” [Both laugh] And I said, “Thank you very much but this is my last project. My latest and my last.” And I said, “Oh, I can’t do that, but I’ll find somebody who will.” So I had about ten interviews and everybody was very enthusiastic but nobody would – they were just not in a position to take it on. I remember one night we were going to sleep and I said, “I’m going to do it.” And my husband said, “What are you going to do?” And I said, “I’m going to do the Children’s Museum.” And he said, “Oh no.” [Both laugh]
So that was three years putting that together and putting the people together. And then, much earlier than that, the Junior League, was kind enough to 7
invite me to go to a National Conference in Minneapolis. And I’m an honorary member of the Junior League and to this day, I don’t know why they asked me to go, but they did and I was sitting there listening to these young, enthusiastic intelligent community spirited women; a whole room full of them. And the presentations about effecting community events and relations were very stimulating. And I heard these girls – these young talking about, “Well, we’ve done some programming for our community. We’re going to build this and we’re going to do that and we’re going to start this.” And I said to this one girl, “Where do you get the money to do all this?” And she said, “Well, there are two sources; one is donations, but the other, of course, is the community foundation.” And I said, “What is a community foundation?” And she said, “Well, it is a foundation that is supported by the community.” So I didn’t want to give her further evidence of my ignorance so I didn’t say anything else but, “Oh yes.” [Both laugh] So I came home and I went to see the head of the – I had been President of the Board of United Way and I had worked at other United Ways and the president and I were good friends – the Chief Officer, CEO, of United Way. So I went in – I walked in the office and he took one look at me and every time I’d go to a meeting he’d look at me and say, “Oh my God, she’s been to an annual meeting.” [Both laugh] And I said, “Yes I have David. What do you know about a community foundation?” Dave Atwood. And he said, “They’re great.” I said, “Well do they interfere with the mission and the goals and the financial situation of the United Way?” And he said, “Well, as a matter of fact, communities that have both have a far more vibrant philanthropic community than those communities that don’t.” And I said, “I’d like to look into that.” And that was the beginning of the Community Foundation.
KS: Gracious.
CD: And it now has millions of dollars.
KS: So basically you started your financial support for the museum and a lot of other things too?
CD: The Community Foundation was back, way back. The Children’s Museum opened in ’99, but the Foundation was years before that.
KS: So did you help hire the architect for the Museum or did you travel around and look at other examples?
CD: Oh yes. My poor husband. He said, “Do I have to go to children’s museums at this age?” I said “Yes!” We got a lot of ideas. Wherever we go, we go to the children’s museum and he’s read lots of literature and we brought in the best people we could find to do what needed to be done. And my son, who works in New York, was walking down the street a few years ago and there was this big placard in FAO Schwartz in New York and it said, “The top twenty children’s museums in the United States voted by the children’s magazine” – prominent 8
children’s magazine. I don’t know the name of it. And the Greensboro Children’s Museum was listed. Well he was – well he went back home and called me up. [Both laugh]
KS: That is absolutely wonderful. I have a son and we’ve been down and he just loves it. It’s his favorite children’s museum.
CD: Oh, I’m glad to hear that Kathelene. That’s great. That’s great.
KS: It’s wonderful.
CD: So, let’s see. I think that those are probably the most difficult and the most prominent projects I’ve been involved in.
KS: How have you seen the non-profit sector change in Greensboro over the years?
CD: I would say that the people are far more aware of philanthropy. They’re more educated about philanthropy and, I think that they are much more willing to contribute than many years ago simply because – because the environment wasn’t set for that. So I think we have a very, very generous philanthropic community. Someone said to me the other day, “What was the most difficult thing for you to overcome?” It was a meeting about the Foundation. And I said, “The most difficult thing is always to number one, you have to be absolutely one hundred percent sure that the project is worthy; that the project is doable and you have to be ready to back off if at any stage in the development that you suspect that it is not one or the other.
The second challenge is to convince other people that this is something that should and could be done. I made one hundred and fifty thousand speeches about that, what a community foundation is, before we ever really began to do the paperwork to put it on the books. And I spoke to civic groups all around. I had, every other week I would have some speaking engagement and a young lawyer, I saw him in the audience, a man I knew and respected very much. He came up to me afterwards and he shook my hand and he said, “This is a terrific idea Cynthia,” he said, “But I want to keep you from being disappointed because it will never work in Greensboro.” And I said, “Well, tell me why you say that?” He said, “Well, first of all, the city is not big enough and second of all, people would – just wouldn’t know what you’re talking about.” So I walked out of there and I said to myself, “I think it is big enough.” But what he said is true. People don’t know what you’re talking about and I talked about what a foundation is, what it can do, what it shouldn’t do, what it should do, what it can accomplish for a community that no other entity can accomplish. And that was my couple of years, that’s what I did.9
KS: That’s amazing. Well, it sounds like you’ve given so much back to Greensboro and that you just love it here. Have you been involved in the political arena at all in Greensboro?
CD: No.
KS: No. Let’s see. So what prominent people in Greensboro have you known and that you would like to talk about?
CD: Roger Soles was the president of Jefferson Standard and Jim Melvin came on the board with me and Thornton Brooks and those three men. Joan Bluethenthal and Shirley Frye, two women, and they came on willingly right out of the blue when I asked them to and they formed the first Board of Directors of the Foundation. Without their background, their names, and their endorsements, I’m not sure it would have ever taken place or become a reality. And by anybody’s account, Roger Soles was the best kind of man. He was – he said something, he spoke in short sentences and so Dave Atwood and I who, Dave the United Way Executor, and I went to see him and talked about this notion of a community fund. “Oh,” he said, “I’ve heard of those.” And I said, “We think that there is a place in Greensboro for a community foundation.” And he said – and I showed him the outline that we had of developing it and he scanned the page and he said, he kind of threw it on his desk and he said, “Who’s going to hook this up?” And I said, “You, I hope.” I never will forget that. And that old rascal, I think he knew that’s why I came in there, but he was really putting me through my paces. And he said, “Oh,” and he said, “Well, thanks for coming.” I’m not sure he said thanks but anyway he said, “Well, so that’s the meeting.” And he did come on as the first president and brought with him the – everything we needed to make it start. He brought in people, he brought in his endorsement of the idea, legitimized it. And it just took off. Jim Melvin. So Roger was prominent in my mind because of that, of course he was prominent in his professional career too. I have always greatly admired Jim Melvin. He knows that. He grew up here a boy, in certainly not a privileged background by any means and he’s devoted his life to -- His antennae is constantly focused keeping, growing, and developing whatever projects that will benefit the people of this community. He takes a lot of – a lot of criticism for it and he doesn’t deserve that. He has his own way of doing things which some people may think is too high handed but I have nothing respect for anyone that does what he does it going to have it. You get in the public eye and people see you as organizing and orchestrating some things, believe me I know this, there are going to be those who are suspicious of your motives, and those who do not agree with what you’re doing, and those who are just negative. I have some of that myself, and I know how it feels.
KS: Well now, through the years in Greensboro, what kinds of events have taken place that has made impressions on you? Maybe civic events that have made any kind of impressions on you through the years in Greensboro.10
CD: What kind of events? Events.
KS: Well, for example, there have been many changes through the years –
CD: I’m not sure it’s an event. I think of an event is a single event, but, of course, I’ve seen – I’ve seen, fortunately, a huge movement for the black population in our community. I’ve worked with people from across Greensboro all the time I’ve lived here and gotten to know – when you work with people, you get to really know them in a very special way and I’ve seen a great deal of improvement in race relations here. There are a lot of improvements that still need to be made. And I’m a little hesitant to get into that subject but I have seen a lot of the gates that were once closed are now open or are opening.
And I had a housekeeper here to help me. I couldn’t have done three quarters of this without her. Louise [Spinks] was with me for forty-three years. She died three years ago on January the sixth and it sounds so trite to say she was a part of our family, but she was. She – we trusted her with everything, with our children, and she trusted us. And I learned a lot through her about – she didn’t talk very much but it’s just some of the things that she said and the way that she would react to what I said that – she was a mini education for me. She was a grand lady. I miss her.
KS: What were some of her impressions?
CD: She was great. So, and then I was here when the sit-ins took place downtown in the dime store, and I went down there one morning while they were there.
KS: Did you!
CD: I didn’t tell him. I don’t think he even knows I went. [Both laugh]
KS: Well tell us about that.
CD: Well she was here and she said, “Are you sure you want to do that?” And I said, “Yes I do.” [She said] “I just don’t know.” She would never say, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Or “You should pass that up.” Or – she never made – she never knew what a declarative sentence was in her whole life. And I said, “Yes I do.” And I went down there. They don’t know – they always talk about this grey haired lady sitting with at the counter with them, those boys, those four boys and she sat there, I saw her. And then when people know that I did it – “No,” I said, “That wasn’t me, I stood behind them.” And I just stood there and every once in a while they’d look this way and I’d look at them.” It was kind of a scary experience. We’ll leave it at that.
KS: Well, we’ve interviewed some of the girls from UNCG that went down.11
CD: Oh yes.
KS: And they’ve told their –
CD: Absolutely –
KS: – version and it sounds like an amazing several days.
CD: And it – it was, and it was crucial because of it – of the lesson they were teaching.
KS: Did you see the UNCG girls with their jackets on go down there?
CD: No, I didn’t see them. I didn’t see them. I think I went down on a Saturday and I don’t think they were there then.
KS: Because I think you talked about it being scary, I think they had to be ushered out. They were – some of the people there were –
CD: The reason it was for me – behind me, these about four young men, white men, came zooming up outside of the building on their motorcycles and these helmets and all this garb that they wore and they stood right behind me and they – some of them had chains in their hand. And I don’t know what happened, but about ten minutes after that, the police came in and took them off and I left.
KS: Well, did you and Louise talk about it when you got home?
CD: Oh, I talked to Louise about it, yes. She said, “I’m not sure you should have done that.” So that’s changed and we have a long way to go and the issue of the future of the Civil Rights Museum –
KS: What’s your perception of that? That’s amazing.
CD: Not really. It’s what it is. It’s understandable. I’m sorry to say.
KS: Just not enough support? Is it just not the time? Do you think there will be a time for it?
[Tape turned off and then turned back on.}
KS: The question was, how has Greensboro changed since you’ve lived her and has it been for the better or for the worse?
CD: I think it’s been definitely better.
KS: What do you see are the biggest problems facing Greensboro and how do think they can be solved?12
CD: You know I read that question when you sent me it and I don’t know how to answer that. I think we have some challenges, but I wouldn’t call them problems. We have to increase our tax base and the way do that is that we have to continue to attract excellent business opportunities here for people to work. If I was the mayor of Greensboro, that is what I’d dedicate myself to right now. We had a good beginning, we have some great, stable companies here, but if we are going to have the kind of life we want and the future we want, we have to have the money to pay for it and that’s the way you do it. It would attract also – financial security like that attracts the kind of people to come here to live and work; students from UNCG to come back and live here, or Chapel Hill or wherever they’re educated in this state to come back here and live and not go someplace else.
So you just can’t rest on your laurels no matter what you’re up to or what you’re doing or what you represent. And that’s true of a community. I think that this downtown Greensboro has achieved miracles. We started the Children’s Museum in 1995. We had our first meeting in this room; all the Leadership Greensboro people sitting here in this room and we put – we knew at that time that we were going to have a big assignment ahead of us, but we felt that this museum was important for the city. So the building that we first had was donated by the co-founder of the Children’s Museum, Jerry Hyman. And when I went to get some – if you can believe this, I went to – when I went to some of the potential donors here, two men told me that they would never give me any money as long as it was downtown because downtown was too unsafe to take your children. And I said, “But look, 27401 is the zip code that belongs to everybody, every family.” He wanted to put it out in the suburbs someplace and I said, “There are people who can’t get there.” And what that says to you is look at downtown Greensboro now and Downtown Greensboro, Incorporated, has done that. And the Children’s Museum brought that foot traffic that I don’t even think they realize how important it’s been. So that’s a huge change I’ve seen.
KS: So what do you see in the future of Greensboro?
CD: Good.
KS: Do you think downtown will continue to grow? All those condos, they’re wonderful.
CD: Yes.
KS: So what about the Rotary Club. When did you get involved with the Rotary Club?
CD: In 1999 I think I’ve been a member since then. And now I know who is a member of the Rotary Club, and he’s a great joker, he came and said, “I think you ought to be a member of the Rotary Club.” And I said, “Isn’t that just men?” And he said, 13
“No.” And I said, “Oh, I thought it was just men.” And I said, “If it was just me, I’d definitely come.” [Both laugh] And he said, “I’d think you’d get a lot out of it. I think you would get – you’d be able to bring something to it because you come from a different community background and a lot of it is all business people.” And those were really the points that he made, that I would learn from it, I had something to share with the members. So, I said yes. And that’s how I became a member of the Rotary Club.
KS: Wonderful. Well, actually, I think we finished our questions. Is there anything we haven’t covered in the interview that you would like to talk about?
CD: I do want to say this. I’m so grateful that UNCG is here. I’m constantly running into evidence of that. And I can’t imagine this city without the university. Pat Sullivan has been a hugely successful administrator, because I don’t work for her, I don’t know that, but she has been a great proponent of the university and everything it means to this community. And she never gets up and talks about anything that she doesn’t talk about the university and she’s been a terrific cheerleader for that, for the place, and I’ve always admired her for that. And I’m sure someone will come in now and carry the flag. So I’m grateful for that and I’m grateful for the leadership that I’ve found in this community and I believe that they’ll to continue to keep their nose to the grindstone to see that all of this turns out well. If any of my children or grandchildren wanted to move here, I think they’d have as good or better life than I’ve had. So, I guess that’s the end of it.
KS: Thank you very much Mrs. Doyle for speaking with us this morning.
[End of interview]
The following additions were sent by Mrs. Doyle in a letter dated February 12, 2008.
I am writing because I failed to mention a person greatly deserving of recognition in our fair city.
When Victor Nussbaum was mayor of Greensboro, he decided to call for an assessment of the city’s positive and needful issues. He named several topics divided into committees and he asked me to volunteer on the Housing Committee. After a long series of meetings, several issues surfaced that needed immediate attention. One of them was the lack of homes in a price range that could lead to home ownership among low income families.
Roger Kavanagh was a prominent builder, well known for the high quality, middle priced homes he built. He was also a close friend of ours. I went to his house and asked him if he would set up a housing foundation, beginning with a major contribution from him, then a full scale proposal that would attract federal funding designated for the construction of houses for low income families.14
I can see him now. He looked straight at me, said he would if I would agree that he could design the project from front to back. I did and he did.
Today, several people in east Greensboro, thanks to him, are living in homes they own. The stories of some of them are poignant, indeed. That Housing Foundation later became part of the Community Foundation.
Roger Kavanagh had never embarked on such a mission but he dedicated his time and talent from that first day, a demanding mission, from construction details to scores of meetings requesting funding, to government regulations, to qualifying applicants and more. He called attention to the need for housing, to the market and to the multiple advantages to families and to the community of home ownership.
*The foregoing transcript of the oral history interview of Mrs. Cynthia Doyle, with additional information, taken on February 12, 2008, was reviewed and revised by Mrs. Doyle. The original recording and transcript are housed at the University Archives and Manuscripts Department, Walter Clinton Jackson Library, The University of North Carolina Greensboro.