Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 20 October 1994 — Page 4

The Muncie Times, Thursday, 20 October 1994, Page 4

Geraldine Burns

Award. had their own fun, we Bums was the only organized our own clubs daughter of Major Bums of and had our own fun. We Greenwood, Miss., and Elsie learned that coping with Turner of Chillicothe, Ohio, prejudice was a small part of Her parents met and married growing up." in Muncie. Bums was bom Burns graduated from in Whitely in 1927. She was Central in 1945. Two years also raised in Whitely, where later, she married Idell her 88-year-old mother Bums and became a typical lives. housewife. The couple had She attended Longfellow two children, Sharon Ann Elementary and McKinley Miller of Anderson, and Junior high schools, before Eric Stephen Burns of graduating from Muncie Muncie. Bums said she also Central High School, where has 11 grandchildren and one of her classmates was seven great-grandchildren. Hurley C. Goodall, who later Most of her grandchildren went on to become the first and great-grandchildren are African American to serve in Muncie and Anderson, on the Muncie School Board but with a few as far away and to represent a Muncie as Georgia and Texas, district in the Indiana After her husband's General Assembly. death, she became involved Bums is on the in politics. In her yard today committee that is planning a are signs touting Demo50th class reunion next year, cratic candidates such as Joe "I grew up in Whitely, Hogsett, who is running for where we were a close-knit the U.S. Congress, Bill community. I had black and Elliott, who is running for white friends. Often we the lower house in the

(Continued from page J) about my problems, the phone rang (in 1966)—and I was offered a job at the old Muncie License Bureau. I thank the Lord for that. He has opened doors for me." After 3 years at the License Bureau, she parlayed that into a City Hall position. She joined the city's purchasing department. After 20 years there, she became the city's first African American and first woman purchasing agent. She worked at City Hall for 23 years, before she retired. "While I was there I tried to help other blacks to get city jobs," she said. "I got jobs for about 25 people. Some of them are still there." Being first is nothing new to Bums. She was also the first black on the Democratic Central Committee, the first black on the city's Public Works Board and the first on the Center Township Advisory Board, where she served for 20 years. She used that position to help Ball State students experiencing problems with their meal tickets, she said. Because of those efforts, in 1979 she was elected to the Muncie Black Hall of Fame. That was one of many honors that have come her way. In 1992 Muncie Mayor David Dominick presented Burns with the Mayor'sCommunity Service Award certificate. In 1988 her City Hall subordinates honored her with a "Boss of the Year" plaque. She has also received awards and certificates from the Industry Neighborhood Council, the Muncie Police Mounted Patrol, a Community Service Award certificate from the Muncie chapter of the National Council of Negro Women and the A. Wayne Brook's Black Achievements

spent nights at each other's house. Everybody I grew up with we're still friends," she said. "However, that changed when we left Longfellow and went to McKinley Junior High, on Walnut near where the Muncie Fieldhouse is. Kids came from all over the city to attend McKinley. It was at McKinley that we first experienced the ugliness of racism. We had never seen anything like that. "McKinley was like a melting pot. When we got there, some of our white friends from Whitely separated from us and began to associate with other whites. They formed white clubs and went their separate ways. It was strange, at first. "But even as young as we were, we learned how to cope. We recognized the prejudice. When white girls formed their own clubs and

Indiana General Assembly and Delaware County Clerk candidate Mary Alice Cherry. It all started when a friend, James Albert Johnson, who was running for precinct committeeman in her area called and asked her to vote for him. She also agreed to be his vice precinct committeeman. "That's how I got involved in politics. Before that I had always waited until my husband got home from work, before going to vote. "We realized no one had ever cared for our precinct or given it much attention. Johnson and I worked the committee. We met with people, listened to their concerns and built up the precinct, until it became respectable. I am still a precinct committeeman," she said, "30 years after I got involved in politics. "As a precinct co-

mmitteeman, my job is to see that polls are open on time on election day. You have to poll you precinct members to see that they register to vote. You also arrange for absentee ballots, transportation to the polling booths for disabled or elderly voters and help to get the voters out on election day. "Even those in nursing homes can vote. If they need a ride to go and vote, then you arrange it." Why would someone who is retired still devote so much of her time to politics? "You have to be enchanted with politics. You have to love it, because it is a thankless job. Despite what some people think, you don't get paid to do it. "But it is an opportunity to meet people. Some of the older people love it when you come to see them. They just talk and talk and talk. They don't want you to leave. "It's also an opportunity to help people. I like helping people. To me being involved in politics is a civics duty," she said. "It can get really busy, especially

around election time. "Of course, that's not all I do. When family members come over to visit, we sit and talk or play cards. I am also doing a lot of volunteering work. My hobbies are music, reading mysteries and shopping. I enjoy listening to music, but I can't even sing or play an instrument. Since I am retired, I don't shop as much as I used to. But I am enjoying my retirement right now." Bums likes to get involved. She is a member of the American Business Women's Association, is on the board of United Day Care, is involved with the Back-to-Muncie Reunion and is an elected trustee at Shaffer Chapel AME Church. A lifelong member of the church. Bums has been on the usher board since 1986. "I decided I wanted to be a working member, not a pew member," she said. Bums has seen Muncie change in ways that she could not have imagined when she was a teen-ager. (cont. on pg. 5)