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2000 SESSION


SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 297
Celebrating the life of Reverend Stephen Paul Spottswood, Sr.

Agreed to by the Senate, March 9, 2000
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, March 10, 2000

WHEREAS, Reverend Stephen Paul Spottswood, Sr., retired pastor of Hood Temple AME Zion Church in Richmond and former chairman of the Richmond Airport Commission, died on February 22, 2000; and

WHEREAS, a native of Portland, Maine, Reverend Spottswood graduated from Dunbar Senior High School in Washington, D.C., and served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II; and

WHEREAS, a 1948 graduate of Howard University, Reverend Spottswood pursued graduate studies at Howard University and Union Theological Seminary in Richmond and was ordained an African Methodist Episcopal minister in 1954; and

WHEREAS, Reverend Spottswood moved to Warren, Arkansas, where he was instrumental in reviving the Walters Institute, a Zion institution that offered secondary education to young African-Americans who did not have access to public schools; and

WHEREAS, following assignments in Detroit and Washington, D.C., Reverend Spottswood became pastor of Hood Temple AME Zion Church in 1977 and served until his retirement in 1993; and

WHEREAS, in 1982 Reverend Spottswood became the first African-American chairman of the Richmond Airport Commission, where he oversaw the plans for the renovation and expansion of the airport facilities; and

WHEREAS, a lifetime member of the NAACP, Reverend Spottswood was also a member of the Richmond Urban League, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Richmond branch of Housing Opportunities Made Equal; and

WHEREAS, a devoted pastor and dedicated community leader, Reverend Spottswood will be missed by the parishioners of Hood Temple AME Zion Church and by the wider Richmond community he served so faithfully; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly mourn the passing of a distinguished Virginian, Reverend Stephen Paul Spottswood, Sr.; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Reverend Stephen Paul Spottswood, Sr., as an expression of the high regard in which his memory is held by the members of the General Assembly.