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2011 SESSION

11105299D
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 519
Offered February 21, 2011
Celebrating the life of the Reverend Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green.
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Patron-- Marsh
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WHEREAS, Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green was born on July 19, 1931, in Middlesex County, and was called from labor to reward on February 10, 2011; and

WHEREAS, highly educated, Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green graduated from St. Clare Walker High School in Saluda in 1950; he earned a bachelor of science degree in biology at Virginia State University in 1956, a master of science degree at North Carolina A & T University in 1965, a master of divinity degree from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University in 1982, the doctor of theology degree with honors from the International Bible Institute and Seminary in Orlando, Florida, in 1983, the doctor of education degree from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1987, and the doctor of philosophy degree in pastoral counseling from the International Seminary University in Plymouth, Florida; and he attended the Moscow Aviation Institute in Russia in 1992 and more than five other colleges and universities; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green served his country with valor in the Korean War; he was commissioned as a United States Army medical service officer in 1956, was engaged in active duty service at Fort Sam Houston until 1957, was promoted to Colonel in the Army Medical Service Corps and Colonel in the United States Army Chaplaincy in 1981, and was a United States Army Reserve veteran; he retired in 1991 after 36 years of military service; and

WHEREAS, as a gifted educator, he began his teaching career as a science teacher at Armstrong High School in Richmond, where he served as Commandant of the school’s Junior Reserve Officers Training Corp program, and Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green also served as chairman of the science department at Thomas Jefferson High School and Jefferson-Huguenot-Wythe High School in Richmond, from which he retired in 1990 after having dedicated 33 years to instructing thousands of students in the wonders of biology and chemistry; and

WHEREAS, called to the Gospel ministry, Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green pastored Lebanon Baptist Church in New Kent for five years and Calvary Baptist Church in Saluda for 13 years, and he was also privileged to serve as pastor of several other Richmond area churches; and

WHEREAS, in 1964, a decade after the historic Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), while president of the New Kent County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a position he held for 16 years, Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green worked with NAACP lawyers Oliver W. Hill, Sr., Samuel W. Tucker, and Henry L. Marsh III to bring a lawsuit in federal court to compel the desegregation of New Kent County public schools; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green was the chief plaintiff in the United States Supreme Court case Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430 (1968), in which the Court struck down Virginia’s Freedom of Choice Plan, one of the state’s efforts to circumvent the Court’s ruling in Brown, and ordered the desegregation of the public schools; and

WHEREAS, in his retirement, Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green devoted his time to working as a computer consultant and as an income tax preparer, and, in 2000, he established The Green Family Education Trust and Green Disaster Trust Funds to provide financial assistance to low-income college students and funds for victims of natural disasters; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green, beloved husband, father, and grandfather and esteemed pastor, will be remembered for his brilliant scholarship, gift of teaching, community service, and extraordinary efforts and sacrifices to ensure every child, regardless of race, equal educational opportunities; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly hereby note with great sadness the loss of the Reverend Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green, native son; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of the Reverend Dr. Calvin Coolidge Green as an expression of the General Assembly’s admiration for his courage and devotion to his faith and convictions and the General Assembly’s respect for his memory.