Uncrowned Community Builders

On August 10, 1934 a miracle occurred in Okfuskgee County, Oklahoma. I, Levolia Singleton, was born. Against all odds, I survived and overcame a myriad of obstacles to reach adulthood and can now be called an "elder."

I don't remember my mother since she died shortly after my first birthday. However, my loving grandparents, Gabe and Josephine Singleton, provided a very caring and nurturing
home for me. My childhood and teen years revolved around family, school, and church. I completed my early childhood education at I.X.L. Elementary School near Castle, Oklahoma. Under the leadership of Principal M. H. Martin, a motivational person, who broadened our horizons and made us believe that we could achieve anything. I played the leading role in the 8th grade play and also won a Blue Ribbon at the County Fair for my 4H Club project of a lovely pink dress.

Goodwill Baptist Church was the Sunday spiritual and social venue where I learned The Ten Commandments and The Golden Rule. These two tenets have shaped my moral compass throughout my life and have served me well.

When I entered Boley High School in the fall of 1948 my horizon expanded after meeting students from all the other feeder schools such as Sand Creek, Chilesville and Arbeka. I became active with the New Homemakers of America (now FHA) and attended conferences across the state. I was elected State President of the organization in my junior year (1951) which led to my leaving the state of Oklahoma for the first time when I attended the National NHA Convention in West Virginia. I graduated from Boley High School in 1952 as Salutatorian of the class.

That fall, thanks to the assistance of Velma Dolphin Ashley, Superintendent of Boley Schools and several influential teachers, I began my matriculation at Langston University. After one semester, I feared that I would have to leave after one semester due to financial problems, Dr. Samuel P. Massie, my chemistry teacher, walked me over to the White House after I shared my dilemma with him. This was the home of the President and first lady, Dr. and Mrs. G. Lamar Harrison, who hired students as their domestic employees. He knew that a full tuition, room and board job would become available the second semester. Mrs. Harrison was impressed by me and hired me the next day. I felt more like an adoptee than employee at the Harrison's White House. I also met all the visiting dignitaries who came to the campus during that era. I developed my love of travel vicariously by listening to their travel stories and receiving souvenirs from places I'd only read about. In 1956, I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B. S. degree in Vocational Home Economics.

A significant event in my life occurred when I received a graduate assistantship to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. I entered a course of study for becoming a certified dietician. My graduate stipend did not include travel expenses back to Oklahoma for the holidays. I spent the Thanksgiving holidays in Chicago with friends. They introduced me to Herbert Logan who was destined to become my husband and Illinois would become my legal state of residence in 1957. We became parents of three wonderful children, Deborah Ann, Ronald Edward, and Harold Lamar.

My first career job was working as a dietician at Michael Reese Medical Center for one year. I then became a teacher for the Chicago Public Schools. After six years of teaching, I became a widow when my husband succumbed to a ruptured carotid aneurysm. In the school year 1971-72, I chose to accept an expatriate teaching position at Kingston Technical High School in Kingston, Jamaica West Indies for one year. After a very scintillating experience in a different culture, I returned to my job with the Chicago Public Schools where my 35 years teaching career ended when I retired in 1993.

Professionally, I developed and implemented an entrepreneurial project called the South Shore High School Baking and Catering Service (SSHBCS). This project won the "Outstanding in the Field" award at the Annual Home Economics Exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in 1984. From 1985-87, I served on an Illinois State sponsored team of fifteen home economists for the purpose of integrating computer technology into the home economics curriculum and using perennial home making tasks as transferable skills to the world of work.

Church and Civic participation include working as a mentor for teen girls, and public service activities with my sorority, Chicago Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. After retiring, I became a self-ordained family historian and joined the African American Genealogy & Historical Society of Chicago. I had more than 500 names on my maternal family tree before taking a hiatus from my research after other priorities arose.

The honor of having my peers nominate me as a candidate for Oklahoma's Uncrowned Queens Project was an overwhelming honor. I do wish to take this opportunity to say thank you and bask in the warmth of love expressed by my fellow Oklahomans.