As we continue our Black History Month tribute to Mr. Frank "Poppa D" Delaney, we want to share what he told us when we asked him who inspired him to pursue a college education and then become one of the most influential educators in Thomas County. His answer was two-fold. First he named Pansey Poe, the owner of Pebble Hill Plantation where he was born and lived until he was 23 years old. He said he loved to work on the plantation and in order to work, Ms. Poe required you to have good grades in school. Even after children left the plantation elementary school and started attending public school, she still tracked their grades to see if they were eligible to work (and earn extra spending money). When Poppa D was getting ready to graduate from high school, she asked him what he was going to do and his answer was simple…stay on the plantation and work for the rest of his life (he loved training the dogs and riding the horses). Ms. Poe told him he couldn’t stay on the plantation forever and asked him if he wanted to go to college. When he told her he couldn’t afford it, she said “That’s not what I asked you.” He said his college “scholarship” was Ms. Poe. He said she apparently saw something in him that he didn’t know he had. And the rest is history.
The second part of his answer about who inspired him to become one of the most influential educators in Thomas County was a teacher he had in high school who once told him he’d end up in jail a few years after graduation and never amount to anything. He said he wasn’t a bad kid and her words really upset him. He said looking back, the lesson he really learned from her harsh remark is that there is worth in all people (chuckling he said you have to look harder in some people than others), but that we’re all made in God’s image and God doesn’t make junk. He said he learned to build on people’s strengths rather than dwell on people’s shortcomings.
Thank you Poppa D for your words of wisdom!