Thelma Louise (Newberry) Stanley

On a cold winter morning in 1928, January 22nd to be exact, Thelma Louise Newberry came into the world as the second-born child of Roosevelt and Mattie Sallie (Lee) Newberry in the small town of Edison, Georgia.

Thelma was a lovable, chubby little girl and the apple of her parents’ eyes. She attended the Edison, Georgia, school system from kindergarten through eighth grade. One of her favorite memories was coming home to a baked sweet potato that her mother had prepared for her in their wood stove. She was an above-average student and earned an academic scholarship to Tuskegee Institute.

She entered Tuskegee Institute in 1944 and majored in Home Economics. She often talked to her children about the values she acquired at Tuskegee and the pride she felt in attending a Black institution of higher education. In 1947, she married her life partner, McKinley Stanley, and in 1948 they welcomed their firstborn, Brenda Joyce Stanley. She returned to Tuskegee a little behind her class, but true to form, through hard work and dedication, she graduated with her class.

After graduation, she and McKinley relocated to Jersey City, New Jersey, looking for a better life for their child and future children. When she arrived in New Jersey, she took a job at Maidenform Women’s Foundations Company. In 1950, McKinley and Thelma welcomed their baby girl, Sandra Ornecia Stanley, into the world. Thelma returned to Maidenform and was promoted to head seamstress. But Thelma knew her parents had not sacrificed for her to remain at Maidenform forever. She had received her Bachelor of Science degree, and she was determined to become a teacher.

However, Thelma was told she would never be employed in the teaching profession because she was Black, from the South, and had attended a Black college. But if you know anything about Thelma, telling her she could not do something was like telling a rattlesnake not to slither. Thelma contacted the New Jersey Department of Education to learn the requirements necessary to become a teacher in the state of New Jersey. Once again, she proved to the world and to herself that she could achieve anything she wanted badly enough.

This determination was something she learned from her parents: first, you are no better than any man or woman; second, never leave a man in the rut—stop, pick him up, dust him off, make sure he is standing straight, and then be on your way; third, if you are there and you are in it, you are supposed to be the winner. Thelma instilled these same teachings in Brenda and Sandra.

In 1954, Thelma took the National Teachers Examination and the State of New Jersey Teacher Certification Examination, passed both with flying colors, became a certified teacher in the state of New Jersey, and taught for the Jersey City Board of Education until her retirement in 1990, after 36 years of outstanding service.

Thelma and McKinley made a perfect team; she was the eagle, and McKinley was the wings that helped the eagle soar. McKinley happily stayed in the background, taking on many duties around the home and always encouraging Thelma to soar as high as she could. With every award, citation, and recognition, McKinley’s chest swelled bigger and bigger. This partnership allowed Thelma to achieve many honors and awards, including:

• May 1978 – Outstanding Woman of the Year
• December 1978 – Jersey City Jackson Avenue Rehabilitation Award
• 1980 – Jersey City Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Award
• January 1983 – Jersey City Board of Education Effective Teacher Award
• 1986 – Mary McLeod Bethune Award
• April 1987 – Urban League Service Award
• April 1988 – Concerned Women of Jersey City, Inc. Award
• June 1990 – Office of the Mayor of Jersey City Citation
• June 1990 – Jersey City Chapter of PUSH Award
• July 1990 – Salem Baptist Church Courtesy Guild Award
• October 1990 – Women of Distinction Award
• 1990 – Abraham Lincoln High School Appreciation Award
• May 1991 – Jersey City Board of Education Parent Council Award
• 1997 – Jersey City Jersey Journal Women of Achievement
• October 1997 – Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition Award
• October 1997 – State of New Jersey General Assembly Joint Legislative Citation
• November 1998 – Office of the Mayor of Jersey City Service Award
• March 2014 – National Museum of African American History and Culture Certificate of Appreciation
• May 2015 – City of Jersey City Office of the Mayor Certificate of Recognition
• May 2017 – Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Award
• 2018 – Active Membership Award, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Award

After retiring from the Jersey City Public School System in 1990, Thelma and McKinley packed up their belongings and relocated to Albany, Georgia. They soon settled in and began to enjoy life in “The Good Life City.” Once settled, Thelma began visiting local Baptist churches, looking for her new church home. She said that when she entered Mount Zion Baptist Church (the old Mount Zion), she knew she had found her Christ-centered home.
Thelma joined Mount Zion and, just as she had in New Jersey, became extremely active in her new church home. She worked in the soup kitchen, sang in the choir, served on the planning committee for the new Mount Zion Baptist Church, was a member of the Leisure Club, donated the crystal chandelier that hangs in the entrance foyer, served on the decorating committee for the new Mount Zion, and attended Sunday School every Sunday. Thelma felt that her greatest reward and accomplishment as a member of her church home was becoming a Deaconess. She loved her church, her church family, and her pastor, Reverend Daniel Simmons. Thelma was an adopted mother, grandmother, and advisor to many members of her church family. She also pledged, crossed over, and became an active member of the Albany Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Thelma walked among us for ninety-eight years. She loved and prioritized her family and valued her true friendships. She saw and experienced many things that some of us only dream of. In her ninety-eight years, she lived through segregation, the end of Jim Crow, the Great Depression, and World War II. She witnessed space travel and man walking on the moon. She lived through the Civil Rights Movement and the assassinations of Martin, Medgar, Malcolm, and the Kennedys. She walked in the March on Washington and had front-row seats to the “I Have a Dream” speech. She witnessed the first Black man become President of the United States of America and the first Black woman become Vice President of this nation. She visited every country on the planet except two. She would often say, “Not bad for a little chubby girl from little old Edison, Georgia.”

Thelma was preceded in death by her husband of sixty-four years, McKinley Stanley; her parents, Roosevelt and Mattie Sallie (Lee) Newberry; her sister, Gertha Newberry-Lenoard; her in-laws, Carlton and Emma Stanley; and her son-in-law, Benny Lee Perkins.

She leaves behind to cherish her memory and mourn her homegoing: her daughters, Brenda Joyce Stanley-Perkins and Dr. Sandra Ornecia Stanley-Chavis; her son-in-law, Kenneth Chavis; her grandchild, Qwenita Kevette Gilmore-Clay; her great-grandchildren, Esau Shemere Gilmore, Miracle Martin, and Al-Jamil Martin; her nieces and nephews, Bernard Lenoard (deceased), Alvin and Catherine Lenoard, Patricia Lenoard-Russell and Robert Russell, Linda Lenoard-Russell, Willie Lenoard Jr. and Miriam Lenoard (deceased), Wanda Jean Lenoard-Harris and Bernard Harris, and Howard Lenoard (deceased); her cousins, Janice Newberry, Jenette Newberry-Jenkins, Carol Newberry-Hicks, Mackie Waters-Wright, Albert Thornton, Lois Thornton-Williams, Eddie Williams, Ronnie Thornton, and Lucille Thornton; and a multitude of valued friendships.

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