Standing barely 5 feet tall, Geraldine Watson hardly resembles a power broker.
Her soft-spoken, gentle demeanor oozes Southern lady.
When she saw her neighborhood in East Bartow crumbling beneath the burden of litter and crime, she grabbed a trash bag and some neighbors, and began walking the streets. Five years later, the Eastside Positive Action Committee, her brainchild, is working side-by-side with police to attack the neighborhood's crime problem.
"Geraldine is very persistent," said Ken Riley, who's co-chaired the EPAC with Watson. "She kept everybody interested and excited about what we were doing, and she made sure the city knew about our concerns. She's a great lady, and we're lucky to have her."
My response:
She's a classy, classy lady. The kind you don't appreciate until you get older. The kind that you rarely see any more. She was tough, but she was compassionate, and she had a hand in making me want to be a woman of excellence.
I remember one day I was in her typing class and I was dragging my feet while I was walking and popping my gum which I always had in my mouth. LOL. She told me to spit my gum out and pick up my feet. I rolled my eyes at her and cursed under my breath.
Shaking my head. We were so silly back then.
But I want to thank her because she took me outside and let me have it, in that sophisticated lady, "I mean business" kind of way. I didn't try that ever again.
I aspire to be as classy as she.
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