NEWS - Texas Southern University

IN MEMORIAMMarquita Anderson, 56 - Former Houstonlibrarian and director of special collections forTSU’s Barbara Jordan Collection passed awayFebruary 18, 2004 of colon cancer. A native ofMacon, Ga., she began her career as a librarianfor the political science department at AtlantaUniversity. She received a bachelor’s degree inhistory from Knoxville College in Tennesseeand later received master’s degrees in libraryscience and history from Atlanta University in1974. She met her future husband – TSU politicalscience professor Sanders Anderson – thereand they were married in 1971. Andersonworked for the Houston Public Library for 15years, serving as head librarian at the Dixon,Vinson and Smith branches; in 1991, shesecured what she later called her “dream job”:archivist for the Jordan Collection at the RobertJ. Terry Library. Anderson is by a survived byher husband, a son, a daughter, and her fatherandmother-in-law.John Fonteno Jr., 77 – Business, educatorand “Mr. Black Republican” John Fonteno Jr.passes away March 8, 2004, after a long-termillness. A co-founder of SHAPE CommunityCenter, Fonteno earned his bachelor’s fromTSU in 1957 and his master’s in 1964; bothdegrees were in industrial education. He wenton to develop the plumbing program at TSU,and served as a technology professor for 40years. In 1974, he also founded John Fonteno& Associates, a real estate consulting andappraisal company. A native of Houston’sFourth Ward, Fonteno served as a consultantfor the Republican National Committee andwas a GOP precinct chairman for more thanfive decades. He is survived by a sister, a sonand a daughter.Norma Johnson, 64 – Succumbing to cancer,former TSU student Norma Johnson passedaway March 22, 2004. A native and residentof Ft. Worth, Texas, Johnson was a mainstayin her community, having helped found theMitchell Boulevard Neighborhood Associationand being recognized by the Fort WorthCommission on the Status of Women as their1997 Outstanding Woman of the Year in thehealth fields. More, she was the driving forforce behind the I.M. Terrell alumni association.I.M. Terrell, once the region’s only black highschool, was closed in 1973 after being desegregatedand eventually falling into disrepair.Johnson, a 1955 graduate of Terrell, lobbiedvigorously, and with her help, the school wasre-opened in 1998 as I.M. Terrell ElementarySchool. Johnson encouraged each alumniclass to adopt an individual elementary class,and organized the association’s annual historymarker luncheon, which celebrated the school’s1986 designation as a historical landmark. Sheis survived by one daughter, one sister, threebrothers, two grandchildren and a host of relativesand friends.Roxie White, 83 – Dr. White passed awayNovember 19, 2003, of apparent heart failure.White was raised by his uncle in Houston’sFifth Ward neighborhood from the age of six;he graduated from Phyllis Wheatley HighSchool and, in 1940, entered the Army. Fiveyears later, he returned to Houston and enteredthe Houston College for Negroes, the predecessorto Texas Southern University. White wenton to earn his undergraduate degree from TSUand, in 1952, was a member of the first graduatingpharmacy school class. After graduation,he worked at Wooten Pharmacy in the ThirdWard and later purchased Wooten’s Fifth Wardlocation. He renamed it White’s Pharmacyand for 30 years, acted as a beacon to the FifthWard and to TSU pharmacy students whom hementored. He closed the store in the 1980s andtook a position at Ben Taub Hospital for sevenyears until his retirement in 1995. He is survivedby his wife and son.GENERATIONS OF PRIDE • Summer 2004 43