The community activist, honored with prestigious Charles White Service Award
By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
* Jan. 30: ‘Gene, this is your night’
* Dec. 8: Macie McQueen named Charles White Service Award recipient
* Dec. 8: Chamber names McLaurin Citizen of the Year
* Nov. 28: A Life Remembered: Macie McQueen
HAMLET — The late Macie McQueen was recognized Thursday night as a caring, compassionate individual who put service above self — even while battling leukemia and suffering from multiple sclerosis.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Macie McQueen, seen on the projected image with Dr. Fred McQueen, stood tall over the audience Thursday night at the 32nd annual Meeting and Recognition Night coordinated by the Richmond County Chamber of Commerce as Rev. Dwight Williams gives the invocation.
McQueen was honored posthumously with the Charles White Service Award during the 32nd annual Meeting and Recognition Night inside the Robert L. and Elizabeth S. Cole Auditorium at Richmond Community College. The business group has bestowed the award only three other times — to Dr. Diane Honeycutt, Glenn Sumpter and Charles White.
Dr. Fred McQueen said it was an appropriate honor to a woman “most deserving.”
“She never complained,” McQueen said of his wife, who died Nov. 23, 2014 at the age of 66. “She never said, ‘why me?’ She loved me in spite of myself. I do miss her.”
McQueen most recently served as chairperson of the Richmond County Human Relations Council, but it was her work years ago with the Richmond County Branch of the NAACP Youth Council that allowed her to touch so many lives. A Maryland native, she relocated to Richmond County in 1976.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Dr. Fred McQueen speaks of his life wife, Macie, and how he came to know her spirit as her body failed.
In 1985, McQueen helped to lead local NAACP protests in getting the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday recognized within the Richmond County School District. McQueen also was a golden life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Laurinburg Alumnae Chapter, and the Essence Women Travel Club. Sorority members dressed in red and served as ushers for Thursday’s event.
Despite those accomplishments and life moments, McQueen said it was after she became sick that their marriage solidified.
“Macie was multidimensional,” he said. “In the end, when her body began to fade, it was good for me because I got to meet her spirit. For those who never got to meet her spirit, you missed out on a treat. She was beautiful when I met her, and more beautiful when she died.”
The widow of the late Charles White, Jackie White, was on hand for the award presentation, as was White family friend Lois Jones. Jones praised McQueen’s devotion to public service who encouraged people “to have fun, but above all serve your community.”
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