Graduate of South to speak at banquet

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James E. Carlisle

WEST MIDDLESEX, Pa.

Educator, lawyer and author James E. Carlisle is the keynote speaker for the 48th annual Freedom Fund Banquet of the Mercer County Unit of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Oct. 7 at the Park Inn by Radisson Hotel, 3377 New Castle Road.

The theme for the 6:30 p.m. event is “NAACP Affirming America’s Promise.”

Carlisle, of Toledo, grew up in Youngstown, attended Thorn Hill Elementary School, graduated from South High School in 1963, then earned a bachelor’s degree from Youngstown State University, where he was president of YSU’s NAACP chapter in 1966-’67.

He went on to earn a master’s degree from Bowling Green State University in 1979, and a law degree from the University of Toledo College of Law in 1985. He now operates a solo law practice in Toledo, where he and his wife, Deborah, live and raised two children.

Carlisle was a teacher in Erie County Public Schools before working in Toledo Public Schools 30 years. He retired in June 1999 to begin a law practice.

While at YSU, he worked summers at U.S. Steel in Girard and as a Youngstown Park and Recreation playground director, and during his earlier school years he delivered Vindicators and picked strawberries and green beans for Mahoning Valley farmers.

He was been a big brother for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, advised many school clubs and coached football, tennis, basketball and chess. He also served on the Toledo Fair Housing Board, the Frederick Douglass Community Center Board and the Kidney Foundation.

He has written an autobiography, “Through A Glass Darkly,” has been affiliated with Mount Calvary Pentecostal Church in Youngstown and now belongs to St. Michael’s in the Hills Episcopal Church.

For tickets, call Mariam Sanders at 724-342-3209 or Pam Prince at 724-981-2044. No tickets will be sold at the door.