OUR VIEW: 'Teacher' will be missed

From the editorial page of the August 12 edition of The Sanford Herald

Issue: Local activist, philan­thropist Annie Laurie Pomeranz died this week at age 89

Our stance: Pomeranz took great pride in Sanford and had her hand in a number of beautification projects. Her desire to make Sanford a better place to live will be sorely missed

Annie Laurie Pomeranz, who passed away this week at the age of 89, made a myriad of contributions to Lee County. Trying to settle on one word to sum up the breadth of what she was would be futile, but if pressed to do so, Pomeranz herself would likely have been pleased with “teacher.” She was born to two teachers, and she had a career as an edu­cator, teaching music to children in schools and in her church. She taught six chil­dren and had a near life-long affiliation with Meredith College in Raleigh, an institution of higher learning to which she was extraordinarily dedicated and of which she was immensely proud.

As someone who exemplified the idea that learning is a life-long endeavor, she was committed to and aligned with many organizations and entities in which “teach­ing” and “learning” were integral, including the Lee County Chapter of the N. C. Symphony (where she helped teach children the appreciation of fine music by working to bring students to symphony performances), the Girl Scouts and the Lee County Arts Center. (The Arts Center structure — now known as the Tommy Mann Sr. Building — was once Sanford High School. Mann him­self has said many times that Annie Laurie hadn’t led the fight to save it, it would have been demolished, as scheduled back in 1983, to make room for low-cost housing.) But mostly Annie Laurie taught about the idea of “community.”

It was a task that never ended for her. With the advent of the 24-hour news cycle and wireless communication devices attached to our hips (or our ears), the con­cept of community has been lost or, at least, devaluated over the years. People in her gen­eration knew what community was. Annie Laurie lived it, breathed it and taught it — she insisted upon it — all her life. To have a spirit of community, and then to exude it with every waking moment, was a prerequi­site for life for her. If you knew Annie Laurie, you’d better know your own sense of community. If not, she’d be happy assign it to you.

What came naturally to her isn’t natural so much today, because it’s less common.

Common sense might not be so common, but the vibrant spirit of community in a commu­nity is even more rare. Annie Laurie had it and had it in abundance.

When she was given The Herald’s Lifetime Achievement Award in January 2004, her reaction exemplified that spirit.

“How do I feel about the award?” she asked. “Honored, naturally. I do what I want to do. If I’m rewarded for it, that’s wonder­ful. But if not, that’s OK, too. It’s the satis­faction of doing and accomplishing that’s most important.”

That, friends, is community — taught by someone who really lived it.

Copyright (c)2007 The Sanford Herald 08/12/2007