THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 1, 1995 TAG: 9512010229
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROPER LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. got it just about right Thursday when he looked over the crowd and said, ``I don't know who's running the state - it looks like most of my administration is down here today.''
A remarkable turnout of North Carolina leaders joined townsfolk of this small Washington County town to cheerfully shiver on November's final afternoon in honor of an 83-year-old living legend named E.V. Wilkins.
For two-thirds of a century, Wilkins has been either the elected mayor of Roper, a town councilman or a school principal, and in his spare time has coached Democratic politicians who constantly sought his advice.
Hunt and many other political leaders owe a measureable amount of their success to the wisdom - occasionally sharp-edged - that Wilkins passed along with a special kind of courage.
Wilkins is a soft-spoken black man who for decades has demonstrated that this country runs best in a color-blind society.
``He's one of the few people who knows my farm home telephone number in Wilson County, and when the phone rings on Saturday night I'm pretty sure it's E.V. telling me about something that needs to be done,'' Hunt told the crowd in front of Roper's new town hall.
``And, by the way, this town hall was built and paid for because of Mayor Wilkins,'' said Hunt.
Wilkins learned racial wisdom the hard way as a boy when Roper and the rest of North Carolina was a closed shop run by whites and ruled by the cruelest kind of segregation.
Never mind. Wilkins decided that education was the key to unlocking the doors slammed because of his race. Relentlessly he pursued his schooling, graduating with degrees in science and math from North Carolina Central University in 1932 - no mean feat at the start of the Great Depression.
He went on to graduate studies at Catholic University, East Carolina University and A&T University.
Finally, with his master's degree in secondary education, he returned to Roper and started his lifelong mission of sharing knowledge with a new generation of children in school.
``One of the first things I did during my first term as governor was to name E.V. Wilkins to the State Board of Education,'' said Hunt, now in his third term.
For 33 years Wilkins was principal of the Washington County Union School in Roper.
And for 20 years he was mayor of the little community on the south side of Albemarle Sound.
Wilkins just stepped down as chairman of the board of trustees of Elizabeth City State University after serving an allowed two terms, beginning in 1987.
``This year was the first time in 28 years that my father's name wasn't on a ballot,'' said Wilkins' daughter, Estelle ``Bunny'' Sanders. Wilkins has never been beaten. After two terms on the Roper town council, he ran for mayor and served a shoo-in 10 terms, from 1975 to 1993.
That was a remarkable achievement. More than half the registered voters in Washington County are white. Year after year, they enthusiastically returned Wilkins to office, while Hunt and other state and national officials pressed him into challenges on various boards and committees.
In 1984 he was awarded North Carolina's Distinguished Service Award. There isn't enough space on his office walls to hold the citations, plaques and commissions that have marked Wilkins' busy life.
Townsfolk decided that the new town hall should be dedicated by Wilkins and that was the occasion for all the homage from visiting big shots Thursday. School bands played and most of downtown Roper was blocked off while the modest man who was the cause of all the fuss tried to look inconspicuous as the guest of honor.
Wilkins is a hometown hero, and to a lot of eyes he seemed to stand taller than even Bobby Etheridge, the 6-foot-7 secretary of public instruction. Etheridge is another Raleigh official who often hears from Wilkins with urgent advice in the middle of the night.
Wilkins, as usual, seemed to be on top of things despite the raw November winds.
And his friends and admirers - famous and unheralded - didn't complain about the weather.
Applauding hands don't get cold. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
E.V. Wilkins
by CNB