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March 28, 2006 |
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HOW I GOT WHERE I'M AT By Henry Bostic You learn the most interesting things from our Charlotte Rotary "How I Got Where I'm At" programs, even if the program name is grammatically challenged. Tuesday's meeting was no exception. Where else would you learn that Frances Haithcock, acting superintendent of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (and a finalist for the job permanently), averaged 45 points a game in high school basketball (and didn't get a scholarship) or that she chose her late husband because he could shag, wore cordovan Weejuns without socks and bought his shirts at Brooks Brothers in New York? (Only in the Carolinas!) And further, where else would you learn that Budd Berro is a self-admitted "HR nightmare." He dated (and later married) a subordinate who turned out to become, as he described her, "a real live horse whisperer doing her work up and down the East Coast." Or that he and his wife have grown to love Mecklenburg as home even though they once agreed with George Washington: their first impression of Charlotte was that is was a trifling place. What people will tell you - if you only ask! Budd said he was particularly apprehensive when he heard there might be "pictures" with the presentation. He was afraid of the high school yearbook picture with shoulder length hair. He said he asked his wife Leslie for help on what to say. "Tell them you were downsized. What else?" And she reminded him: "Leave my family out!" He grew up in White Plains, a suburb of New York, but admitted that idyllic lifestyle was highly flavored with the experiences of his parents who grew up in the Bronx and Brooklyn and whose ancestors arrived from Russia and Eastern Europe. There was even a grandparent who was an ardent supporter of Norman Thomas, Socialist Party presidential candidate in 1940, 1944 and 1948. He was in the financial services industry in Houston and New York before coming to Charlotte with First Union (now Wachovia) in 1999. His first experience with the Queen City was in the 80s when his brother married a Queens's graduate - a day that ended with a wreck on Morehead Street - which didn't give Budd any reason to put Charlotte on his want-to-live-there list. Later he and Leslie decided to move to Charlotte for a better quality of life and to have children. There haven't been children, but the Berros have fallen for Mecklenburg - even after a trying five-day period when they got married, moved here from Manhattan, he changed jobs and his mother died. After leaving First Union, he decided to go on his own and founded Quantum Leap Strategies to provide financial consulting to small and mid-sized companies. Like his father before him, he's found working for himself more rewarding than working for large corporations. His advice: be honest with yourself and others; keep an open mind; keep learning; speak up and meet new people. Rotary, he said, really encourages and supports all those. Frances Haithcock grew up in neighboring Cabarrus County with strong Mecklenburg ties; a grandmother was from the Derita area. And it's a wonder Frances made it into this world at all. Her mother was 43 and her dad, 48, when her mother began having abdominal "problems." They "weren't able to get pregnant" (although no one at that time would ever have said such a thing in public). Doctors couldn't figure out what was going on with her mom so they decided to "operate on the tumor." Oops! What they found was Frances - all comfy. Doctors beat a hasty exit and several weeks later, Frances made her formal appearance at 8 pounds, 2 ounces. Frances described her family as "different" then went on to prove it. The grandmother from Derita always said exactly what she thought and had all her clothes custom made - including underwear that was always made from feed sacks. She spent all 12 years at Winecoff, what was known as a union school. In high school her principal and trig teacher was Jay Robinson, former superintendent of both Cabarrus and Mecklenburg county school districts. She was his babysitter in high school. She lived in Florida with her husband and raised two children before returning to North Carolina and Charlotte after her husband's death two and a half years ago. They lived in Fort Lauderdale, a place she described as the "most transient place in the country." People there, she said, were rude. They left her in tears, but, she said, they also toughened her. "I learned to mow other people down with a grocery cart, too." She described being a high school principal as her most important training. "It's the best job. You have a family of students and a family of teachers." And, she noted, "it is a really pleasant place if you're winning in football and basketball." Frances defended the local school district as "one of the finest municipal school districts" in the country. She said she's never had a plan for her life and quoted a passage from the paperback, Mostly True Collected Stories & Drawing, which she said sort of summed up her approach to life. The passage quoted a former director who described liking operas because they were loud, flashy and if you don't like the results you can kill yourself. There's no basis in reality there, she said with a wry smile. I've been on the "trip of a lifetime and I hope to make a couple more journeys," she said in closing. Head Table: Pender McElroy, Frances Haithcock, Luther Moore, Edwin Peacock, Budd Berro, Jerri Haigler, Cecily Durrett Visitors & Guests: Carroll Thomas; Visitors & Guests: Bob Knight; Health & Happiness: Tom Hutchins; Song: Thomas Moore
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Copyright © 1998-2006. The Rotary Club of Charlotte. All rights reserved.
Revised: January 24, 2008.