Stanley Antonio Childress

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OBITUARY FOR STANLEY ANTONIO CHILDRESS

 

                                Stanley Antonio Childress was born to Norris Bernard Childress and Effie Mae Story Childress on February 11, 1950, in Hamtramck, Michigan. The fourth child and second son of thirteen children, Stanley was blessed with extraordinary talents and personal qualities that shaped his life for the good. In 1997, he married his cherished wife, Dr. Rhonda Michelle Johnson, and he was the father of eight beloved children. In his maturity, Stan embraced Christianity and lived with grace and generosity, according to the tenets of his faith.

 

Stan loved learning and excelled academically. He attended Boynton Elementary in Detroit and Ralph J. Bunch in Ecorse, Michigan and graduated from Ecorse High School in 1968. In 1972 he earned a BA in English at Oakland University in Rochester, MI, and in 1977, completed a MS in Radio and Television at the University of Illinois. He completed coursework for the PhD in Communications as well as for the EdD at Wayne State University. That he twice undertook the terminal degree is testament to his reverence for education. That he bowed, ultimately, to the primacies of family and career is testament to his wisdom.  Stan was the first member of his immediate family to finish college, and his example influenced his siblings, his children, and many other family members to seek academic excellence and higher degrees of education. Among his many academic honors, Stan received Student of Distinction and University Scholar awards at Oakland University, a Ford Foundation Fellowship, a University of Illinois Graduate Fellowship, and a Graduate Professional Scholarship at Wayne State University.  

 

Stan enjoyed a varied and successful professional life. From 1972 to1975, he taught English as an adjunct at Highland Park Community College, as a full-time instructor at Oakland University, and as a graduate TA at the University of Illinois at Urbana. His career in television journalism began in Urbana at WILL-TV 12. Between 1976 and1991, he was reporter, anchor, and talk show host at WCIA-TV 12 in Champaign Illinois, WJKW-TV 8 in Cleveland, Ohio, and WJBK-TV 2 as well as WKBD-TV 50 in his hometown, Detroit. As a reporter, Stan interviewed US Presidents and several foreign heads of state. He covered local, national, and international stories, traveling, for example, to war-torn El Salvador, about which he wrote and produced an award-winning special report on the massacre of civilians and US missionaries in 1979-1980. Stan won consecutive first-place awards from the Cleveland Press Club in 1979 and 1980; a Television News Awards Emmy in 1981; and a first-place award from the Detroit Press Club in 1984, among others.

 

Stan had a positive impact on innumerable students when, in 1991, he returned to teaching and eventually transitioned to school administration. He taught English at several DPS high schools and served as Student Activities Director at the Detroit School of Arts High School—where he was proud to count singer Aliyah among his students. He went on to hold several administrative positions, including Assistant Principal of Renaissance High (1997-1998) and Executive Director of Communications for the Detroit School Board (1998-2003). One of Stan’s most rewarding career experiences was returning to his alma mater, Ecorse High School, as Principal (2003-2009). From 2009 until his retirement in 2014, Stan devoted himself to the mission of helping at-risk youth earn high school diplomas and attain life skills as Superintendent of Covenant House Academies in Detroit. Among the many honors received during his career in education, Stan was especially proud of the Booker T. Washington Outstanding Teacher Award in 1994, the DPS Outstanding Communicators Award in 1996, and the National School Public Relations Golden Achievement Award in 2000.

 

Stan was dubbed ‘Stan the Man’ by his father, who early on recognized in him the wit and grit that would define his life. As a boy, Stan was beautiful, with a little potbelly, sturdy legs and arms, a headful of airy, copper-colored curls, wide soulful eyes, a thinker’s brow, and a toothy, measured smile.  He was born near the top of a baker’s dozen—nine boys and four girls. The Childresses were clever, attractive, boisterous, and popular. But they were also poor and bets were that their wild tribe would not amount to much. Stan was determined that negative opinions and circumstances would not crush him. He was Stan the Man from jump.   

 

Stan was courageous. Despite his peaceful demeanor and kindheartedness, Stan didn’t take no stuff. When bad boys bullied his mild-mannered older brother Norris, little big-hearted Stan stood up and fought with him and sometimes for him. When his father dressed Stan down one time too many, Stan stood up to him as well. When he made the high school football team, he stood up to the hard tackles and gloried in the rough and tumble of the game. When administrators at OU ignored minority student needs, Stan, president of the Association of Black Students, stood up. He represented them eloquently and got results. And when someone had to bring Norris Junior’s body back from California, Stan the man went alone to bring him home. He was born with a strong sense of justice, and he had the courage to follow it. Stan never started a fight, but he ended plenty.

 

Stan the boy was creative, resourceful, and mischievous. At 12, he built a pair of wood and cardboard wings and posted hand-written flyers all over Ecorse, inviting folks to ‘Come and See the Boy Who Can Fly.’ And he really did fly a bit before he fell. He built a motorized pushcart without brakes and sent his little brother Bill on a trial run that careened into a crash. With help from his lifelong best pal, Wendell, he built a legendary tree house where 19th Street (the Big 1-9) kids could escape parental eyes, plot adventures, curse aloud, and smoke cigarettes. Stan and brothers Wes and Andre foraged neighborhood alleys for discarded treasures so regularly that neighbors nicknamed them ‘the alley boys.’ He led small platoons on summer explorations of Hobo Jungle where the wild men lived and Pepper Creek—the deep stream that rushed through a nearby mysterious wood and through Stan’s lively imagination. Stan the boy filled many a day with real and imagined dangers and valorous exploits. And Stan the Man taught a generation of city boys the joys of nature, along with some good, old-fashioned manhood lessons, at his magical cabin on Fox Lake in Indiana—his adult Pepper Creek.  

 

Stan was generous. When his father was missing in action, Stan the boy stepped up and fed his family with the nickels and dimes he and Junior collected on their paper route—the largest one in Ecorse. One Christmas when his father neglected to buy even a tree, Stan went out that snowy holiday eve and bought one for a dollar, then helped his mother decorate it, to his siblings’ great delight. He was his mother’s right-hand man. Stan flinched but never refused to fetch the government food and pull it home in a rusty wagon for nosy neighbors to see. He never refused to carry the note to Uncle Adolphus or Cousin Betty, asking to borrow that dollar for dinner. And for years, Stan the Man, who cherished family, made pilgrimages with his wife and children, his mother, and as many little siblings as could fit in the back of his car to visit the grandmother and homeplace in Shorter, Alabama.

 

Stan was also the epitome of style and sophistication. He was so dapper in those fitted old-school suits, and he walked with just enough graceful sway. His hair was always perfectly coifed, and his mustache was trimmed to precision above that brilliant smile.  He was indeed suave and debonair, but more than that, he was charismatic, engaging, and welcoming to everyone. He was courteous—a model of discretion in conversation and manner. He listened more than he spoke.  In a word, Stan was a gentleman. In a word, he was cool.

 

Stan was a man of projects and plans. Whatever the professional or domestic task, he formed a meticulous plan for it. He was a man of agendas and clipboards and notes. His extensive archive of books, journals, photos, videos, and memorabilia is comprehensive of every era of his life. He was always organized, punctual, hard-working—seemingly indefatigable. He pulled both his immediate and extended family together for vacations, dinners, parties at his home, family reunion picnics, and sibling retreats. He was a natural born leader. He joined the Optimist Club and became its president. He joined the Board of Lotus Press Publishing and became its president. He became a Fox Lake resident and became president of the Fox Lake Property Owners Association.  

 

Stan had unfinished projects when he left us. He was restoring Junior’s Harley Davidson, planning to rebuild the cabin at Fox Lake, writing his memoir, maintaining the homeplace in Shorter, and preserving family and professional archives for posterity. He and Mik planned to travel abroad. Some of Stan’s projects cannot be completed now, but he completed the most important ones: He lived with courage, generosity, optimism, adventurousness, and purpose; he loved and supported his family; he laid foundations for others to build upon; and he left every member of his family a legacy of love and precious memories. 

 

He earned a PhD with highest honors in being Stan the Man.

 

Stanley Antonio Childress made his peaceful transition Thursday, January 20, 2022, surrounded by his loving family. His parents, Norris and Effie Childress; son, Sean Antonio Childress; and brothers, Norris Childress, Wesley Childress, and Lorae Childress preceded him in death. Stanley leaves to celebrate his life and mourn his passing his cherished wife, Dr. Rhonda Michelle (Mik) Johnson Childress; beloved children Sujuan Dalyne (Silvester) Malone, Damali Adero (Saura James) Sahu, Imari Ghaidi Childress, Dr. Niambi Maia (Marcus) Powell, Elgin Lee (Felisha) Childress, Tiffany Joy Childress, and Connor Stanley Antonio Childress; grandchildren Brandin Rashad Bell, Adrian Silvester Malone, Autumn Gabrielle Malone, Arianna Garcelle Malone, Chandra Adero Sahu, Saura Elena Sahu, Priya Damali Sahu, Sasha Kalynn Childress, Maia Angela Childress, DeSean Antonio Childress, Destiny Lynette Powell, Marcus Imari Powell III, Ryder C. Michael Childress, Grayson Childress, London Carlee Childress; and greatgrandchildren Luka, Tobias, Zahra, and Hudson; sisters Denise Howard,  Paulette (Ronald) Childress, Sheilah Johnson, Tracey (Fred) Wheeler; brothers Andre (Kimberly) Childress, Allen (Sherry) Childress, Willis (Sharon) Childress, Barry Childress, Terrence (Yvette) Childress; first wife and forever friend Darrillyn Childress; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives and friends.     

--Dr. Paulette Childress

 

There is a room block with a bereavement rate at the Hotel St. Regis.
3071 W. Grand Blvd.
Detroit, MI 48202
313 873-3000
(Stanley A. Childress room block)
 

Interment:

Elmwood Cemetery 

Detroit, Michigan