Cliffornia Grady Wimberley

Cliffornia Grady Wimberley

Raleigh

Cliffornia Grady Wimberley, 85, died at Duke Raleigh Hospital on November 22, 2015.

Cliff, as she was known, was the fifth of seven girls born to Clifford Freeman and Mamie W. Grady in Mt. Olive, NC on April 25, 1930. After she graduated from Carver High School, she earned a B.S. in Early Childhood Education and Music from Hampton Institute (now University) in Hampton, Virginia. She went on to earn an M. S. in School Administration from North Carolina Central University. Cliff pursued further studies at North Carolina State University, Meredith College, and New York State Teacher's College at Albany, NY.

She taught at Carver Elementary School in Mount Olive, NC and Washington Elementary School in Raleigh, NC, before travelling to Sagamihara, Japan in 1957 to teach at the American Dependent School. Upon her return, she taught at Lucille Hunter and Mary P. Douglas Elementary Schools (where she was one of the first teachers to integrate the schools) in Raleigh. She also taught at Meredith College.

In 1958, Cliff married William Peele Wimberley, a pharmacist, in Durham, NC.

In 1973, she was elected to the Raleigh City School Board for a four-year term. After the Raleigh and Wake County school systems merged, she served a fifth-year as an appointee on the newly merged Wake County Board of Education. She was part of the Board's first student assignment planning decision. Her tenure is highlighted by the fact that she and the late Senator Vernon Malone were the only African Americans to serve jointly on the Board until the election of Monika Johnson-Hostler and re-election of Keith Sutton in 2013, 25 years later.

She went on to serve as Education Specialist in the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and Department of Human Resources, Juvenile Delinquent Schools Division. Her work allowed her to improve the education provided for students in the vocational rehabilitation programs in the Division. Cliff eventually retired as the Chief of Vocational Rehabilitation Programs in the Division of Youth Services for the State of North Carolina.

Our community was blessed by her leadership in the following organizations throughout the years: League of Women Voters; Panel of American Women (an organization that provided panels of women and allowed discussions about race, religion, and culture); NAACP; Wake Democratic Women; Delta Kappa Gamma; Raleigh Schools Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA) Project; Women's Auxiliary of Old North State Medical, Dental, and Pharmaceutical Society; NEA; NCAE; Jack and Jill of America, Inc.; HOME – Housing Opportunities Made Equal; Raleigh Chapter of The LINKS, Inc.; Raleigh Community Relations Committee – Raleigh Human Relations Commission; Carolina Pines Girl Scouts; and Strengthening The Black Family, Inc.

Cliff was a charter member of the following organizations: Hospice of Wake County; Meals On Wheels at the Glenwood Terrace site; the Raleigh Chapter of Women-in-Action for the Prevention of Violence and Its Causes; and she helped to plan for the first Montessori School in Raleigh. She was a pioneer as the first female President of the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association.

Cliff was appointed by former Governor Jim Hunt to the Revenue Laws Study Commission, the 1980 Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, the Governor's Study on Length of Sentences, and the Board of Trustees at Wake Technical Institute (now Community College), where she served for 13 years.

Cliff is survived by husband, William P. Wimberley of the home, daughter Carmen Wimberley Cauthen, son William Peele Wimberley, Jr., son-in-law Rick Cauthen, granddaughters Kena and Loren Cauthen, and special daughter Joselyn Williams, all of Raleigh. She is also survived by her sisters, Doris Carter, Twinsburg, OH; Gwendolyn Lightfoot, Washington, DC; Lavon-De Driver, Cary, NC; and special sister, Dorothea Branch of LaGrange, NC. Siblings Bernardine Clark, Leonel Smith, Arnette Gambrell, and Clifford Grady preceded her in death.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the General Scholarship Fund at Hampton University in her memory. Send memorial contributions to the Office of Development, Hampton University, Hampton, VA 23668.

Visitation will be Sunday, November 29, 2015, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm at Haywood Funeral Home, 2415 S. Wilmington Street, Raleigh, NC. An additional visitation will be held Monday, November 30, 2015 at 11:30 am with the funeral service following at 12:00 noon at First Baptist Church, 101 S. Wilmington Street, Raleigh, NC.

Interment takes place at Montlawn Memorial Parks, Raleigh NC. Arrangements by Haywood Funeral Home, Raleigh, 919-832-2835, www.haywoodfh.com