Newspaper carrier job brought special award
Taught responsibility, too, for Steubenville youth
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STEUBENVLLE -- A trophy nearly half the height of Patricia Fletcher of Steubenville brings back a special memory for the former longtime educator and administrator in Steubenville City Schools who touched the lives of many youth in that capacity.
And that would include her son's life, too, not surprisingly, although he wasn't a student in the classroom sense.
But Anthony Fletcher learned early on about expectations to be responsible in his formative years and that included when it came time to getting his first job and joining the working class.
"When my son got to be 11, I said to him, 'You have to get a job,'" Fletcher said during a recent visit to the Herald-Star newsroom. "His dad (Lawrence, who died in June) had a good job, and I was a principal, but I said, 'I had to get a job when I was 11, and so you have to get a job.'"
Anthony wanted to be a newspaper carrier for the Herald-Star, according to his mother, a not uncommon afterschool pursuit. It was during the 1960s when having a paper route was a popular first-time job for many youth interested in earning some spending money.
Fletcher said her son was good at it, conscientious despite having bronchial asthma and was appreciated by his customers.
And he excelled during a competition that challenged carriers to not only deliver the paper promptly, but to recruit new subscribers.
Proof of his efforts translated into that tall trophy his mother has kept to this day.
The front of it reads 1968 Champion Newspaper Carrier Salesman, Steubenville Herald-Star, Steubenville, Ohio.
"It's really beautiful," Fletcher said of her son's award that resulted in his having his first airplane ride, this one for a trip to Washington, D.C., where he joined with other carriers from around the country who also apparently had competed in similar challenges.
"His customers took good care of him," Fletcher said of her son's Steubenville route patrons.
Anthony had a newspaper route for about five years, according to his mother, who said at that time, the carriers were responsible not only for delivery, but for collection, too.
She believes that first job helped build character and responsibility.
"When he got his check, he had to give some to his church and he had to put some in the bank and some to his home and then he had his pay," she said of the financial lesson taught -- one not immediately embraced.
"He just cried and cried, because he didn't want to do that," she chuckled at the memory, "but I said this is what you have to do -- every pay day this is what you have to do."
She continued, "You build character and you teach the responsibility, what you have to do to live. You don't expect people to give you a check or mail you a check. You know you have to get out there and work and that's what I told him," she said.
Fast forward and Dr. Anthony Fletcher is a cardiology specialist in Little Rock, Ark., with more than 41 years of experience in the medical field.
In a Feb. 28, 2015, story in the Herald-Star about him, Fletcher credited his parents and the area for success.
A graduate of Catholic Central High School, Fletcher went on to become one of the country's leading cardiologists as well as a strong advocate for women's heart health, instrumental in setting up systems to give those without proper heart health care equal access.
One of his many accolades included being named National Physician of the Year by the American Heart Association in 2007.
Fletcher attended Xavier University in Cincinnati, the University of Cincinnati Medical School, George Washington University and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., before beginning his medical career, winning accolade after accolade along the way.
When asked about his strong work ethic and success in his field, Fletcher noted in the story that the local schooling he received was excellent, but it was really his parents who instilled in him that he could become someone who could make a difference if he worked hard enough.
"It was mostly growing up under Patricia and Lawrence Fletcher," he was quoted in the article, adding his parents raised him to push himself and expected excellence from their son. "I think the Ohio Valley has established itself as a place where people are dedicated to their craft. I was well-prepared when I went to college."
His mother set the yardstick for achievements.
During her 34 years of working in Steubenville City Schools, Fletcher founded the Garfield School of International Studies, a multicultural enrichment program that gained local and national recognition. She retired in 1996.
An Eastern Gateway Community College trustee emeritus, she served as the first minority chairwoman of the United Way of Jefferson County and was the first and only woman from Franciscan University of Steubenville to be inducted into the Hall of Excellence of the Ohio Independent Colleges.
Honored in 2019 as a woman of distinction by the YWCA of Steubenville, Fletcher served as the 25th president of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, the oldest women of color organization in the United States that helped all women on issues such as civil rights and injustice.
Its founders included Harriett Tubman, Frances Harper, Ida Wells and Mary Church Terrell, who adopted the motto "Lifting as We Climb."
During her tenure the club developed Grandparents Academies that seek to recapture the moral values of earlier generations and expanded NACWC's youth clubs.
(Kiaski can be contacted at jkiaski@heraldstaronline.com.)