Eulogies delivered at Sanford’s funeral in Duke Chapel, April 23, 1998
Thomas Langford | Mary
D.B.T. Semans | Nannerl O. Keohane
Joel Fleishman | Jim Hunt | Daniel Blue
Thomas Langford
Provost emeritus, close friend delivers eulogy
Editor's note: The following is full reprint of the eulogy delivered for Terry
Sanford by Thomas Langford, University provost emeritus and Divinity School
dean emeritus, who was Sanford's close friend for decades and the presiding
minister at Sanford’s funeral ceremony.
Everyone here possesses his or her own memories of Terry Sanford; each of us has our own sense of friendship and achievement; each has a story to tell. And we were reminded of this as we heard these moving and delightful stories of those who knew him well.
Terry stood at the intersection of the local community and an expanding world. He always began at home -- a dutiful son, a family man, a proud Methodist, and a committed North Carolinian. His loyalty was intense and generous.
He asked that his commitment to the Methodist Church be especially mentioned. He was, he said, an active Methodist (this description, of course, is redundant. Anything Terry did, he did actively). He reminded us that from his local church he had also participated in the regional and national life of his denomination, and that he thought that was significant.
Our commitments express who we are, and so with Terry. From roots deep driven, new growth came forth, limbs extended and spread. Not leaves alone, but fruit was borne and passed life to others. We respected Terry Sanford.
Here, O Lord, is one of your special treasures whom we return for your safe keeping.
Terry's achievements have been immense. You've heard them recounted: a loyal son of the state, a loyal son of his own university, and a loyal president of Duke, a loyal citizen of the nation, and a loyal friend.
In his retirement, he kept doing what he had always done and conceived an institute for the arts, which would bring to this state activities that were nationally important in both dance and drama. In all the things that we have heard, Terry Sanford added quality to our lives. We followed him with gladness.
Here, O Lord, is one of your special treasures whom we now return to thee for your safe keeping.
Terry possessed confidence, and he recognized the competence of others. His own reach was extended through others exercising their abilities. How many of us owe some aspect of our life or hope or some ambition to Terry's encouragement? He was always with people. He enjoyed people, he enjoyed the relationships, he enjoyed organizing people around a purpose. He was a people person. And we enjoyed his company.
Here, O Lord, is one of your special treasures whom we now return for your safe keeping.
To recall Terry is to recall Margaret Rose, Terry Jr., Betsee, their family. You really cannot think of one without the other. Margaret Rose. What words are adequate? Helpmate, faithful, patient, supportive, creator of relationships, sharer of hopes, constructive critic, companion. All of these and more.
But the family was not small. It has extended and been extending so that many of you think of yourselves as part of the extended family. All of us share this loss. We were drawn into his companionship.
Here, O Lord, is one of your special treasures whom we now return for your safe keeping.
Grace, at times, comes in human form. Remember God's own best gift was in human form. Terry has walked among us, and we have relearned that human life can express love and loyalty, justice and hope, that humanity can possess passion and compassion, friendship and challenge, and now, death and reconstruction.
We are thankful of Terry Sanford. We remember him with gratitude, with admiration, and with joy.
Here, O Lord, is one of your special treasures whom we now return for your safe keeping.
Mary D.B.T. Semans, Philanthropist
As a citizen of Durham, I have to express gratitude for what he meant to
this community. This became his home. He recognized Durham's egalitarianism,
and he enhanced its peoples reaching out for each other. As a result of his
historic achievements, Terry Sanford changed the face of North Carolina. For
those of us who worked with him through the years, Terry Sanford was our hero.
We referred to ourselves as being part of the family. He made us feel that
we were on his magic carpet and that he expected us to do things we never
dreamed we were capable of.
The image of North Carolina as that special state, which stands out in the South as its most progressive and inventive, was created by Terry Sanford. He had golden aspirations for it and he made them come true. He was convinced that there was no fence which could be built that North Carolina could not reach and climb. So he established the goals and led the state to its place of honor....
As president here, Terry Sanford threw open the windows of Duke University -- open to the state, the nation and the world. He reminded this institution of its great North Carolina history as Trinity College and brought its alumni back into the fold. He sensed the founders' dreams and carried them out. He emphasized Mr. Duke's vision. Known by many students as "Uncle Terry," he listened to students and challenged them with new opportunities. When he was here at Duke as president, Terry Sanford said, very wisely, "There is never an end to building an institution."...
As we face the days ahead with a lost feeling, we know that in addition to being an icon, he was a comfort. Just knowing he was nearby gave us a sense of security. Steven Sender wrote that the truly great are those who in their lives fought for life and who wore, at their hearts, the fire's center. Terry's fire will never go out, but we must vow to carry on his fight to make the world better for everyone -- for all the people. We must never let him down. So call out the trumpets and celebrate the life of this great man who was our great friend.
Nannerl O. Keohane, University President
Terry Sanford took office at Duke in 1970, at a time when one might have
thought that only a madman would take a university presidency. It was the
very height of the protest against the war on campuses everywhere; presidents
were being thrown out of the office right and left, and those who kept their
jobs were harried and beleaguered. In those tumultuous times, leadership was
scorned and often ineffective. But Terry took the job with zest, and from
the very first, performed it with panache, sincerity, serenity and purpose.
We've relished the story of how he met with protesting students during the first few weeks and when they told him that they planned to occupy our administration building, he said, "Great, take me with you. I've been trying to occupy it for weeks." But it's less well known that after delivering that memorable quip, Terry neither departed nor called in reinforcements. He took a chair and sat down on the stage behind the student leaders. This quiet but brilliant gesture immediately established his authority, demonstrated that he intended to be part of the solution, and forced the student leaders to redirect their attention, both literally and metaphorically, to the president as well to the audience in front....
Terry Sanford was, in truth, a leader-hero. That word re-echoes around this Chapel today. As one of his successors in this office, I have learned more than I could possibly describe from Terry's example and from his wise counsel ...
He wanted all students at Duke to have a good experience, to make friends, to enjoy their time. When two of his administrative colleagues came to tell him that Duke could not afford to build the student center, and that it was time to tell the board this news, Sanford said: "Then you'll also have to explain to them why I'm no longer president." Needless to say, a way was found to build it ...
Joel Fleishman, Duke Professor of Law and Public Policy
Terry Sanford was a great-spirited, great-souled man, a man of passion, a
man with a conscience that had real bite, a man of loyalty. But most of all,
Terry Sanford was a creative genius, but a thoroughly practical one, who transformed
everything he touched into something finer, better, worthier and more useful
to the world. If I had to call him by any single phrase, it would be "the
great transformer."
At a time when most Southern governors were engaged in shameless, vicious race-baiting ... Terry Sanford staked his political career on achieving equality of opportunity without regard to race, and thereby transformed, really transformed, public discourse in North Carolina. ...
The great transformer, what was his secret? What were the qualities of mind and character that enabled him to achieve those feats? First off, he genuinely cared about people. Secondly, he never let things get to him. Over 47 years, I never saw him get angry but once. That was when a state trooper on duty at the Governor's Mansion inadvertently let it be known to a reporter that, get this, alcohol was being served upstairs at the mansion, and Terry was furious that his mother might discover that he took an occasional drink.
He stuck to his word. Unlike so many persons who occupy political roles, Terry Sanford did not change his mind or his tune depending on what those with whom he was talking wanted to hear or according to the views of those with whom he had talked most recently. If he made a decision and committed himself to you, you could count on the fact that he would stick to it and not be persuaded out of it.
How could he do that? Because he had real values, bedrock values: He believed in things. He acted on those beliefs. And he served those values with the most amazing energy I've ever encountered in anyone. He was literally indefatigable. It was not only boundless, but it was never-ending, showing itself even as he fought the last battle of his life against cancer.
One is forced to ask, why? Why did Terry Sanford pour so much of himself into his quest for a better society, in his efforts for others? One time, Terry and Bert Bennett, who's sitting here on the front row, were out on the road campaigning with Margaret Rose, and they were all being subject to the same old, cold green peas and chicken and equally tasty rhetoric from some of the local politicians. Margaret Rose was complaining to Bert that Terry was gone from home all the time, little Terry and Betsee were moaning about missing their father. Bert slipped a note to Terry which said, why do you continue to stay in this business anyway? Terry fired back a note with the following word: to keep the SOBs out! ...
It was the ideals which drove him. I know of no public figure who has demonstrated such consistent fidelity in his ideals over a lifetime than Terry Sanford did. Most of us change as we grow older, get a little more radical sometimes, more often we get a little more conservative. But his devotion to his ideals didn't waiver one whit over those 47 years. ...
In another extraordinary respect, Terry was unique among all those of my acquaintance. He had an unquenchable thirst for ideas from everyone, which led him to seek out persons of all stations and conditions of life with whom to consult. Indeed, his life was a never-ending pursuit of the best ideas from as wide a circle as possible about how to solve the problems of concern to him or indeed them. He was resolutely determined to resist becoming the captive of his long-time friends, his campaign workers, his kitchen cabinet. It goes without saying that he was always loyal to them and others whom he sought out and drew in on a continuing basis. He had the most remarkable thirst for new ideas of any man of action I've ever known, and that had to be the key to many of those innovations for which he is so justly credited.
Jim Hunt, N.C. Governor
In the words of a great Methodist hymn: "Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing our Great redeemer's praise." Indeed, 1,000 tongues are here today to praise our Redeemer and one of His most magnificent gifts to the people of our state and our nation. I know that I speak for many of you when I say very simply: Terry Sanford was my hero.
He was my hero because of what he did, but also because of the way he did it. His approach,his style, his ideas. He was constantly looking for ways to improve things. Calling people together to study issues, to prepare proposals for action. In fact, I suspect by now he has almost certainly had his orientation session with the Lord. And it was NOT a one-way conversation. I expect he has given the Lord a few good ideas for improving Heaven. Some of which should be done in the next 30 days. And almost certainly, if he has found any poverty, any discrimination, any poor schools, any worthy arts ideas there are projects under way, even now....
Imagine what North Carolina would be like if we had not had Terry Sanford striving for us all these many years.
Imagine what North Carolina would have been like in the 1960s if we had not had a governor who believed in bringing people of all races together. If we'd had a governor, like other states, who appealed to the worst rather than the best in us. Imagine no Terry Sanford.
Imagine what North Carolina would be like without the Research Triangle Park. Imagine no Terry Sanford.
Imagine what North Carolina would be like without the community college system or the School of the Arts. Imagine no Terry Sanford.
Imagine what North Carolina would be like had he not set national excellence as the goal for this great university -- and all of our other universities. Imagine no Terry Sanford.
Imagine what North Carolina public schools would be like if a great governor had not had the courage to pass a tax for school improvements -- an act of courage that cost his own political ambitions deeply. Imagine no Terry Sanford.
It is truly unimaginable. You can not imagine North Carolina without Terry Sanford. Forty years ago, no one could have imagined what North Carolina would become. No one, that is, but Terry Sanford. ...
Terry, you set the goals and our sights very high. So high that we often wonder if we can meet your standard. But your good works, your words and your spirit tell us every day, in every way, that the goal can be ours.... For all that North Carolina has become and will be, Terry, we thank you.
God bless this place. God bless this family. And thank God for the magnificent blessing of giving North Carolina Terry Sanford.
Daniel Blue, N.C. Representative
When I was 24 years old with a wife and young son and two weeks experience
practicing law, Terry Sanford came to visit me in my office. He walked in,
closed the door, sat down. He could tell I was nervous. After all, who wouldn't
be if you had a former governor, the president of the university from which
you had just gotten your law degree and the single partner in a law firm that
had just blazed a new path in this state by being among the first to hire an
African-American lawyer, come in the office.
Well, after giving me a little fatherly advice on the practice of law, Terry told me, he said, "I came over here to check on you, see how you're doing. These fellows will treat you all right. If they don't let me know. And let me know if there is ever anything I can do for you." It was his law firm of course -- Sanford, Cannon, Adams and McCullough, at the time. And I later learned that Terry had placed a call to the single partners in that firm and told them that he had observed this Duke law student and he wanted them to interview me, which was tantamount to telling them "come hire me."....
The fact that I stand before you today, as a farm boy from Robeson County, one who embodies all of those things that Terry Sanford did and meant for North Carolina, and as I stand to help remember one who is considered one of the 10 greatest governors in America during this century, it's a clear measure of how far we have come and how far Terry Sanford has led us.
If I have known any man who has made a difference in my life and in the lives of so many North Carolinians, who believed in people and who was impervious to the pressure of other people's prejudice, it was Terry Sanford. I'm speaking as just one of the people who owe him a tremendous debt of freedom and gratitude. I told my children as they asked me many years ago when they were looking at Duke, that Terry Sanford was reason enough to look because he was a man who was at least two generations ahead of his contemporaries. The older I get, my friends, the more I know I need to revise that. Terry Sanford was a man who was at least three generations ahead in his vision of my generation.
So, let me say, if you will permit me to use this opportunity, offered by the power of this pulpit and the honor of this occasion, to discharge a personal duty to Terry Sanford, to do for him in his afterlife what he did for us as lawyers who had the privilege of practicing with him, what he did for us as North Carolinians and as Americans -- offer a short, persuasive recommendation for admission.
And I would start it by saying, Dear Lord, open your gate wide for Terry Sanford. He opened gates for me. Dear Lord, open your gate wide for Terry Sanford, he opened gates for all of us here on earth. Oh Lord, open wide your gate for Terry Sanford, he never closed a gate on anyone. He never kept the gate closed on anyone. God bless him.
