On Call 24-7: A Legacy of Lifetime Relationships

By Bill Lyght

On Call 24/7 chronicles the life experiences and lessons learned that have molded the outstanding career of Bill Lyght as a Black army lieutenant colonel and as a Black police executive. He tells the story of his grandparents and parents and the impressions that they made on him that hard work and education propel one's career. It is a narrative of his vast experiences while serving in the military as a commissioned officer for twenty years and as a police executive for almost twenty years. Bill Lyght documents the accomplishments of his siblings and children, all of whom have lived productive lives and significantly contributed to society. He pays tribute to his wife Brenda, whom he refers to as his jewel. The book concludes with a listing and explanation of his ten principles of life to live by. Bill Lyght was born in Smyrna, Delaware in 1936. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army and has received several military awards, including the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Meritorious Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Commendation Medal. He has served as the deputy chief of police in Savannah, Georgia, the police chief of Flint, Michigan, interim police chief in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and as the director of facilities and security at South University in Savannah, Georgia. Bill Lyght has also been very active in his civic life. He has served in Savannah, Georgia, on several boards including the King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation, Memorial Health University Hospital Board, Coastal Empire Council of the Boy Scouts, and the United Way of the Coastal Empire. He also served on the boards of the Bethesda Academy and the Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia. He was a member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). He was also a member of several social clubs including the Frogs, Wolves, and the Savannah Quarterback Club. He was the national president of the National Association of Guardsmen in 1996. He also served in several capacities in Asbury United Methodist Church and was Chairman of the Administrative Council in 2017–2018. He now resides in Savannah, Georgia, and is enjoying retirement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644628300

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ON CALL 24/7

A Legacy of Lifetime Relationships

Bill Lyght

Copyright © 2019 Bill Lyght

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc. 2019

ISBN 978-1-64462-829-4 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64584-353-5 (Hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-64462-830-0 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Author’s Note

This book is a narrative of the varied experiences, joys, and disappointments which formed the basis of my life and has given me many gratifying opportunities. I have had many experiences in my positions in the military, law enforcement, and community involvement and I would like to document some of these stories for posterity. I have learned many life lessons from these experiences that I want to share with my family and friends.

Part I and Part II traces the family history of my paternal grandparents, maternal grandparents, and my mother and father. Part III depicts my early years in elementary school, high school, and college. It also chronicles my college basketball career, and my church experience. Part IV tells the stories of my military career which included assignments in the Continental United States, Europe, Kwajalein, Vietnam, and Korea. Part V outlines my career in law enforcement in Savannah, Georgia; Tarpon Springs, Florida; and Flint, Michigan. Part VI captures my experiences in retired life. Part VII focuses on my siblings and Part VIII focuses on my children. Part IX includes a tribute to my wife. Part IX also describes some principles that I believe one should live by and also outlines some reflections on my career.

Part I

Grandparents

Chapter 1

Paternal Grandparents

Alexander Light and Julia Ann Young Light

According to the archives of Maryland State Archives (Biographical Series), Reuben Elliott Phillips (MSA SC 5496-51324) was a wealthy farmer and slave holder in Town Point, Dorchester County, Maryland. The Dorchester County Tax Assessment reflects that Reuben Elliott Phillips owned eleven slaves in 1852, most of them children. One of these slaves was named Alex (Alexander), age nine.

At the time when slavery was abolished in Maryland on November 1, 1864, several slaves with the last name of Light were freed, including Alexander Elich Light (male, age twenty-two). According to the Marriage Records of 1866–1906 for Dorchester County Maryland, Alexander Light, age forty-eight, married Julia Young in Cambridge, Maryland, on April 7, 1891.

It was deduced that the Alexander at age nine in 1852 and the Alexander at age twenty-two in 1864 and the Alexander Light who married Julia Young at age forty-eight in 1891 are one and the same person, my grandfather. My father William Light Sr. who was born of this union in 1898, said that he remembers his father being nicknamed Elich. Alexander Light, as my father, William Sr. recalls, was a fruit farmer who was very skilled in the raising of many types of fruit.

Alexander and Julia Light had three children including Howard Andrew Marshall Light of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; William Lemuel Dewey Light of Wilmington, Delaware; and Ernest Allan Light of Cambridge, Maryland. It is noted that Howard continued to spell his last name Light, William changed the spelling of his last name to Lyght, Ernest changed the spelling of his name to Lyte. My father changed the spelling of his name to Lyght because he said that he was not Henry F. Lyte’s son nor was he the light of the sun.

My grandmother Julia was married, according to the records that I reviewed, a total of four times. She was first married to a John Stafford, who reportedly went away to work and never returned.

She then married John Young and from this marriage, she had four boys. Earl S. Young of Cambridge, Maryland (Uncle Carroll), was born on March 16 in 1888 and died in 1965. Matthew Young was killed in a gun accident on Christmas morning in 1912. Oliver Young (Uncle Oliver) who lived in Baltimore, Maryland, visited our family in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the early 1950s and was introduced by my father at a Sunday morning service as his uterine brother (same mother but different father). Another brother, Edward Young, died in infancy.

Then she married Alexander Light as indicated above. Upon his death, she married William Brown, who was also a former slave, but never recovered from that experience. They had two sons, Thomas Jesse Brown (Uncle Beatty) and Henry W. Longfellow Brown, who died at age eleven of typhoid fever.

Alexander Light, who was my grandfather, was married before he married my grandmother Julia. He had three children from that marriage, Sudie Enolds, Alex Light, and Pheny. Aunt Pheny, as we knew her, lived in Chance, Maryland on the eastern shore.

Julia Cromwell Light, my paternal grandmother, is buried at Waugh Cemetery on High Street. Julia was from Old Field, near Church Creek, Maryland. Her parents were Oliver and Sarah Cromwell. Both of her parents were freeborn. Alexander Light is buried on the Stony Ridge Farm, an old slave cemetery, on the river off the William Bridge Road.

Chapter 2

Maternal Grandparents

According to the United States Census of 1910, my grandfather, William F. Logan, lived in the household of Emmerson Logan, his father, in Brinkley, Somerset County, Maryland. This area is known today as Kingston, Maryland, near the small town of Marion Station, Maryland, which is about twenty miles south of Salisbury, Maryland. This census form indicates that Emmerson Logan was his father and his mother was Norah Logan. It also indicates that my grandfather was twenty-three years old, single and mulatto.

Emmerson Logan, my great-grandfather, was sixty-nine years old and my great-grandmother, Norah Logan, was sixty years old. The census form indicates that my grandfather’s brother, Thomas F. Logan, age thirty, also lived there with his wife, Rosa Logan. My great uncle, Thomas Logan, also had his children, Beulah (age seven), Randolph (age four) and William I. Logan (age three) living in the same household. A cousin, Edith Logan, also lived there along with Samuel Whittington (age ten), Arzrah Whittington (age eight) and Sarah A Merrel (age seventy-five). Linn Logan (age twenty-two) also lived there. It is presumed by the age that Linn Logan was my grandfather’s brother. The Whittingtons and Sarah A. Merrel are presumed to be cousins.

According to the 1920 United States Census, my mother, Attrue Logan (age ten), and her sister, Marie Logan (age five), lived in the household of Sarah A. Fields (age thirty-eight) and her husband Richard H. Fields (age thirty-eight), along with my grandfather, William F. Logan (age thirty-four). Edith Logan (age twenty-five), mentioned above as a cousin, was also a member of the household.

According to a United States census of 1930, my grandfather, William F. Logan, was living in the household of his brother, Thomas F. Logan (age forty-eight), and Rosie Logan (age forty-six). My assumption is that my grandmother, Mary Logan died prior to the taking of the census and I presume that my mother and her sister were not part of this census report because they both were attending Princess Anne Academy at the time. I do remember my mother saying that her mother died when she was a little girl and that her aunt, Sarah Fields, helped to raise her, along with her sister, Marie.

My father and mother (Attrue) met each other at Princess Anne Academy, a United Methodist Academy (a private high school for Negroes). My father, William L. D. Lyght, graduated from Princess Anne Academy in 1926 and my mother attended the academy at the same time. In 1926, she would have been about sixteen or seventeen years of age. My mother graduated from Princess Anne Academy and completed two years of college work at Princess Anne College.

After my father graduated from Morgan State University in 1930, he attended Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey. While my father was at Drew, my mother stayed with a family friend, Mrs. Nahketah Nabors, in Orange, New Jersey, which was located near Drew Theological Seminary. My mother and father courted each other while she attended a business school in Orange, New Jersey. They were married in 1934.

Chapter 3

Maternal Grandfather’s Legacy as an Early Black Entrepreneur

My maternal grandfather the late William Francis Logan, was born in 1884 in Pocomoke City, Maryland, which is located on the eastern shore of Maryland. He was the son of Emerson and Martha Logan. My grandfather and his two brothers, Thomas and Leven, worked on the farm for several years as did most youngsters in the area. My grandfather developed an entrepreneurial spirit at an early age, and through hard work, diligence and perseverance, he became a prominent Black business man on the eastern shore.

He was married to Mary Harris in 1907 and two daughters came from this union. Attrue Lyght, his older child was married to Reverend William L. D. Lyght Sr. Marie Handy, his younger daughter was married to Reverend Handy of Milford, Delaware. Attrue had four children: Thelma, William, Ernest, and Celestine. Marie did not have children.

He attended the local schools in Pocomoke, Maryland and later moved with his family to Kingston, Maryland in Somerset County where he attended schools in Wesley, Maryland, and Marion, Maryland. My siblings and I were taught to affectionately call my grandfather, Dad Lo. His friends and community folks respectfully called him, Mr. Will.

He joined Waters Chapel Church which was located across a dirt road, Lovers Lane, from the home that he shared with his sister, Sarah A. Fields. This was a two-story white wooden house that included three porches and a large front yard. The house did not at first have electricity, running water, or a telephone. He was a religious man and worked in his church as a trustee, church lay leader, financial secretary, assistant church school superintendent, a member of the senior choir, and as a member of the United Methodist Men.

My grandfather started out as a farmer. As a farmer, he raised tomatoes, strawberries, soy beans, and corn. He owned several horses and a team of mules that he used for plowing and pulling his wagon to the market or for other odd jobs. He also owned several cows used for providing milk to his home. This innovative man built two large chicken houses where, for several years, he raised hundreds of chickens and sold them on the market.

He later thriftily saved enough money to buy a used school bus and obtained the county contract to provide transportation of Black school children in his area to the school located in Marion, Maryland. It is noted that my grandfather never owned a car but used his bus to provide all of his transportation needs. My siblings and I used to ride with him quite often when we were on vacation during the summer.

My grandfather was an excellent manager of his money. He believed in hard work and stressed to his grandchildren the wisdom of saving money. I remember him going to the bank to make deposits. Although he was thrifty, he was very generous to his family, friends, and especially his grandchildren. When we lived in Princess Anne, Maryland, I was in elementary school. I remember him driving up to the front of our home in a brand-new school bus that he had just purchased in Detroit, Michigan, and driven back. He had another gentleman with him that assisted in the driving of the bus back home. As you can imagine, he was very proud of his new bus.

He used his business acumen to find other uses for his bus during the summer months when school was not in session. He secured a contract with one of the tomato canning factories in the area to transport factory workers to and from work each day. Workers were required to work from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Monday through Friday and on Saturdays from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. He then became the factory foreman and punched the cards of factory workers to credit workers for each bucket of tomatoes peeled.

He was innovative enough to find other money-making ventures for his bus. On Saturday evenings, he would pick up people at various pick-up points and take them to Crisfield in the late afternoon on Saturdays to do their weekly shopping. He was even more ingenious in finding other money-making ventures for his bus. On Sundays, during the summer, he would take people to the old camp meetings at various Black church grounds in Somerset County and the nearby counties of Worcester, Wicomico, and Dorchester where people would worship, dine, and socialize.

My grandfather also ventured into the real estate business when he began purchasing farm land in the Kingston, Maryland, area in the early 1940s. By 1956 when he passed away, he had accumulated several fairly large parcels of farm land. By that time, he owned four twenty-acre parcels of land. Three of these parcels had loblolly pines growing on the property, described by the state forester as, high-quality timber. The other twenty-acre parcel was used for farmland and the growing of both corn and soy beans. He also owned several smaller parcels in close proximity to his other property.

Mr. Will, as he was called by his neighbors, was highly respected by all people in the community, especially the Black community. I remember when I was with him one day in Princess Anne, he went to talk to Mr. Harry Phoebus, who was a state senator from that district. They had a long talk about political matters in the area. In a telephone conversation with Earl Coon, who was a White teenager at the time, said that he remembers my grandfather taking several bus-loads of Blacks from the rural area around Kingston and Marion, Maryland to the polls to vote in the 1940s and 1950s. Blacks were given $2 each by various White candidates for each vote cast for the candidate, along with a small bottle of whiskey. Earl Coon also indicated that he remembers that my grandfather owned a saw mill in the wooded area near his church.

Dad Lo dressed like a farmer on most days, always wearing a straw hat in the summer; however, on Saturday nights and Sundays, he was a dapper dresser. My aunt, Marie, called him a sport. He always carried a lot of money on his person in a large cloth bag. He would take out his bag, unfold his money, pay for the articles he was purchasing, and then meticulously refold the money, place it back in the bag and then put the bag back in his pocket.

It is noted that his brother, Thomas Logan, drilled wells to make a living, along with other odd jobs such as moving small houses on a converted wagon which was pulled by horses. He also placed new horse shoes on horses for people who owned horses in the area.

My grandfather was a great man. He was a good father and grandfather. He was a good friend. He was very active in the community and his greatest joy came when he was helping others. He believed in his fellow man advancing socially, economically, and spiritually. He was way ahead of his time when it came to business acumen. He has left a legacy as an early Black entrepreneur because of his hard work, ingenuity, and his business acumen.

Part II

Parents

Chapter 4

Father

Reverend William Lyght Sr., 1981

My father, William Lemuel Dewey Lyght Sr., was born in Cambridge, Maryland on September 25, 1898. My father was born in one of the necks in Dorchester County outside Cambridge, Maryland. His mother, he told us, was his teacher although she was not formally trained as such. He did farm work along with his brothers, Howard and Ernest.

Reverend Ernest