1: Little Girl from Little Rock
Many of the details in this chapter—and throughout this book—are gleaned from Raye Montague’s memories, shared in various interviews throughout the course of researching this work while she was still alive.
Raye could type and was well trained. Her Application for Federal Employment (Standard Form 57 with the US Civil Service Commission) shows that she spent four months working as a clerk-typist for the Dean of Instruction at AM&N, per a class requirement. She was a teaching intern for two months after that, during which she claims to have been “responsible for all activities of the office when the principal was away.”
Additional details about Montague’s job interview with the David Taylor Model Basin were provided to Paige Bowers by Marge Coleman in an interview dated January 14, 2019.
For the history of the Mississippi River Flood of 1927’s impact on Arkansas, we relied on “Flood of 1927” from encyclopediaofarkansas.net, “1927 Flood Changed Arkansas, U.S.” from arkansasonline.com, “The Great Arkansas Flood of 1927” from www.geology.arkansas.gov/docs/pdf/geohazards/1927Flood.pdf, and “Mississippi River Flood of 1927” from Britannica.com.
“one of the devil’s great tricks” is a line in Charles Baudelaire’s posthumously published poetry collection, Paris Spleen (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1970). In it, Baudelaire laments about the struggles of the poor and about inequalities in modern life.
“prowled about in broad daylight, looking for victims to devour,” is a reference to 1 Peter 5:8: “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
For information about “Wild Red” Berry, we turned to “Wild Red Berry Was the Mouth That Roared” from Slam Wrestling: http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/2010/05/31/14197786.html.
For background on racial tensions in Arkansas after the flood, we turned to “John Carter (Lynching Of)” at https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/john-carter-2289; “John Carter: A Scapegoat for Anger” at https://abhmuseum.org/the-lynching-of-john-carter, “Little Rock’s Last Lynching Was in 1927, but the Terrible Memories Linger,” in https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2000/08/04/little-rocks-last-lynching-was-in-1927-but-the-terrible-memories-linger, and “Sandwiching in History: First Presbyterian Church” in http://www.arkansaspreservation.com
For a fascinating look at the history of West Ninth Street, please see the documentary “Dream Land: Little Rock’s West 9th Street” at www.aetn.org/programs/dreamland, as well as Temple of Dreams: Taborian Hall and Its Dreamland Ballroom (La Vergne: Lightning Source, 2012) and End of the Line: A History of Little Rock’s West Ninth Street (Little Rock: Center for Arkansas Studies, 2003), both by Berna J. Love.
2: The Submarine
We traveled a world away from Little Rock in this chapter, at least in research, because Raye had made a captured submarine a part of her origin story. She had long believed that the mini sub she saw as a seven-year-old was German, and that it had been captured off the coast of the Carolinas. Given the timing of her story, our research showed that that was unlikely. German submarines weren’t captured off the Carolina coast until a few years later. Some of the articles we reviewed about this include: “U-boats Off the Outer Banks” by Kevin P. Duffus at www.ncpedia.org/history/20th-Century/wwii-uboats and “The Last German U-Boat Captain Dies at 105” by Bruce Henderson at www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article213455859.html.
Memory is a tricky thing, especially when it involves a seventy-five-year-old detail. Patrick George Williams with the University of Arkansas and Travis Ratermann with the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program were able to help us discover not only that the sub was Japanese, but it was involved with the Pearl Harbor attacks, and then captured and used to raise war bonds on a tour that snaked through the United States and wound up in Little Rock at around the time Raye remembers touring such a sub. Today, the HA-19 sub Raye saw in her youth is on display at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas. Aside from Williams’s and Ratermann’s help, we consulted the Pearl Harbor website (visitpearlharbor.org) for additional details about the attacks. “The Midget Subs That Beat the Planes to Pearl Harbor,” by Christopher Klein, December 6, 2016, for history.coml; Craig Nelson’s Pearl Harbor: From Infamy to Greatness (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2016); and Gordon W. Prange’s At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor (New York: Penguin, 1982) were also helpful background.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas provided us with initial information about the Japanese incarceration camps in the state. We also consulted John Howard’s Concentration Camps on the Homefront (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008), and George Takei’s To the Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei (New York: Gallery Books, 2015). Cheryl Greenberg’s article “Black and Jewish Responses to Japanese Internment” in Journal of American Ethnic History (Winter, 1995; pp 3–37) was also a valuable resource, as was William Cary Anderson’s “Early Reaction of Arkansas to the Relocation of Japanese in the State” in the Arkansas Historical Quarterly (Autumn, 1964), pp 195–211. Finally, the National Archives has extensive holdings on Japanese internment camps during World War II. We consulted some of those holdings for our own background.
For information about Black soldiers in World War II and the injustice of fighting for rights overseas that they did not have at home, we turned to articles such as “African American GIs of World War II: Fighting for Democracy at Home and Abroad” (www.militarytimes.com/military-honor/black-military-history/2018/01/30/african-american-gis-of-wwii-fighting-for-democracy-abroad-and-at-home) and “Why African American Soldiers Saw World War II as a Two-Front Battle” (www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-african-american-soldiers-saw-world-war-ii-two-front-battle-180964616). Other valuable resources include Linda Hervieux’s Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day’s Black Heroes at Home and Abroad (New York: Harper, 2015) and Gail Lumet Buckley’s American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm (New York: Random House, 2001).
For information about the murder of Sgt. Thomas Foster, we turned to the documentary Dream Land: Little Rock’s West 9th Street from aetn.org /program/dreamland, and “City Patrolman Shoots Negro Soldier, Body Riddled While Lying on Ground.” Arkansas State Press, March 27, 1942, 1.
We referred to www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/35th/thelaw/eo-8802.html for information on FDR’s attempts to prevent racial discrimination in the armed forces via Executive Order 8802.
On voting rights, we consulted “The Long Fight for the Vote: On the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, a Brief History of African-American Enfranchisement and Disenfranchisement,” Arkansas Times, February 4, 2015.
In addition to the assistance we received about the HA-19’s background, we consulted the following news clippings for information about its tour through Arkansas: “Captured Jap Submarine Will Be Shown in Hope Nov. 19 to Aid the Sale of War Bonds,” Hope Star, October 28, 1943; “Midget Japanese Submarine,” (Fayetteville) Arkansas Democrat Gazette, November 2, 1943; and “Jap Sub Begins Last Half of Tour,” Hope Star, November 15, 1943. In this article, it notes that the early November stop in Little Rock netted $15,306.60 in war bonds and stamps: “Jap Submarine, Which Is Being Shown Here Tonight; Admission by Purchase War Bonds,” Hope Star, November 19, 1943. Further background and detail was gleaned from “$1,124 Netted War by Visit of Submarine,” Hope Star, November 20, 1943.
Moving to Pine Bluff at a tender age was hard on Raye, compounded by the fact that she had a stepfather that she didn’t like. For information about Pine Bluff, we traveled through the town firsthand, relied on Montague’s and Bonnie Dedrick’s memories, and consulted the Encyclopedia of Arkansas entry on philanthropist Joseph Merrill.
For information about integration of schools, we turned to Roland Smith’s thesis “Attitudes Toward Public School Integration in Arkansas Before 1954” submitted to the Faculty of Atlanta University in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts, June 1961, which is an extensive look at how segregation impacted Black students and teachers in the state, rich with related studies that we mention in this chapter.
For information about Silas Hunt, we referred to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas entry about him, and the University of Arkansas Special Collections Entry about his life and holdings there, which include his law school exam books.
For information about the Fair Employment Practices Committee and postwar attempts to achieve civil rights for all, among the books we consulted were: David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999); Allida Black, Casting Her Own Shadow: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Shaping of Postwar Liberalism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996).
Robert Penn Warren traveled throughout the South conducting interviews with civil rights icons in the 1950s and 1960s. His effort resulted in the book Free All Along (New York: New Press, 2019), which was the source of the interview with psychologist and social activist Kenneth B. Clark.
After the war, Harry Truman was concerned about the “moral dry rot” of racism and he attempted to address it. He ultimately found, however, that most white Americans were unwilling to confront the issue, preferring to settle in and enjoy the post-war peace. We consulted David McCullough’s biography Truman (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992) to gain a greater understanding of his hopes for a racially equitable country.
Marge Coleman spoke with David Montague about how Black families took to train travel, although many of them were only able to afford the ride itself. Their conversation took place on July 29, 2019.
4: Aiming for the Stars
For information about the effort to draft Dwight D. Eisenhower as the Republican presidential nominee in 1952, we consulted David Halberstam’s The Fifties (New York: Villard Books, 1993).
Raye’s senior memories album and graduation program provided details used in the narrative about her high school graduation.
For information about the Manhattan Project, postwar politics, and bomb development, we consulted McCullough, Truman, and Halberstam, The Fifties.
Computers arguably played a crucial role as nations began developing more destructive bombs and modernizing their militaries in general. To explain this, we consulted Halberstam, The Fifties.
Women stepped into this new world of computing and played a crucial role in handling these new, bulky machines. For information on this, we consulted: Janet Abbate, Recoding Gender: Women’s Changing Participation in Computing; Kurt Beyer, Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age; W. Barkley Fritz, “The Women of ENIAC,” in IEEE: The Annals of the History of Computing (Vol. 18, No. 3); and Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race.
Bonnie Dedrick spoke with Paige Bowers about meeting Raye in college on January 15, 2019.
Raye’s college transcripts and notes about the subjects she was qualified to teach come from Raye J. Montague’s private archive in Little Rock. At the time this book was being written, her papers had yet to be processed by the Center for Arkansas History and Culture.
Rosenwald Altheimer spoke with Paige Bowers on April 11, 2019.
David Montague spoke with Paige Bowers on September 20, 2019, about how his mother had no idea how she would have paid for AM&N if it hadn’t been for that truck accident that broke her leg.
Raye’s AKA cardigan, which is made of thick white and green wool, is currently held at the Center for Arkansas History and Culture.
For information on Brown vs. Board of Education and its impact on Arkansas, among other things, we turned to the aforementioned Smith, “Attitudes Toward Public School Integration” and Melba Patillo Beals, Warriors Don’t Cry: The Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994).
Marge Coleman spoke with David Montague on July 29, 2019, about being Grand Central Station for people trying to get on their feet and about hosting her brother and Raye’s wedding at her house.
5: Exodus
Marge Coleman spoke with Paige Bowers on January 14, 2019, about the end of her brother’s marriage to Raye and about her efforts to help Raye find a job.
One of Raye’s applications for federal employment confirmed her clerk-typist duties. While the document itself is undated, it shows that she was looking for a better job, another raise (she had already had one that increased her salary from $3,175 a year to $3,260 a year), and elevation in government pay grade status. Comparing this document to others in her files, it seems like she sought this third raise in October 1957, a little more than a year after she began working at David Taylor Model Basin. Successive documents illustrate two more promotions over the course of the next year because of her work on the UNIVAC, as well as a constant desire to keep her computing knowledge and administrative skills as fresh as possible.
We consulted the following legal documents for information about Raye and Weldon’s divorce: District of Columbia Court of General Sessions Domestic Relations Branch, Civil Action D-1063-62, which dissolved Raye and Weldon’s marriage on September 29, 1965; on the same date, the Municipal Court for the District of Columbia Domestic Relations Branch ruled that Raye and Weldon should jointly divide the proceeds from the sale of the real estate they owned.
Raye kept a file about Weldon Means until the end of her life. In it, we were able to consult documents such as: Weldon’s lease of a 1954 Ford from the Capitol Cab Cooperative Association Inc., dated August 24, 1960; a letter from attorney Thurman Johnson to the Credit Bureau about Weldon’s debts in Arkansas preventing Raye from obtaining credit, dated December 12, 1962; Weldon’s eligibility for VA Benefits due to his service in World War II; and a letter from Weaver Bros. Mortgage Bankers, Inc., dated April 17, 1957, that said Weldon’s VA benefits enabled them to process his home loan.
6: Making Waves in the Navy
Raye kept extensive personnel papers, many of them duplicates, because she knew the importance of advocating for herself in the workplace and providing paper proof of her experience, skills, responsibilities, training, and pay in the process. Those papers demonstrate that she was a woman who, while she may have struggled with certain coworkers, was still excelling and getting raises and promotions on a fairly regular basis. We turned to an October 30, 1963, Experience and Qualifications Statement (Federal Standard Form 58) for a glimpse of what she was doing in the workplace at the beginning of this chapter.
For information on the LARC computer, we consulted J. P. Eckert’s paper, “UNIVAC-LARC, The Next Step in Computer Design,” which was presented at the AIEE-IRE’s joint computer conference, December 10–12, 1956.
There was a fascinating—and sometimes frustrating—dynamic between President John F. Kennedy and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. Because Raye looked up to both men, we wanted to explore their relationship and its impact on the times. We read Steven Levingston, Kennedy and King: The President, the Pastor, and the Battle Over Civil Rights (New York: Hachette, 2017). The media also played a pivotal role in highlighting the struggles of the moment, and the deaths of these two towering figures. For background, we consulted Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff, The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation (New York: Knopf, 2006). We also double-checked a few dates and events on the University of Virginia’s Miller Center website: https://millercenter.org/president/john-f-kennedy/key-events.
David Montague spoke with Paige Bowers about his mother’s thoughts on the civil rights movement on September 20, 2019.
We consulted Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute website for King’s Statement on the Kennedy Assassination. His remarks can be found here: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/statement-john-f-kennedy-assassination.
On July 20, 1966, Raye filed for maternity leave that began August 1, 1966, and ended November 11, 1966. Her paperwork for leave was in her personnel papers. According to a Notice of Personnel Action document, she returned to duty November 14, 1966.
The birth announcement for David Ray Montague is held in the Raye J. Montague private archive.
Rayford Jordan was not the only member of his family to sue for the right to their family land. According to court documents in the Raye J. Montague private archive, three other relatives joined him in an effort to get land from the Linnie J. Taylor Nunn estate. Each of the people named in the documents got 3/20 of the farm. On January 13, 1969, the surveyor described the plot Raye obtained as “commence on an iron stake, being SW corner of NE ¼ of SE ¼ of section 31, Township 14, Range 18. Run west for 180.5’ to an iron stake at point of beginning of this description. Run south for 1354’ to center of road, at a point 180.5’ west of a fence, thence west along center of road for 130’, thence North for 1354’, thence west for 402’ to a fence, then N OO degrees, 44’W along fence for 892’ to a point being 76.5’ South of corner of fence, then East for 541’, thence south for 892’ to the point of beginning of this description. All being in the West ½ of the SE ¼ of Section 31, Township 14, Range 19, Noxubee County, Mississippi. Containing 15 acres more or less.” The surveyor also included an ink sketch of the plot he described.
7: A Change Is Gonna Come
David Montague had multiple conversations with Paige Bowers about his mother’s complicated relationship with his father. His thoughts on closure come from the conversation they had on July 19, 2019.
David spoke with Paige Bowers about moving to Hyattsville on September 27, 2019.
Paige interviewed Debra Moore-Lewis on May 7, 2019.
Letter from Karl M. Dollak to Dave Montague, dated September 30, 1970. In a letter dated September 17, 1970, obstetrician Howard D. Wood, MD, wrote a letter that said Raye would be admitted to the hospital for major surgery on October 1, 1970, and that she needed six weeks to recuperate. David Montague talked to Paige Bowers about his mother’s health, confirming that the surgery was a hysterectomy, and about Dave’s rehab stint on October 23, 2019.
We turned to the following sources for information about the CASDAC program: “Introducing CASDAC: Computer-Aided Ship Design and Construction,” All Hands Magazine, January 1974, pp 8–13; and “Development of Program for Computer-Aided Structural Detailing of Ships,” US General Accounting Office, July 19, 1971.
For a primer on shipbuilding, we started with Britannica Online’s article about Naval Architecture (www.britannica.com/print/article/406846), then referred to Thomas C. Gillmer, Modern Ship Design (Annapolis: United States Naval Institute, 1970). Peter Bono spoke with Paige Bowers about the finer points of shipbuilding on February 6, 2019, and she has since become convinced that it is one of the highest and finest arts. Much gratitude to him for his patience with an interviewer who faced an incredibly steep learning curve.
Art Fuller spoke with Paige Bowers on February 12, 2019.
The undated letter to W. Dietrich, referred to in this chapter, was written on lined paper in Raye Montague’s sweeping, schoolgirl cursive. It is in the Raye J. Montague private archive.
8: Impossible Tasks
For the state of navy shipbuilding at this time, we consulted Raye’s notes and speeches, as well as “Carderock: Ship Research and Development,” All Hands, May 1971, www.navy.mil/ah_online/archpdf/ah197105.pdf.
Art Fuller spoke with Paige Bowers on February 12, 2019.
We consulted Raye J. Montague’s private archive for information on the Ship Specifications program.
Raye Montague’s Travel Voucher #F9855 documents the amount of time she spent in New York City working at M. Rosenblatt and Sons.
For information on the Oliver Hazard Perry frigate, we consulted the following Destroyer History Foundation article: http://destroyerhistory.org/coldwar/oliverhazardperryclass.
Letter from K. E. Wilson to Raye Montague, dated November 2, 1972, Raye J. Montague private archive.
Nomination letter for Federal Woman’s Award written by Wallace Dietrich, Raye J. Montague private archive.
9: Equal Opportunities
David Montague spoke with Paige Bowers about his mother’s desire for work-life balance and for being present in his life on July 19, 2019.
David’s first grade photo from Our Lady of Sorrows indicates that he was one of three Black children in a class of twenty-five. Of the three Black students, he was the only boy.
Paige Bowers spoke with Peter Bono on February 6, 2019.
Paige Bowers spoke with Sandra Howell on January 14, 2019.
Paige Bowers spoke with Larry Howell on February 12, 2019.
The navy realized it had a problem with racism in the 1970s. We consulted copies of All Hands from that era to help us explain what was happening at that time.
John Wayne’s presence at the Oliver Hazard Perry ship commissioning ceremony was a tidbit too interesting to pass up in our narrative. We consulted NavalTheater.com (https://navaltheater.com/ships/uss-oliver-hazard-perry-ffg-7) for details on how Wayne played a swashbuckling role in this ceremony.
10: Love and Happiness
According to their marriage license, Raye and James Parrott got married on May 11, 1973.
The depositions, taken in Prince George’s County, portray a heartbreaking, ugly divorce in progress. Both sides were eager to hold on to whatever assets they had going into the relationship, and to take whatever else they could get from the other before their marriage was dissolved. James didn’t do himself any favors as he was being deposed; his admitted “equilibrium” problems became a way for attorneys to call some of his actions and recollections into question. Raye, for her part, comes across as very earnest, very conscientiously innocent. But when it comes to talk of her assets, she hardens. It is clear that she was going to give up nothing to James Parrott.
Paige Bowers spoke with George Brown on April 6, 2019.
Paige Bowers spoke with David Montague on July 19, 2019, about some of the challenges he faced growing up, going to school, and dating. Paige felt the spat Raye had with the mother of one of David’s girlfriends was too good to leave out, because it showed how fiercely protective she was of her son. Paige and David also had a good laugh talking about how awkward Flossie felt as she heard some of the things coming out of her daughter’s mouth that night.
11: Another Direction
Raye received her engineering certification from the California State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers on August 16, 1978, and from the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers on July 20, 1979.
The speech Raye made at the Naval Academy was dated April 11, 1979.
Raye’s notes “Requirements for an Outstanding for 1980” are dated April 19, 1979, and held in the Raye J. Montague private archive. She had received outstanding performance ratings from acting commanders in the early seventies for her work, which “consistently exceeded the normal requirements of your job and resulted in many significant contributions.” Among the letters from this period attesting to her outstanding performance is “Outstanding Performance Rating Justification” from Commander, Naval Ship Engineering Center, to Raye J. Parrott, April 16, 1974, from the Raye J. Montague private archive.
A sample of the letters that requested Raye to speak for various groups includes Mae F. Wilson to Rear Admiral W. C. Barnes, US Navy, November 1, 1974. Wilson, a math teacher, was one of Raye’s neighbors, and she wanted her to come speak to her class for Career Education Week. In the letter, she says, “The Mathematics Department at Dunbar Senior High School has as its prime object career awareness for all students on all grade levels. As a part of this, we are particularly interested in Federal programs and opportunities for minorities and women.”
Wally Dietrich’s obituary ran April 8, 1980. It is unknown which paper it was published in, but it was likely one of the main dailies in Washington and/or Baltimore.
Letter from Elaine D. Simons to Rear Admiral James W. Lisanby about Raye Parrott’s school visit, April 19, 1980; Letter from Lisanby to Raye J. Parrott with letter from Simons, April 25, 1980, Raye J. Montague private archive.
David Montague spoke with Paige Bowers about his mother’s interest in psychics on October 21, 2019. Raye’s five pages of notes from a spring 1981 session with Jerome Groom is in the Raye J. Montague private archive.
The clipping about the Duke University study was undated, and found in the Raye J. Montague private archive.
The CASDAC Operational Environment Study is in the Raye J. Montague private archive.
The challenges Raye faced with her boss Ray Ramsay were spelled out in agonizing detail in formal paperwork and handwritten notes from Raye’s personal papers. After the glories she had under Wally’s tutelage, these papers show a man who is systematically and unapologetically trying to destroy Raye’s good reputation at work. His comments about how personality is not enough to have someone excel in Raye’s position are belittling and a slap for someone with her expertise, who had accomplished what she had after decades of hard work. Throughout his complaints and evaluations, Ramsay is demeaning and vicious. David Montague said it was treatment like this that often forced his mother to keep impeccable paper trails of everything that happened to her in the workplace, and to forge alliances with people who would protect her, or at least vouch for her, in the face of such treatment, as her supervisor Jerry Cuthbert did in this instance.
12: The Mentor
Raye faced the double-whammy of being Black and female, which was being written and talked about at that time. Although the women’s movement was in full swing, many Black women did not see or feel that they were represented in it. More than anything, they knew they were fighting for their rights as women, but mostly as Black people. There are some interesting distinctions in this, and we consulted the following pieces for background: Frances Beal’s 1969 pamphlet, “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female,” which was revised and published in Toni Cade Bambara’s The Black Woman: An Anthology (New York: New American Library, 1970); Charlayne Hunter, “Many Blacks Wary of Women’s Liberation Movement in U.S.,” New York Times, November 17, 1970, p 47.
Paige Bowers spoke with Trenita Russell at length on January 7, 2019. The wide-ranging conversation provided a rich look at how Raye really did practice what she preached about mentoring people and empowering them to excel. Russell’s story, in and of itself, is worthy of its own book, and her thoughts and memories of the NAVSEA offices were so valuable and entertaining.
13: David
Ultimately, this is a story about the power of a mother’s love for her child. Up to this point we’ve seen how Flossie empowered Raye and how both of them worked hard to raise David to be a fine young man. For Paige, it was interesting to see how this maternal guidance shaped David as he went out on his own for the first time as a student at Morehouse College. Paige has come to know David as a highly educated, responsible, classy individual. Here, in this chapter, we see him as a young man who’s a little bit lost but finding his way. David spoke with Paige about his undergraduate experience in Atlanta on July 19, 2019, and October 1, 2019. In the Raye J. Montague private archive, there is a photograph of Oprah Winfrey at the graduation ceremony, as well as several proud mom, Aunt Gladys, and Flossie pictures with David. There are also several letters from Flossie and Raye to David, which provide an endearing look at how much they missed him and wanted to fill him with news of home.
A Morehouse regional alumni meeting program shows that the school did honor Raye for her contributions to the school, among them setting up its Navy ROTC chapter.
14: On the Shoulders of Giants
Raye kept several of her speeches, including the undated “Communications and Image” that is referenced in this chapter. She was an avid speaker and member of the local Toastmasters chapter. Her involvement with Toastmasters was a carryover from her debate team days in college. She was always looking for ways to keep her public speaking and presentation skills sharp.
David Montague spoke with Paige Bowers on October 1, 2019, about the Links Inc. and how they were openly speaking about the importance of mental health at a time when it was taboo.
David spoke with Paige about his mother’s after-work stress eating on July 19, 2019.
15: Retirement
David spoke with Paige about his mother’s last year of work on multiple occasions, among them July 19, 2019, September 27, 2019, and October 1, 2019.
The article about the user benefits of CAD/CAM is in the Raye J. Montague private archive. Raye’s personnel papers indicate that her comments were being hashed over by her boss Bill Tarbell and some of his other subordinates. Industry people wrote him about the unfortunate reality of the cost of CAD/CAM being out in the press. Ultimately this was becoming a project within the military that was useful, but challenging to find support for, because of its cost.
Bob Morgan counseled Raye on what to do after a department reorganization in a letter dated January 5, 1989.
Using Morgan’s advice, Raye sent multiple memos to her bosses about what she was capable of doing after the department reorganization. The dates of these memos, each with different ideas of how her energy and talent could best be spent, are fairly close together. It is unknown what she was told about her ideas for herself during the restructuring, but one imagines she must have been told no to the first two fairly quickly and then been forced to adjust her course of action. It had to be anxiety inducing for Raye to be forced to find a place for herself, after having a niche across decades of consistent hard work. Those memos are in the Raye J. Montague private archive.
The flag that flew over the Capitol, replica canon, and signed caricature of Raye Montague are held in the Center for Arkansas History and Culture. The guest list for the retirement luncheon is held in the Raye J. Montague private archive.
David Montague spoke with Paige Bowers about the last years of his mother’s life on July 19, 2019.
Sandra Howell spoke with Paige Bowers on January 14, 2019.
Bonnie Dedrick spoke with Paige Bowers on January 15, 2019.
Lula Brooks spoke with Paige Bowers on April 11, 2019.
Boston “Baked Beans” Torrence spoke with Paige Bowers on January 7, 2019.
For details on the sailbot Raye, we consulted the article “Sailbot and MECH Celebrate Ada’s Return and Future Endeavors,” which can be found at the University of British Columbia’s website: https://mech.ubc.ca/2018/03/10/sailbot-and-mech-celebrate-adas-return-and-future-endeavors/.
David and Paige visited the Arkansas Department of Corrections’ Pine Bluff unit on July 18, 2019, and spoke with Vonnie Moore-Shabazz, who walked us around the prison grounds and showed us his cell and office. More than speaking about his affection for Raye Montague, he told us a story about his life. Born in Arkansas, he grew up in Los Angeles and was initiated into the Crips at age thirteen. When his mother moved back to Arkansas, she sent for Vonnie and his brother. Vonnie played football in high school, and then for Coach Tom Osborne at the University of Nebraska. After college, he joined the navy, got addicted to crack cocaine, and then his troubles with the law started. He received a life sentence in 1996 for robbery under the state’s habitual offender law.
Donna Terrell spoke with Paige Bowers on January 11, 2019.
Rhonda Owen, “Raye Jean Jordan Montague: Confidence and ambition took Raye Montague from segregated schools to engineering breakthroughs as a civilian in the US Navy. She also taught herself to drive,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, December 16, 2012, p 39.
“Meet the Woman Who Broke Barriers at the U.S. Navy,” Good Morning America, February 20, 2017.
“Leading Lady: Raye Montague,” Harry, October 12, 2017.
For information on the Silas Hunt awards, please see: https://diversity.uark.edu/get-involved/silas-hunt-awards.php.
Debra Moore-Lewis spoke with Paige Bowers on May 7, 2019.