Desegregation pioneer, Salesianum School graduate Fred Smith laid to rest with large group from his alma mater paying respects — Photo gallery

WILMINGTON — Fred Smith was such a giant in the Salesianum School community that when he died March 1 at age 89, the school wanted to make sure it acknowledged his contributions.

On March 13, approximately 800 Salesianum students, faculty and staff walked from the school to the Congo Legacy Center a mile away for Smith’s viewing, with some staying for the celebration of life. Oblate Father Christian Beretta, Salesianum’s principal, said it was important for the school to show its support for one of the five students who integrated Salesianum in 1950, four years before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision that made segregated schools illegal in the United States.

The students left Salesianum in groups of about 100. Many wore yellow flowers on their suit jackets. The first arrived at Congo Legacy Center, which is located at the former Christ Our King Church, about 20 minutes later. The students and staff processed to the coffin and paid their respects. Several student leaders met with Florence Smith, Fred’s wife of more than 60 years.

Smith and four others — Alfred and Thomas Connell, Willie Jones and James Owens — arrived at Salesianum in November 1950 at the invitation of Father Thomas Lawless, the Oblate of St. Francis de Sales who was the principal then. Smith, who would have been a member of the Class of 1954, left school to work to support his family, and he eventually joined the Armed Forces in what would have been his senior year. He returned to Salesianum with Owens on May 31, 2019, and Smith was presented a diploma and made an honorary member of that graduating class.

That night, Smith wore the same white tuxedo jacket that graduates wear. He was buried wearing a white tuxedo jacket.

Smith and Owens returned to Salesianum for a panel discussion on Nov. 14, 2022, 72 years to the day that they and the other three integrated the original school at Eighth and West streets. A brotherhood that lives Jesus, Father Beretta said that day, must welcome all.

“As Father Lawless said at the time, it was time to either stop preaching democracy or start practicing it,” Father Beretta said.

Smith said that day that he never understood why people don’t like each other.

“God made us all the same,” he said. “Everybody’s supposed to love each other.”

With Smith’s passing, Owens is the last surviving member of the group of five. He lives in upstate New York.