(This reflection from Oblate Father Christian Beretta recognizes the significant life of historic Delawarean Fred Smith. On Wednesday morning March 13, the entire Salesianum School community will walk to the Congo Legacy Center at 501 W. 28th Street, Wilmington, to pay respects to the man who lives forever in the history books of the state and school).
By Father Christian Beretta, OSFS
Principal, Salesianum School
On Friday, we learned of the passing of a Salesianum legend, Fred Smith. He was 89. More than seventy years ago, when he was just a 14 year old freshman, Fred was involved in a moment that changed Delaware history and revealed the true mission of Salesianum. He and four other Black students — Thomas and Alfred Connell, James Owens, and Willie Jones — came to the original school on 8th and West Streets on Tuesday, November 14, 1950. Father Lawless, the principal who invited them to enroll, was waiting with class schedules in hand. No one else, other than their parents, knew they were coming.
This seemingly ordinary occurrence was anything but. In 1950, Delaware was the northernmost segregated state, and racial separation was observed in restaurants, theaters, hotels, and schools. Fred and the others had attended Catholic grade school at St. Joseph’s on French Street, a parish that served Black families, but after 8th grade, Howard High School was their only option. No other public, private, or Catholic school would admit them. Fred was in his first semester at Howard when Father Lawless contacted his family in November of 1950, knowing that those opposed to desegregation would not be expecting it in the middle of the term.
When they arrived at school in jackets and ties that morning of November 14, Father Lawless walked Fred and the others to their first period classes and introduced them. After they took their seats, there was a brief pause before classes continued. The historic moment was remarkable in how uneventful it was; it was as if the new students had been there all along. Salesianum students, both Black and White, turned a moment of uncertainty into an ordinary day of school. Father Lawless later remarked, “I see nothing to apologize for, other than the fact that it wasn’t done years ago.”
Father Lawless deserves his place in history, but his invitation alone didn’t end segregation. The real heroes were James and Alfred Connell, James Owens, Willie Jones, and Fred Smith — who said “yes” to that invitation and walked through the door, unsure of what would happen next. With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to see what needed to be done and how things would turn out. But the path wasn’t obvious at the time, nor was it clear what awaited them when they walked through that door.
Despite dire predictions, as Father Lawless noted later with pride, there were no incidents, and not a single student left school after November 14. In fact, enrollment continued to grow so steadily, it became obvious that the old building at 8th and West, pushed beyond its limits, would need to be retired. A “new” school was built at the corner of 18th and Broom Streets, and after Easter in 1957, students carried desks across town and over the Brandywine, where a new House of Sales had risen.
As that historic school year came to a close, Vice-Chancellor Collins Seitz of the Delaware Supreme Court, a Catholic judge who had urged Father Lawless to take action, spoke at Salesianum’s graduation in 1951. He said to the graduates: “You will never be worth your salt if, at some time in your life, you don’t take up a worthwhile cause and fight it’s fight.” Seitz went on to write the legal decision to desegregate all Delaware public schools, and his rulings were appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and proved highly influential in the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision of 1954 that declared segregated schools unconstitutional. But before that, Judge Seitz needed the first domino to fall in a school that could show what was possible. Thanks to a bold invitation, and to Fred and the other four boys willing to take a leap of faith, Salesianum became that school. As Father Lawless said, “It was time to either stop preaching democracy, or start to practice it.”
Alfred and Thomas Connell died many years ago, and Willie Jones passed away in 2012. Fred Smith and James Owens were the last surviving members of those five students and have come back to campus twice, first in November 2018 and most recently in November 2022. James, a proud member of the Class of 1953 who was a sophomore back in 1950, now lives in upstate New York but is always thrilled to come back to Wilmington. By contrast, Fred lived just a few blocks away from Salesianum. Humble and gracious, he repeatedly emphasized how kind and welcoming everyone was at Salesianum to him, then and now.
On that first visit back to campus in 2018, we had plenty of senior pictures of James, but were embarrassed that we could not find any of Fred with the class of 1954. Fred explained that there was a good reason: he had never actually graduated from Salesianum, and had needed to leave school to work full time to support his family when his father became ill, eventually joining the Armed Forces and serving his country in what would have been his senior year. He never graduated from high school, but had a long career and raised a wonderful family, working as a night watchman into his 80s. In fact, on that first visit in 2018, he came straight from his job to our morning assembly.
Later that year, at Salesianum’s graduation on May 31, 2019, Fred and James were back at school, Fred proudly wearing the white tuxedo jacket along with the senior class. At the end of the ceremony, he was presented with an honorary Salesianum diploma and received a standing ovation. Later, he and James, along with Alfred, Thomas, and Willie, were inducted into the Salesianum Hall of Fame.
When the two visited school again in 2022, Fred had finally retired and those many years of service and hard work were showing a bit more. He let James do even more of the talking this time. He and James kept in touch despite the many miles between them, and it was James who called us on Friday morning to share the news that Fred had passed.
It was a great honor, and among the proudest moments of my time as principal, to invite James and Fred back to campus and meet them in person. On both occasions, our students gave James and Fred the hero’s welcome at Salesianum they so richly deserved. We often say that we stand on the shoulders of the giants that have gone before us; we now stand with Florence Smith, his wife of more than sixty years, and his children and grandchildren as they mourn the loss of one of the greatest giants of them all.
In the end, this is my lasting impression of Fred: a relentlessly kind and humble man who did what was needed for his family, his community, and his country without seeking recognition or expecting reward. He was a great man in every way that true greatness is measured, not by fame or fortune, but by faithfulness. And in this regard he was a true Salesian gentleman, an example of service and character for our students whose spirit was captured by St. Francis de Sales: “There is nothing as strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as true strength.”
