News & Observer - Excerpts from the eulogies, April 23, 1998

GOV. JIM HUNT

In the words of a great Methodist hymn: "Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing our Great Redeemer's praise." Indeed, our thousand tongues are here today to praise our Redeemer and one of his most magnificent gifts to the people of our state and our nation. ...

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. That the struggle is worth it.

When we leave today, we will leave the body of our hero in this chapel. We leave it here because no other structure is sufficiently magnificent to serve as the final resting place for a life as magnificent as his. But while we leave his body here to rest, the evidence of his good works is and will be everywhere around us -- in the institutions he led, in the innovations he championed, in the individuals he touched and, most of all, in the spirit of everyone here today and everyone in this state. And so it will be for every generation yet to come.

DAN BLUE

Trustee of Duke University, former speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives.

He had a vision to see across the landscape of hopelessness, hate, distrust and despair: to look through the hills, that existed at that time, of racism, of economic deprivation and all of those things that he clearly could see across, and see a gate of opportunity for all North Carolinians, for all Southerners, for all Americans. ...

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."

MARY D.B.T. SEMANS

Chairwoman of the Duke Endowment

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."

He never stopped building and he never stopped dreaming, and even in the last few months, he was planning an institute for the arts in the Triangle. ...

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.

J. DICKSON PHILLIPS JR.

Senior judge, 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

In looking back, it all seems very simple to me. Why he was what he was, and did what he did and persevered to the end. He did it because he took an oath when he was 12 years old and kept it. It started out, "On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country," and then included such things as help people at all times.

It's hard to believe, but he believed it. He was the eternal Boy Scout, it is just that simple. He was a true believer, not a heavy-breathing true believer but a true believer in the Frank Graham mold -- that it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness -- that you should not take counsel of your fears, that the fundamental requirement is to do justice, to love mercy and remember that you are mere mortal in the eternal presence, that on the Earth's last day, if you should happen to be there, the thing to do would be to plant a tree or write a book or start building something worth- while. ...

Of course, he was more complicated than that. Of course, he didn't always succeed. Of course, he was capable of occasional miscalculations and errors of judgment in public and private affairs. Of course, he was prey for the usual human failures. But on the essentials, for the long run, in good times and bad, he kept the oath about as well as can be kept by one in the heavy engagements of an active, uncloistered life. The simple compass held him true on course until the end.

JOEL FLEISHMAN

Professor of law and public policy, Duke University

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 subjected 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 words: "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 waver one whit over those 47 years.

NAN KEOHANE

Duke University president

At a time when politics is held in less than good repute by many in our country, it is worth celebrating a man for whom politics was a true vocation, who excelled at it. ...

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. From the very first time we met for breakfast soon after I came to Duke, when he looked me over with that piercing but kindly glint in his eye and gave me some extraordinarily sage perspectives on my new university and my new state, to the last time I saw him, just a few weeks ago when I went to his house to ask his advice about the great bonfire controversy that raged at Duke this spring, he was an unfailing source of staunch support, friendly advice and regular inspiration.

© 1998 The News & Observer Publishing Co. / Raliegh, NC  Used by permission.

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