L. Z. Black
DALLAS-Services for L.Z. Black, 87, Dallas, formerly of Ada, are 11 a.m. Wednesday at Criswell Funeral Home Chapel, Rev. Duane Cudjoe officiating. Burial will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery.
Mr. Black died Friday, Sept. 17, 2010, in Dallas, after a lengthy illness. He was born Feb. 23, 1923, to Georgia and John Black at Ada. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II he enrolled and graduated from Langston University. He began his career with the Ada Public School system in 1950 as a teacher and coach at Napier High School. He also earned his Master's from East Central University. When Napier School closed in 1967 Mr. Black transferred to Ada Junior High where he taught for the next 17 years, retiring in 1984.
Mr. Black served on the Board of Directors of the Ada Public Housing Authority, contributing to the plans that transformed Ada's Aldridge Hotel into a high-rise public housing center for senior citizens. He was a member of Ada's Athens Baptist Church and then Philemon Baptist Church. He was a longtime deacon at both Athens and Philemon Baptist.
He and Dorothy Charlise Watson were married in 1951 in Oklahoma City. They lived in Ada until 2006 when illness necessitated their move to Dallas to live with family.
He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, of the home; two sisters, Billie Franklin, Los Angeles, Calif., and Odessa Cudjoe, Oklahoma City; two sons, Michael Black and wife Lois, Houston, and Robert Black and wife Janet, Oklahoma City; one daughter, Roberta Moore and husband Derrick, Dallas; seven grandchildren, Gladys Black, Elizabeth Hope Williamson, Jamie Kennedy, Adam Black, John Moore, Sarah Black and Lydia Black; and five great-grandchildren, Kaitlyn Kennedy, Jackson Kennedy, Jade Whitemon, Elijah Black and John Paul Black.
He was preceded in death by his parents, and siblings Sylynia Clark, Cephus Clark, Georgia Marie Clark and Cleo Black; and a daughter, Charles Elizabeth Williamson.
Criswell Funeral Home, Ada