Thursday, February 9, 2017
As the former Director of the William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education, I would like to express what a singular honor it was to serve in a capacity so closely identified with, and informed by, the name of Ida Friday along with that of her husband Bill. Ida was a woman of immense character -- gracious, determined, accomplished, and strongly committed to making meaningful contributions to the quality of life in North Carolina and beyond. She achieved great things in her own right as well as adding stature, and providing support, to the remarkable man to whom she was married. Like Bill, she provided inspiration to the work of the Friday Center as the "Citizen's Classroom," a term they coined and into which they breathed substance and dedication. Together, they provided a model of what a caring, loving couple, both totally devoted to selfless service, can mean to a community, a state, and a nation. Ida was without peer as an exemplary citizen of North Carolina, and our state is greatly diminished by her loss. I am deeply grateful to have known her and to have had an opportunity to serve in the name of such an outstanding person.
Norm Loewenthal
