R.I.P. Dr. Alonzo Cavin

Mr. and Mrs. Alonzo Cavin
(click to enlarge)

The Quiet Giant of Chester is how I’ll describe Dr. Cavin. 

We only met a little over a year ago at a program for local authors at the Crozer Library where he introduced his book, This is My Story, a fictionalize account of his early days growing up in the Bennett Homes Projects after migrating from the south, and I was just getting Black Industrialist - The Melvin Wade Story off the ground. No one came to the event, so we authors shared experiences of our publications with each other. 

Dr. Calvin and I purchased each other’s books and found that we had a lot in common besides our desire to author, and it made me wonder how I had never met The Quiet Giant before that day.

When I learned that he was the ‘father’ of Pennsylvania’s Act 101 Program, I became his biggest fan. 

By definition, Act 101 provides support services for Pennsylvania undergraduate students whose cultural, economic, and educational disadvantages might impede their ability to successfully pursue higher education opportunities, make good academic progress, or graduate.

I had no idea the concept originated at Widener and became the model that the State of PA adopted from the success Dr. Calvin had with it at Widener. 

There is no way this 1978 Chester High grad would have been accepted and graduated with an electrical engineering degree from Villanova, without the assistance of the Act 101 Program. NO WAY !!!!

Dr. Cavin and I met on a few occasions after the library program, and each time our conversations focused on our books and the Act 101 Program.

One of his biggest passions was to assemble as many Act 101 graduates that he could find from all participating colleges in Pennsylvania so that we could network and demonstrate how successful the program has been at producing hundreds of highly productive college graduates, many of whom may not have had a shot at college if it were not for Act 101.

He was saddened to see Act 101 funding on the chopping blocks of PA state budgets and didn’t think it had much of future due to those constraints.

When I received the phone call of his death, I was shocked but not saddened. He left such a tremendous legacy that my heart rejoices in the fact that I, and so many other people that I know and don’t know owe our livelihood to Dr. Cavin.

To coin a phrase...Job Well Done. 

Thanks, Dr. Cavin. 

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