Dock Brown woke up at 4 o’clock in the morning the other day. He couldn’t sleep. His explanation — anxiety — a condition spurred to the surface not by the nervous premonition of a tough moment in life or a seemingly insurmountable challenge.

Dock Brown discusses his years of community service during an interview with the Daily Herald . Monday at 10 a.m., the Weldon U.S. Post Office will be renamed in his honor. The building is at 401 Washington in Weldon. (Todd Wetherington/Daily Herald) Advertisement

No, the 79-year-old Roanoke Valley icon is enjoying life as the most impossible of his childhood dreams comes true. It’s a bit overwhelming even for a veteran educator, community activist, Civil Rights leader and political stalwart such as Dock Brown.

He was up late on Nov. 4 watching as the election returns rolled in and his native North Carolina threw its support behind Barack Obama. Dock shed a few tears when he saw the president-elect appear on stage hand in hand with his young wife and two daughters. “I never thought I would live long enough to see it,” he said during an interview with the Daily Herald.

But there is more than Barack Obama’s victory dancing in Dock’s mind. There is Monday.

At 10  a.m. tomorrow, Congressman G.K. Butterfield and a host of other dignitaries will gather at the Weldon Post Office to praise Dock and rename the federal building in his honor.

It took an act of Congress and President George W. Bush’s signature to make it happen.

For days, people have been calling Dock to check on his health and get the details on the ceremony.

His health is fine — the leukemia is apparently in remission, his smile is broader than Lake Gaston and his mind sharper than ever.

But he is in awe of the honor. “It means everything to me. I never dreamed of ever having something like this happening to me … My intent was never for recognition. My intent was to help somebody; to make a contribution,” he said, his eyes looking intent and his voice strong and resolute.

 He drew his desire to serve from his parents and from a book he read as a youngster by tennis great Althea Gibson, “I Always Wanted to be Somebody.” Gibson did not seek fame or the role of pioneer. Her thought however inspired a young Dock and sent him on a path to encourage change  and offer his own talents to others.

Growing up

“I was reared here in Roanoke Rapids at a time when there weren’t very many opportunities for African-American kids,” Dock remembers.

It was the years between the “War to end all wars” — World War I — and the outbreak of World War II. “Everything was segregated back in those days. I couldn’t even find a restaurant where I could go in the front door and get a sandwich or a cold ice cream,” Dock said. “In order to get something to eat I had to go to the back door and the waitress would bring me whatever I asked for. I wasn’t allowed to go in and sit down.”

Dock’s answer he learned from his parents — get an education. “My daddy was a strong advocate of education. He wouldn’t let me stay out of school … He wanted me to get enough education to go to college and that’s what I did.”

He credits his parents with setting him on the right path. “I had good parents. Both of them worked all their lives right here in Roanoke Rapids. My mother worked as a practical nurse at the hospital for about 40 years and during that time she was working at the hospital, she baby sat for doctors and nurses and other prominent people.” His father, a World War I veteran with a medical discharge, couldn’t work much but did work at the hospital during Dock’s childhood.

When he was 15 he went to work at Matthews Drugs in downtown Roanoke Rapids — in the 200 block of the Avenue.

Each morning before school, he would go in and clean the floors and service the soda fountain before heading to class at 8:45. When classes ended around 4 p.m., it was back to the drugstore and work until 7:30 p.m. — six days a week.

Graduating from J.A. Chaloner High School, Dock went off to Shaw University. The Korean War interrupted college. Two years later, he was honorably discharged from the Army and back in Shaw. He would earn a Master’s in Sociology and School Administration from North Carolina Central University.

He came home to teach. First in the Weldon City School District then at Eastman High School and finally he spent a decade as the principal of Pittman High School.

From the moment he arrived home to teach, he added another calling to his portfolio — getting people to vote.

Giving his students a first hand lesson in civics and history, Dock encouraged them to earn a grade by registering neighbors to vote then ensuring they got to the polls. His political activities ruffled a few feathers but helped lead to increasing the number of active registered voters in  Weldon.

“It finally caught up with me in 1974 … They ran me out of Weldon because of my political activities. I went to Eastman High School. It was a 25-mile drive and a $3,500 cut in pay,” Dock said. The move didn’t slow down his efforts to register voters. It actually increased and led to one of his proudest moments — the passage of a $10 million school bond package by 66 votes. The money built Chaloner and Weldon Elementary and an addition to Northwest High School.

For his part, Dock would be appointed to the Halifax County Board of Commissioners and then be elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives. He currently serves on the Weldon Town Commissioners.

The slight smile on his face as he discussed his own political achievement turns to a broad grin when he talks of his “biggest supporter and biggest cheerleader” — his wife Helen. “It think that is what has helped me succeed. She is always next to me,” Dock said.

He speaks with equal pride of his son Dock Brown Jr., and his daughter, Ivy Brown Singleton and her husband, Army Lt. Col. Terance Singleton.

But when he turns to the youngsters of today, his mood turns serious, his concern obvious. “I worry about them. I worry about why gang membership is high and why they use the language they do …I think we need to start with the youngsters in fourth grade and impress upon them the need to get a good education and that they must refrain from certain things in life to be successful.”

He points to his own positive experience in Scouting and without missing a beat recites the opening lines of the Scout oath —

“On my honor I will do my best

“To do my duty to God and my country  …”

He points to the way he was brought up being told “Little girls are sugar and spice and everything nice.” And then adds, that too often young boys of today refer to girls in the vulgarest of language.

He blames poor economic conditions and a misguided welfare system that encourages fathers to leave for much of the problem. Dock also points a finger at television. “The early shows degraded the role of the African-American male … It wasn’t until Bill Cosby came that it began to change.”

But change is coming for the better in his eyes. He looks to the election of Barack Obama as a watershed moment.

“It shows we have come a long way. It tells me people are changing. People don’t vote race anymore … I couldn’t have accomplished what I have if race was the only issue. People support me as a man and for what I have to offer.

“They look at my track record, they look at where I live and how I pay my bills. I tell students to do the right thing … learn the right thing and you will succeed.”

For this Valley native, the next rung in the ladder of success comes tomorrow morning at 401 Washington Ave. — the location of the Dock M. Brown Post Office Building.