James Everett Jr., 91, family and South Philly neighborhood patriarch, dies
James Everett Jr., 91, everyones Pops, rescued street corner youths
JAMES EVERETT JR., 91, patriarch of his family and his South Philly neighborhood, died Jan. 12 after a life of caring that was celebrated Sunday at his beloved Rising Sun Baptist Church.
Born in 1924 in Laurinburg, N.C., Mr. Everett married Julia McKay on Dec. 22, 1942, in Bennettsville, S.C. The marriage lasted more than 70 years until her death in 2013.
The couple moved to South Philadelphia in 1951, where Mr. Everett, a member of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, ran J&J Construction for 50 years.
Mr. Everett's daughter, Stephanie Everett Cain, said her dad used his company to rescue many a youth from South Philly street corners.
She said, "My dad would just go up to the young men on the corners or sitting up on cars and tell them, 'If you want to make an honest living, if you want to make an honest day's pay, get off this corner and come to work with me, and I'll show you how to feed your family.' "
Throughout decades of gang warfare and other street violence, Cain said, the guys on the corner did not mess with her 6-foot-5, God-loving, plain-talking father.
"He was 'Mr. Everett' or he was 'Pops' or he was 'Dad,' " she said. "They all just respected my father. A lot of them didn't have fathers around and I think he represented what they wished they had in a father."
Cain said her dad's lifelong passion for politics peaked when Barack Obama ran for president.
"I worked on the campaign and my father, who was in his 80s then, was right there with me at the Sixth and Market Street rally, giving out pamphlets," Cain said. "He was just on cloud nine.
"When Obama won," she said, "my dad just cried and cried and cried. We have as many pictures of the Obamas in our house as we have of our regular family. It's like Obama is his other son."
Cain said her parents never missed a vote. "I once asked my mom why she and Dad voted in every single election," Cain said. "She said, 'Because where we come from in the South, people died for the opportunity to vote.' "
Cain said her mom was the love of her dad's life - "All she had to do was look at him and he would melt" - and after she died in 2013, he missed her terribly.
"My dad went to Fernwood Cemetery every day to visit her grave," Cain said. "He would sit there in his chair, right on the walkway, and talk to her.
"At first, it really worried me," she said. "But then I thought, 'If it gives him peace. . . . ' He told me, 'I talked to her every day for 70 years and I will continue to talk to her every day.' "
Now, he is buried beside her.
Cain's voice thickened with emotion when she said, "My dad loved my mother so much, I believe he was ready to go. I thank God every day for allowing him to be my dad. He was my rock."
Mr. Everett also is survived by sons James III and Stephen; goddaughter Theresa Lowery; aunt Nettie Martin; grandchildren Janelle, Sharelle, Chondra, Abdula, Rasheeda, De'Anna, Shavawn and Taryn; and nine great-grandchildren. Another daughter, Sondra Everett Johnson, predeceased him.
On Twitter: @DanGeringer