(BALTIMORE – September 15, 2026) – Miss Catherine B. Orange is a living angel.
She was a teacher, mentor, and mother figure to generations of students blessed to enter her classroom. I know I would not be where I am today without her.
What made Miss Orange different was that she genuinely cared about us. We knew she cared about our education. We knew she was pushing us toward excellence, but she did it with a gentle spirit. She appreciated us and treated us as if we were her own children.
She still treats us that way today.
I was fortunate to study under Miss Orange for three years—seventh, eighth, and ninth grades—at William Hugo Lemmel Junior High School. I participated in the IDE program, where she taught us English and emphasized the fundamentals of good writing.
Miss Orange critiqued our work because she wanted us to reach a higher level. She taught us to pay attention to the details—to cross every T, dot every I, and put every period and comma in its proper place.
Those lessons stayed with me long after I left Lemmel.
Years later, while working in government, writing became a major part of my job. At one point, some people at work criticized my writing and gave me the blues. They tried to plant a seed in my mind that I was not a good writer.
Although I was already a grown man in my early thirties, I went back to my teacher.
I told Miss Orange what was happening. As always, she encouraged me.
She told me to stick with the fundamentals and not worry about what those people were saying. If I remained focused and paid attention to the details, she said, I would be fine.
She was right.
I trusted what Miss Orange had taught me. I continued working, writing, and developing my skills. I eventually retired from a government career in which, believe it or not, I essentially wrote for a living.
That achievement is a tribute to the foundation Miss Orange gave me.
A great teacher’s influence does not end when a student leaves the classroom. The lessons continue to show up throughout that student’s life. Miss Orange taught us English, but she also taught us discipline, confidence, persistence, and the importance of excellence.
When others tried to make me question my ability, I could still hear my teacher reminding me to trust the fundamentals.
That is why I wanted us to come together and recognize Miss Orange. She has spent her life pouring knowledge, encouragement, and love into others. Now it is our turn to show her how much she means to us.
I invite all former students of Miss Catherine B. Orange—including students from William Hugo Lemmel Junior High School and Baltimore City College—to join us as we honor her with a Joe Manns Black Wall Street Award at Black Wall Street COLIN’S on Wednesday, September 30, from 6 to 8 p.m.
If Miss Orange taught you, encouraged you, corrected you, or helped you believe in yourself, come and help us give her flowers.
Let us honor someone who has always been a great living example for us.
Miss Orange treated us like her children. She believed in us when we were young and continued believing in us after we became adults.
She is an outstanding human being.
She is a living angel.
And she deserves to know how much her students love and appreciate her.
