85R10502 JGH-D
By: Button H.R. No. 405
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, A full and generous life drew to a close with the
death of Donald Benjamin Fielding of Dallas, who passed away on
January 20, 2017, at the age of 94; and
WHEREAS, Donald Fielding was born in Dallas on July 7, 1922;
he graduated from Forest Avenue High School as valedictorian at the
age of 15, and that same year he enrolled in the Wharton School at
the University of Pennsylvania, in pursuit of a career in the
foreign service; and
WHEREAS, After graduating from the Wharton School in 1942,
Mr. Fielding attended the University of Havana briefly before his
induction into the U.S. Army; he attended the Infantry Officer
Candidate School and went on to serve as an operations and training
staff officer until his discharge at the rank of second lieutenant
in 1946; and
WHEREAS, Following his return to Dallas, Mr. Fielding joined
the family business, National Shoes, where he worked for 42 years,
opening several additional locations in 1958, 1968, and 1977;
National Shoes was the oldest family-owned business in downtown
Dallas at the time, and, thanks to Mr. Fielding, the first downtown
retail establishment to hire an African American salesman; the
business also joined with a charity, Brother Bill's Helping Hand,
to provide shoes to needy children; and
WHEREAS, A powerful voice in Dallas politics from the 1960s
until the 1990s, Mr. Fielding took a particular interest in
education; he played a leading role in the establishment of the
Citizens' Committee for Better Schools and the League for
Educational Advancement in Dallas, which provided textbooks to poor
and underserved students in South and West Dallas, and he founded
Operation Employment, a Neighborhood Youth Corps project that
helped school dropouts obtain meaningful and productive work; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Fielding also helped found Citizens for
Representative Government, a group that was instrumental in pushing
for single-member districts; an active participant in the civil
rights movement, he marched for the integration of the Piccadilly
Cafeteria; he held several leadership positions in the Boy Scouts
of America, including chair of the High Trail Scout District, and he
started the first Hispanic Boy Scout troop in West Dallas;
moreover, he was the author of a book, Assassination and Education:
A Guide to Dallas; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Fielding married Virginia Lee Tipton in 1950,
and they shared a rewarding union that spanned 63 years, until her
death in 2013; the couple were the proud parents of four children,
Ronnie, Linda, B. Donald, and Paul, and they were blessed with many
grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and
WHEREAS, A devoted family man and an engaged citizen, Donald
Fielding lived a life rich with purpose, and he leaves behind a
record of service that his loved ones can remember with pride; now,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 85th Texas
Legislature hereby pay tribute to the memory of Donald Benjamin
Fielding and extend sincere condolences to his relatives and
friends; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of
Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Donald
Fielding.