Robert L. Viera, who was 88 years old when he passed away Sunday, was a teacher in more ways than one.
He is remembered and honored as the longtime director of the Saginaw County Community Action Committee, but he began his work career in a city classroom and closed with Head Start preschool leadership.
After teaching the school children for more than a decade, Viera followed a calling to guide residents on community organizing methods, aiming to combat hardship, both economic and social.
CAC was established during the 1960s as Saginaw’s main outlet to oversee federal funds via the War on Poverty. Early, there were some growing pains and inner disagreements that are inherent in any grassroots activism, with four directors during the first four years. Leadership under Chairman Al Loveless looked for stability, and Viera was deemed ideal for this task with his education experience, his activism and his success in organizing a summer youth program.
While Loveless and others in the United Power movement served as spokespeople, “Bob V” functioned as the day-to-day administrator, first at the former red-brick headquarters at Janes and Seventh, then at the newly-built center on Perkins at the city limits. His oversight of outreach ranged from weatherization and minor home repairs, to child and elder care, to family support.
During food commodity distributions, Viera modestly would join workers on the CAC floor to pack boxes and carry them to the cars of patrons, especially when he saw long lines that he considered “degrading” to recipients. He was showing that he did not consider himself too important or high-up to engage, an outlook that carried over into the behind-the-scenes personal assistance and favors he provided to countless individuals.
While always there with a helping hand, he would lament at the same time that he dreamed of a day when food boxes no longer would be so widely in need because more families had attained greater empowerment. This was a goal of having Poverty Peoples Alliance under the CAC umbrella of programs and services.
Born to a Bay City family, Viera attended Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit with thoughts of becoming a Catholic priest. When his 1950s plans changed to K-12 education, he attained degrees from Bay City Junior College (soon to become Delta) and Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, with graduate studies at University of Michigan.
His school teaching began at St. Joseph Catholic School, in 1958. It ended in 1968 while teaching at Central Middle School, when the Board of Education dismissed him for refusing to pay $30 in union dues. This was when he became unhappy with the Saginaw Education Association, and aimed to organize a rival union that would be more open to minority teachers who were coming on board.
He made his stand while caring for two daughters with his wife, the former Shirley White of Bay City. Michelle was 9 years old at the time and Stephanie was entering kindergarten.
But his spouse already had reason to understand that principle came first for her husband. In 1965, as a hint of what was to come at CAC, Viera became weary of seeing a slum property across Sixth Street from the St. Joe’s church entrance and personally contacted the owner. When no results were achieved, he organized a picket at the landlord’s West Side home near the courthouse. Repairs were made in due time.
He listed the subjects he taught at Central Middle School as Latin, English, history, math, sociology, political science, government and economics.
To make ends meet for the family in 1968-69, he took jobs tending bar at downtown Larry’s Lounge, managing the crew at the new Arby’s on State Street, and then as an orderly at St. Luke’s Hospital.
Then he found CAC, or rather CAC found him.
Chairman Loveless, who died in 2007, later would say, “Bob is so caring about the people, but he never thinks first about taking care of himself, refusing to accept pay raises year after year.”
One of Viera’s first steps was to assign program heads and then allow them independence to make their own decisions, so long as funded goals and missions were carried out.
It wasn’t only the larger War on Poverty federal grants. Victoria Miller appealed to CAC for Saginaw Inter-Tribal Center with $386 in the bank. Within a couple years, with Viera’s expertise and support, the annual budget was built to $225,000 in 1970s dollars, or more than a million in today’s money.
“I was only a housewife, but Mr. Viera treated me as a professional,” she later reflected.
For an announcement of his 1992 retirement party at the Civic Center’s Unity Hall, he was asked what he planned to say.
His characteristic response: “Very little.”
His more standard way of speaking was through his actions, such as when he established a college scholarship fund in his name that continues through the Saginaw Community Foundation, one is funded in the name of Robert L. Viera, forever an educator.
(Thank you to the Historical Society of Saginaw County for research assistance at the Castle Museum.)
Following are reflections on Robert L. Viera’s legacy…
Hurley TJ. Coleman III, CAC director:
“Mr. Viera loved Saginaw CAC and most of all he was a big advocate for low-income families. He assisted in establishing the Head Start program, JTPA , and many home renovation, food, and emergency services programs. The Job Training Partnership Act provided on-the-job training for many youths and adults who had no place else to work.
“After his retirement, he returned to Saginaw CAC twice as interim director because of his love for this Agency and the community. Mr. Viera was always available to assist whenever needed until his health failed him and he relocated to another state.
“He was a great leader and very well respected and we will continue to carry the torch and fight for our low-income families as he did. His legacy will live on as a community leader, builder, and fighter for all the residents in Saginaw County. Saginaw CAC is grateful for the years of service that Mr. Viera served as a leader!”
Terry Pruitt, Saginaw NAACP:
“A few personal reflections and thoughts upon the passing of a true community hero and personal friend, Robert (Bob) Viera. I became acquainted with Bob in the mid 1970’s. My early interactions with Bob evolved around my initial assignment with the City of Saginaw as a community organizer with the federally funded Model Cities program. The local Community Action agency and the Model Cities program were both components of President Lydon Johnson’s “War on Poverty” initiative. The overall goal of these efforts was to directly impact poverty in communities by addressing a myriad of issues including social, economic, housing, and educational concerns.
“Bob was a true advocate and champion of the poor. He was viewed as a low-key but strong respected voice of those who could not or would not speak for themselves. He was invited to sit at many different tables locally, statewide and nationally and did so willingly. I always appreciated the fact that he was never just someone who was just another body in the room. He would frequently in a very controlled and forceful manner speak ‘truth to power.’
“Few in the community understood Bob’s extensive advocacy in support of early childhood education. Having been an educator, he clearly understood that an important element out of poverty is education. Over the years of many one-on-one conversations with Bob, we always ultimately mutually agreed that the road out of poverty rests with education, strengthening families, and holding political and institutional leaders accountable for exercising fairness and equality in their decision making and allocation of resources.
“His influence and commitment to uplifting the poor and the greater Saginaw community is not lost and will be cherished by many of us. It is fair to say that we need more like him, even to this day.”
Mike Hanley, local elected official for 30 years:
“Bob Viera was one of the very best people I’ve met in my life. He made a difference for so many people in so many ways, I’m sure he took some of his best stories/accomplishments with him because he realized from an early age that ‘you get a lot more done is this world if you don’t take credit’. He was as humble a person as I have ever met. The entire community owes a debt of gratitude to his family for sharing Bob as selflessly as he shared himself, but especially with those in need: children, seniors and the poor. Now he leaves us to ensure that his legacy will live on.”
David Gamez, Health Delivery Inc. (now Great Lakes Bay Health Centers):
“Bob would listen, and he had a way of making you feel that his idea was actually coming from you. When decisions were made, he also had a knack for explaining them. He was respectful of all people while he also was a voice for the underserved in the greater Saginaw area. He was like a mentor to me, and I’m 82 now!”
Gary Loster, former mayor:
“Bob Viera is among the original civil rights heroes in Saginaw, always compassionate and caring for others. As mayor, I think of the times he assisted us on concerns that ranged from housing to simple community relations. He was all about finding solutions, instead of always finding problems. And he was representative of all people, which was something some folks failed to understand at that point in our history.”
Bishop Elect Hurley J. Coleman Jr., World Outreach Campus:
“Over the years of community service I have had interactions with many great Saginaw leaders. Most of them were driven by a fierce love for the city and an overwhelming commitment to the people. Few exemplified this more than Robert Viera. From the halls of education, to the meeting rooms of community leadership, and the hands-on work of serving people, Bob was actively involved. He could be seen in a suit and tie in the morning and jeans and boots by the evening of the same day. I personally saw him as a fierce negotiator and humble servant. We served on several boards together, dealing with the difficult challenges of dwindling resources and escalating needs. Truly a leader and servant. His absence will be felt by many.”
Mary Lawrence, Saginaw News:
“Sorry to hear of his passing. Never was in his class at Central Junior High back in the day, but Mr. Viera would stand in the hallway as we switched classes, keeping troublemakers in check. I also remember him as a tree watcher on Ojibway Island as we walked the Island. Sometimes he would ask ‘Do you know what kind of tree this is?’ Forever the teacher. RIP. Rise in Glory Mr. Viera.”
Mike Thompson, volunteer:
“One example of CAC action was during the late 1990s, when the Detroit Lions held training camp at SVSU. At the same time, there was a small children’s summer lunch site on Carlisle street near the Potter Station, hosted by Christ Community Church prior to their move, weekdays for the neighborhood young ones. Some parents asked, “Why not a field trip to see Barry Sanders and the Lions?” Of course, most all the families signed their kids up, and then word spread and raised the count beyond carpool capacity. Last-minute, maybe a Head Start bus? Mr. Viera laughed when he said, ‘You won’t need a bus. You’ll need two.’ One of those secret good deeds of his.”
