TO THE CHAPTER INVISIBLE
Barton A. Fields 1930–2022 Civic Leader, U.S. Army By Aaron Williams
ment Specialist in the Governor’s Office of Administration. Field held positions in various departments, including the Public Utility Commission and Audi- tor General’s Office. While serving as a Deputy in the state Department of Education, he took pride in recruiting African American educators from south- ern colleges to integrate the Harrisburg School System. He rose to the Deputy Secretary of the Department of State in 1971. Governor Milton Shapp appoint- ed him secretary of the Commonwealth six years later, and Governor Richard Thornburgh reappointed Fields in 1979. In 1987, Fields was appointed as Secretary of Revenue by Governor Rob- ert Casey while serving as chairman of the Commission on Charitable Orga- nizations. Fields was the first African American to serve in that position. A Life Member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Fields was a charter member of the Harrisburg (PA) Alumni Chapter. He also served as president and board chairman of the Harristown Develop- ment Corporation. Fields led the NAACP’s Greater Harrisburg Branch as its president, was sectional director of the Pennsylvania State Conference of NAACP Branches, and helped to restart and charter the Penn State University chapter of the NAACP in 1987. Fields had a long involvement in the civil rights movement. In 1948, with the A. Philip Randolph’s labor move- ment picketed the Democratic National Convention and petitioned President Harry S. Truman to integrate the United States Armed Forces. In retirement, Fields enjoyed be- ing an active volunteer for AARP-PA, serving as a member of the National Legislative Council and the State Legis-
lative Committee. He also was a board member of the Central Pennsylvania Friends of Jazz and served on the board of the Capital Area Health Foundation. A lifelong Episcopalian, Fields served on the altar at St. Simon The Cyrenian Church in South Philadelphia in his youth. In Harrisburg, he was an ac- tive member of Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, serving on the vestry and the altar. Brother Barton A. Fields is survived by daughter, Lynn Marie (Thomas) Harris and son, Barton Anthony (Gwen) Fields (Theta Iota 1978); sister, Eileen A. (Grenville) Griffith; sister-in-law, Delores Fields; three nephews, Carl (Terry) Fields Jr., Aaron (Yves Cossette) Griffith, and Marcus (Jenne) Griffith; and niece, Andrea Fields; great-nieces and nephew, cousins; extended family, friends, and fraternity brothers.
B arton A. Fields entered the born to Barbadian immigrants, the late Daisy A. and Archibald A. Fields, on May 22, 1930, in Philadelphia, PA. The Fields family started in South Philadel- phia and sent Fields and his late brother Carl to Barbados, West Indies, for their primary education. After graduating from South Phila- delphia High School for Boys, Fields earned a B.A. degree in political science Chapter Invisible on April 19, 2022. Barton Archibald Fields was the first of three children in 1954 from the Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA. In addition to working several jobs to finance his education, Fields joined the Fraternity as a 1951 initiate of the Lambda Chapter and was a charter member of the Pennsylvania State Uni- versity Chapter, Delta Theta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, Incorporated. Fields appeared on the cover of the October 1952 Kappa Alpha Psi Journal issue, accepting the Delta Theta charter from the Northwestern Province Polemarch William N. Chisholm, Esq. Fields was the inaugural polemarch of the Delta Theta Chapter. After graduation, he served in the United States Army, rising to Staff Sar- gent in charge of a Primary Communi- cation Center in the Republic of South Korea. Fields moved to Harrisburg to begin a career in state government. He started as the director of municipal pension and fire relief audits in the Department of the Auditor General in 1957. He was the first African Ameri- can to serve as a Personnel Manage-
October 1952 issue of The Kappa Alpha Psi Journal.
56 | SUMMER 2022 ♦ THE JOURNAL
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