AUTHOR, VETERAN, & RETIRED FAA ELECTRONICS EXPERT
MEET HENRY R. LEGGETTE
Henry Raft Leggette is a native of the Kemper Springs community. He attended Kemper Springs Elementary School and graduated from Porterville Consolidated High School as the class salutatorian in 1958. Leggette graduated from Mississippi Valley State University, Itta Bena, Mississippi, with a Bachelor of Science degree. He was awarded a Master of Science degree in 1987 from the University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, in electronics engineering.
He was an electronics technician with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) for many years, first at the Memphis Tower and the Memphis ARTCC (Air Route Traffic Control Center). Leggette was the supervisor of the electronics technicians of the Telecommunications and Communications Unit at the Federal Aviation Administration at Memphis ARTCC. Later, he was promoted to manager in charge of several units at Memphis ARTCC. He attended many courses at the Federal Aviation Administration Academy and at the FAA Center.
Leggette is the author of Kemper Springs Community: From the Beginning to the Present. This book was published in 1993, and over one thousand copies were sold to Kemper Springs community residents and former residents. Several hundred were sold to employees of the Federal Aviation Administration at Memphis ARTCC (Air Route Traffic Control Center).
He is a life member of the American Radio Relay League, a former member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, a member of the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, a certified ARRL Volunteer Examiner, a certified ARRL amateur radio license course instructor, holds a first Class RF Engineering License from the National Association of Radio Telecommunication Engineers, Inc., Salem, Oregon, and holds a General Radio Telephone License with Radar Endorsement, converted by the Federal Communications Commission from First Class Radio Telephone License with Radar Endorsement. He was appointed as the Assistant Technical Coordinator for the Tennessee Section, Delta Division of the American Radio Relay League, Inc.
On November 20, 1989, he was elected Vice Director of the Delta Division (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee) of the American Radio Relay League to serve January 1990 through December 1991. Leggette became assistant to the director on January 1, 1992, through April 30, 1996. He was reelected on May 1, 1996, as vice director and served through December 31, 2005. He was elected as Director of the Delta Division of the American Radio Relay League, Inc., on January 1, 2006, and served until his retirement on December 31, 2008.
Leggette was the first African American Vice Director and Director ever elected from the Delta Division and the United States. He was elected to both positions, with less than 2.5% of members being African Americans and receiving 60 to 71% of the votes cast.
After graduating from Memphis State University in December 1987, he served on the Engineering Advisory Board for two years. In 2000, Leggette served on the Mississippi Valley State University Technology Advisor Board for two years. He became a Toastmaster in June 1993. He completed Competent Toastmaster, Advance Toastmaster Bronze, Advance Toastmaster Silver, Advance Toastmaster Gold, Competent Leader, Advance Leader, and qualified in October 1998 for Distinguished Toastmaster.
Afterward, he served as Division E Governor for one year and was selected Toastmaster Division Governor of the year in 1998 through 1999. As Division E governor, he was able to organize and certify the Bulldog Toastmasters Club located on the campus of Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi.
Leggette became employed with the Federal Aviation Administration as an electronics trainee. He very shortly became more than an electronics trainee. He attended many schools and courses in the Federal Aviation Administration Academy. In fact, he attended courses for a total of 162 weeks and 8 weeks as a supervisor and a manager trainee at CMD (Center for Management Development). He trained and became a well-known electronics technician in communications with several courses in communications subassemblies. Several communications electronics technicians depended upon his extremely in-depth knowledge of communications.
Later, he moved into advancing into the mainframe computer. In that area, he gained in-depth knowledge before being promoted to a supervisor and then to a manager. Leggette has written two technical articles published in QST, an amateur radio international/national magazine, and QEX, a technical amateur publication. He has also published in local radio club newsletters.
He is married to Irma L. Kingston (deceased as of the completion of this book) of Itta Bena, Mississippi. They have two daughters, Angela Renee Leggette Hilson and Marceia Gale Leggette Ashe. They have four beautiful grandchildren: Kolby, Maya, Elayna, and Kyra. He has two sons-in-law, Keenan and Equan.
Leggette is a member of Greater Middle Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, where he is a deacon, retired lead sound engineer, and sings in the male chorus. Finally, he is the great-grandson of Reverend Henry Watson, the founder and first pastor of Union Kemper Springs Missionary Baptist Church in Mississippi.
A LIFE OF DEFYING THE ODDS
Rooted in Mississippi.
Growing up in Kemper and Lauderdale counties in the 1940s and 50s, Henry's early liufe was defined by grueling manual labor-plowing fields with mules and cutting pulpwood. But within this harsh environment, his parents and great-grandparents instilled a fierce determination and a deep-rooted faith that would become his ultimate armor againt the systemic racism of the Jim Crow South.
The Signal to Soar.
Henry refused to accept that physical labor was his only destiny. His journey took a pivotal turn when he entered the US Army Signal Corps. Here, he discovered a profound aptitude for complex electronics. He realized that his mind was engineered for more, viewing this placement not as a coincidence, but as a direct divine assignment.
Commanding the Technology.
Transitioning to civilian life, Henry faced immense prejudice from managers and seassoned engineers who expected him to fail. His response? "Study and more study." He completed a grueling 162 weeks of elite courses at the FAA Aeronautical Academy, eventually mastering the very equipment used to control the aircraft flying over his father's farm.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES & PHILOSOPHY
"A Prepare mind and a praying heart are the only tools required to dismantle any limitation and command any destiny."
Having navigated the limitations of the segregated South, the Army, and the elite FAA, Henry is convinced that systemic barriers are not divine decrees. His philosophy is to show a new generation that profound technical competence, secured by generational prayer, is the only sustainable path to institutional and personal triumph.