BEVERLY NEAL-CLINTON (Marines, E3)

Beverly Neal-Clinton has probably been fighting for freedom and independence, and against injustice since the day she took her first breath! That’s my impression of her. 

The former Marine E3 is the new chair of our caucus Committee for Veterans Advocacy (see boxed story with this article), and a key speaker at the Hands Off Rally in Santa Fe in April (see video in Members in Action in this newsletter).  I am proud to introduce you to Beverly — our Veterans Spotlight this month.

That first breath energized one determined Black woman through a lifetime that is quite impressive; and she’s not done yet. Along with being the first African American elected to the  Los Alamos County Council, she is fighting for veterans’ rights. This fierce woman traveled through Australia, New Zealand, and Costa Rica before she and her husband moved to New Mexico ~26 years ago. She is founder/director of African American Trust (a nonprofit providing financial literacy and scholarships), and previous owner of a juice bar and the Smoothieville Gallery. She has been an insurance agent; and the New Mexico Notary and Fingerprinting firm she started in 2019 is thriving today.

GROWING UP: “I knew at a very early age that Camden, SC, was merely a place to be from,” Beverly recalled.  “My dad was Tillman Neal. In the South, that meant something. People feared him and I got respect by being his daughter. I met my husband in a high school Spanish class when I was 14; he was 16. I didn’t want to get married – ever.” 

“My parents and my favorite teacher, Julia Halford, prepared me for a meaningful life. Ms. Halford didn’t buy into systemic discrimination. She encouraged me to explore other things.

Beverly did not want to go to college, but a cousin encouraged her.  Her older brother, Jerome Ingram, made her take the SAT.  She had no idea there was such a test.  She didn’t even study.  She was accepted by every school except one private college. “I didn’t think I was smart enough to go to college because of systemic racism in South Carolina. My cousin offered to pay for college and law school. My older brother and sister were already in college. I still did not want to go. Everyone was irate that I didn’t go,” she reflected. “So I joined the Marines.”

MILITARY LIFE: “The Marines were the hardest force. I’d read a book about it and thought about enlisting. ‘Go to the source’, my dad said. ‘If it didn’t kill them, it ain’t gonna kill you,’” she recalled. “That was part of my upbringing. If I don’t do something, it’s not because I think I can’t. After the military, I never thought that there was anything I couldn’t do. The military dusts you off,” she exclaimed. 

“Boot camp was hell. I learned what it took to survive in the Marines; to stay strong like my daddy and determined like mother.“ After Basic, I went to the HQ Wing Adjutant Office at the former Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro, CA. My MOS 0151 was in Administration – pushing papers, something I’ve done all my life.  My rank was E3, lance corporal. I did my three years of active duty, then three years inactive. I’d always wanted to go to Okinawa, but they wouldn’t let me. So I got out,” she explained. “Later I learned from older Marines that the corps was really protecting me — a young Black woman in a mostly white male corps. I had not realized that at the time. Had I gone abroad, who knows what could have happened?”

Her time in the Marines taught her another valuable lesson: how to survive a sexual assault. Beverly was a young African American woman, probably 18. She didn’t tell anyone about it then. But unlike most victims, she didn’t cave into the usual coping traps (alcohol, drugs, etc.). She boldly went on with her life, knowing she could do anything she wanted to do in her post-military life.  She eventually told the VA about it 30 years later.  They wanted her to report it but she chose not to. “I learned that it was not my fault that I was assaulted. I told them not to call me again, that I don’t have time to unravel all this now,” she shared, while she processed yet another layer of emotional healing as we both teared up.

POST-MILITARY LIFE: “I called my cousin again when I got out. She said, ‘I still want you to go law school.’ I said I didn’t want to. She knew I would not change my mind. So then she said, ‘Become a court reporter.’ That was the best advice she gave me. As a court reporter, I made more money than some lawyers. I loved the money,” Beverly said.

This is where marriage intersected with her lucrative career. “Vaughn was a fire controlman in the Navy.  He operated/fixed big guns on a ship. He wanted to retire from the Military. He hated that he was forced out after 14 years when his knees blew out. We dated for 13 years off and on. He waited for me to say yes. He’d already asked me to marry him three times. I was living in South Carolina. We married in 1990 and I moved to Norfolk. Then we moved to Charleston Naval Base, and I continued my court reporter career there as well,” she explained. “He left the Navy while we were stationed in Charleston.”

His post-military career would dictate the geography of the rest of their life. “He loved working on radar for the Federal Aviation Administration. That transitioned into his love for computers,” she said. “He went to school and left with only one semester left; he was burned out. At that time, he was recruited to build supercomputers at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. He knew that family came first. He accepted the job, but not before demanding that they send a ticket for me when he went to the job interview. They eventually met his demand. He has been building supercomputers ever since and loves it,” she says.

All the while, Beverly had to scratch away at making careers out of local opportunities and her vision of improving life for others. This time she got advice from Vaughn. “Your field (court reporting) is eventually going to go to real time writing using a computer, so you need to move in that direction,” he advised. “Here was the problem,” she said. “We couldn’t afford a computer. So he built me my first computer. Then I encouraged him to start building computers for others. So, I got my computer and he started building.” 

“I was one of the first to become a real time writer in Virginia ~1991 in Norfolk.  I was also vice president and president of the South Carolina Court Reporters Association. It was interesting to see how rural reporters reacted to the new technology I showed them.  I could tell them about it only because of Vaughn; he has always been my canary in the coal mine” about my career.” 

Working at LANL

“I worked for over 15 years at Los Alamos Lab and began as an Executive Administrative Assistant. That’s a fancy name for a secretary. I was smarter than my supervisor. I was not appreciated,” Beverly exclaimed. I suspect her supervisor viewed Beverly as a threat. She eventually resigned from LANL.

Entrepreneur

She has a strong entrepreneurial spirit. “I have been a serial entrepreneur. That is how I function best. I’m a better employer than an employee,” she realized. (See list of her businesses in the second paragraph.)

The African American Trust she founded in 2022 is an important part of her life.  “We have committed to rewriting African American financial history by securing scholarships that will close the income equality gap and develop a trickle-down economic channel for generations, yet unborn,” she wrote on her LinkedIn site.  

Dr. Francis John Maguire, director of New York Trust with whom she worked on the African American Trust, summed up Beverly’s impact so far: “Beverly Neal Clinton has the demonstrated thread of success woven throughout the entire tapestry of both her business and personal life.” 

Public Service

Beverly has been active in the Los Alamos County Democratic Party, the Veterans and Military Families Caucus, Leadership Los Alamos, was a Planning and Zoning Commissioner, and a member of the Unitarian Church Membership Committee. Commenting on her role on the county council, she said: “This is my first term. I am still surprised anybody elected me, especially in this political climate, I’m surprised people are not pressuring me,” she admitted.  “Los Alamos is a very opinionated community. Being in office is about building relationships. You can’t talk out of both sides of your mouth. I don’t care if I get re- elected. I do what I feel is right,” she said.

AND NOW: Her husband, Vaughn, is a twice over cancer survivor. His experience was one of her reasons for giving her powerful speech at the All Hands Rally in Santa Fe recently. “He was getting treatment when his community care was immediately terminated. This put his life in danger. We rallied and found the care he needed, no thanks to Trump,” Beverly shouted. The crowd roared in support of her words, her resilience, her humanity.

Together with her husband Vaughn, she has three sons and a daughter-in-law and two beautiful grandchildren.  Family and community are central to her life. She embraces both biological and chosen family, which includes two adopted sons.”I am proud of all of them, young and old. They are integral to my sense of family and belonging,” she beamed.