Veteran Feminists of America
BETTY NEWCOMB HAS LEFT US·
Betty, who was born and lived most of her life in Baltimore, had lived in Indiana with her husband, Bob and three sons for several years. There she cofounded the NOW chapter, was active on NOW’s national board and worked hard for all NOW issues like the ERA. In 1973 she founded the American Association for
Affirmative Action (AAAA), an organization for directors of equal
opportunity affirmative action programs that now numbers more than a
thousand institutional
members. When she wasn’t working for VFA Betty was traveling
to Paris, London, Madrid, Rome or New York City to visit art museums and
local feminists. About three years ago
she lost her ability to speak and sadly, this Gemini woman, who loved to
talk, was unable to communicate. Betty and Bob, her husband, who passed on last year,
had three sons and in later years, when they were retired, they raised their
granddaughter, Ming Lee, who is now in college. Betty is survived by her sons, Blaine, Philip and Murray, three grandchildren, Nicolas, Arielle, and Ming-Lee.
A Memorial Service for Betty will be held Saturday, January 26 at the Stony Run Quaker Meeting House 5116 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21210 from 1 to 2 PM. Later reception 3 to 8 PM. In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be given to the Alzheimeer's Association ( ALZ.ORG)
Hopefully, Betty’s
work and influence will be recognized in history. She’s left her influence on VFA, and her
love and devotion to us cannot be replaced. VFA never received her bio, though we
begged her to send it, so we will be featuring her this month, in memorium. Jacqui Ceballos Betty’ s son, Philip says: My mother did not seek the limelight, but
she had major and lasting influence on our society. I seriously doubt Obama
would be president without the AAAA taking off and assuring that Title 9
policies and procedures were implemented uniformly across colleges and
university throughout the country.
She also had a major impact on national implementation of sexual
harassment policy. I think it was via the AAAA because Affirmative
Action officers were involved in implementation of sexual harassment
policies and procedures at Universities. Betty was a significant pathfinder for the Affirmative Action
process that she had partially to invent, and for her leadership of the
rest of us who were thrust into the administration of affirmative action in
the face of disinformation and resistance, particularly among university
faculty who believed themselves to be outside the pale of employment
law. Thank you Betty for that good
fight…….Sheila Tobias, Co
and Vice President, Veteran Feminists of America. Comments to Jacqui Ceballos jcvfa@aol.com |
We sadly report that Betty Newcomb, a
former vice president and very active member of VFA for several years, died January 13, 2013 in Baltimore, of heart failure. She was
86 years old.
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