Collect Day #38, VIVIAN E. WASHINGTON
O God, on this day your Son, Jesus, was lifted high on the cross that all the world might be drawn to your unconditional love for all creation; we remember today your faithful servant, Vivian E. Washington, whose life in education, social work, and care for those whose voices were not heard represented your hand at work in the world and whose witness reaffirms for us that the way of the cross is none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Vivian Washington, Laurence Paquin School
DAY #38, April 18, 2019
HANOVER, NH
VIVIAN E. WASHINGTON (1914 – 2007)
Valdemar Washington
Vivian E. Washington built a distinguished career in education, social work, community service, and the Episcopal Church in Maryland, but she was born and raised in Claremont, NH.
Her parents were Valdemar D. Edwards and Irene (Quashi) Edwards. Vivian attended Claremont’s Stevens High School but then went to Howard University in Washington D.C., earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1938, followed by two master’s degrees (1946 and 1956). When she was almost 80, in 1993, she received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Baltimore.
For 34 years, Vivian Washington worked for the Baltimore City School System, first as a history and civics teacher, then as a junior high school counselor and the system’s first Black visiting teacher, a predecessor position to school social worker. In 1966, she helped create and was named the first principal of the Laurence Paquin Junior Senior High School, a secondary school for pregnant girls.
She wrote two books – the first a memoir, Mount Ascutney (A Reflection Book), published in 1958, and then, in 1986, I Am Somebody, I Am Me: A Black Child’s Credo.
Vivian was a devout Episcopalian. She belonged to St. Katherine’s of Alexandria Church and the Church of the Holy Trinity, both in Baltimore. She was on the Diocesan Council and the Board of Episcopal Social Ministries, chaired the Commission on Human Needs and the Community Services Committee, and, beginning in 1979, was a lay deputy at five general conventions.
In 1988, she helped to establish the Baltimore chapter of the Court Appointed Special Advocate program and served as chairperson of its advisory board until 1990.
Community involvement was second nature to Vivian. She was the first president of the National Alliance Concerned with School-Age Parents, and chairperson of the Governor’s Commission on Children and Youth. She was a member of the Maryland Governor’s Task Force on Teenage Pregnancy, and chaired the subcommittee on Prevention.
Her honors included the United Way Community Services Committee Hall of Fame, Maryland’s Outstanding (Episcopal) Church Woman, and Towson University’s Office of Minority Affairs’ Distinguished Black Marylander’s Award.
As if all her professional, religious, and community service was not enough, Vivian also found time to be involved in her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, including twice directing the national convention.
