Deborah Cannon Partridge Wolfe remembered for her dedication to the township, civil rights and more.
By: Bill Greenwood
MONROE When Ruth Banks, a member of the Monroe Township League of Women Voters, went to visit Deborah Cannon Partridge Wolfe in the hospital one day, Dr. Wolfe asked her to "please see that my legacy is preserved."
Now, Ms. Banks is doing exactly that.
On Monday, the LWV, the Monroe Township Library, the Monroe Board of Education and the Monroe Township Commission on Human Relations will launch a project meant to honor Dr. Wolfe’s legacy with a presentation from Paula Marie Seniors, an assistant professor of African-American studies at the College of New Jersey.
Dr. Seniors will discuss the image of black female performers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Presentations on other topics dealing with African-American culture are hoped to be made an annual occurrence.
The multifaceted project also includes compiling a black history educational resource guide, establishing the Dr. Wolfe Legacy Endowment Fund to underwrite future programs, and preparing a memory book of her life.
"We felt she was a role model who deserved to have her legacy remembered," Ms. Banks said.
"We’re hoping that people will be inspired to overcome some of the barriers they’re facing in life, and maybe this will help a little," she said.
A civil and human rights advocate, champion of public education and supporter of numerous religious groups, Dr. Wolfe made a difference on both national and local stages before she died on Sept. 3, 2004, at the age of 87.
In Monroe, Dr. Wolfe served as vice president of the LWV of Monroe Township and also served as the organization’s director of social policy. She was a member of the Fire District Study Committee and chairwoman of the Building Unity in the Community Committee, which aimed to create township pride.
Dr. Wolfe was the first black woman to serve as a trustee of Science Service, which conducted the Westinghouse Science Awards; the first black professor at Queens College; the first black woman to be ordained by the American Baptist Association; the first black person to serve on the national board of the American Association of University Women; and the first black woman to represent Church Women United at the United Nations, among other achievements.
"She has unbelievable energy to do the things that she did," Roy Partridge, Dr. Wolfe’s son, said.
Those who knew Dr. Wolfe said she was a great friend and mother who was not afraid to speak her mind and accepted others no matter who they were or what their beliefs.
Ms. Banks, who worked with Dr. Wolfe at the LWV, said she was a "thoughtful, forceful and forthright" person who commanded attention wherever she went.
"When she spoke, she didn’t need a microphone," Ms. Banks said. "She just dominated the room."
She added that Dr. Wolfe had a knack for getting straight to the point and not allowing outside factors to cloud her judgment.
"She was very intelligent," Ms. Banks said. "She cut right through to the issues at hand, got right to the heart of it."
Sidna Mitchell, who met Dr. Wolfe in the early 2000s while delivering flowers to her house from the Rossmoor Community Church, said she was a great mentor for her, even though they shared drastically different political views. Ms. Mitchell is a Republican, and Dr. Wolfe was a Democrat.
"She just really accepted people for who they were," she said.
Ms. Mitchell said she would often go to Dr. Wolfe for advice whenever she was offered a new position around town. She said it was Dr. Wolfe’s devotion to religion that caused her to take on so many different responsibilities and advised Ms. Mitchell to do the same.
"She was deeply religious, and she really believed that God would make a way if it was meant to be," she said. "I think a lot of people these days hesitate doing things, even simple things, just because they’re not ready to go over and around those obstacles. (Dr. Wolfe) was never afraid to go ahead."
Dr. Partridge, Dr. Wolfe’s only son, said that from his mother, he learned the value of education and religion above all else. He said he has taken those lessons to heart and now teaches sociology at Bowdoin College in Maine. He also was a priest at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Windham, Maine, until a year ago, when he began working full time at the college.
"Those values are very well instilled in me," he said.
Dr. Partridge said one of his fondest memories of his mother is when she took him on a trip around the world that completely turned his life upside down. Rather than visit European countries on their trek, the two went to New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Liberia.
"That trip changed my life because for the first time in my life I understood the world not in European terms but in terms of that the world is actually dominated by people of color, particularly Asian people," he said. "It’s expanded my understanding of what the world really was."
Dr. Partridge said he was happy to see his mother honored and planned to drive down from Maine to attend the Monday ceremony. He said he hoped people would leave the ceremony inspired to continue his mother’s work.
"Her life was dedicated to serving the betterment of human kind, and I hope that they can carry that home in their own life," he said.

