The death announcement of Mary Henry that appeared under my name in last week’s Wave newspaper was not the obituary I wrote. Instead, it was a mutilated version of what I wrote. Mary Henry deserves better than that. If it hadn’t been for Mary Henry, Opal Jones and Abie Robinson, I wouldn’t be the journalist I am today. I was a kid reporter 45 years ago, following them around, watching them organize poor and put-upon people, recording the myriad issues they fought to gain — one crumb at a time — some semblance of a better life for people. I was in the room with them when they Mao-Maoed the flak-catchers and pressed politicians into doing the right thing for their people. I was there for all the planning sessions, “feel good” community meetings, protests, rallies and demonstrations to acquire the things for South Los Angeles that everyone now takes for granted and which everyone now is fighting to retain or restore.

If it hadn’t been for Mary Henry and the rest of them — including Johnnie Tillman and Caffie Green — I would have had a career writing about social events or entertainment and pop culture figures or churning out “objective” mamby-pamby White people news that has no bearing on the lives of my Black readers; boring and meaningless stuff. Because of Mary Henry and them and what they were doing with their lives, I had no choice but to become an advocacy journalist and immerse myself in the side of the underdog, since that was the only news I knew. Mary Henry et al.were strong, aggressive and relevant and they’re activities required a strong, aggressive and relevant chronicler. And that was me, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.  

The following is the full text of the obituary I originally wrote and submitted to The Wave last week about a woman whose death is the biggest news in the Black community since the election of Barack Obama:  

The celebration of the life and legacy of Mary Henry — the woman who defined community service and set the feet of a whole generation on the path of selflessness — [was] held Monday [in the little Lutheran church she attended for many years.]
Henry, the nationally recognized prime mover of the country’s iconic Head Start program and one of the original advocates for the establishment of  South Los Angeles’ Martin Luther King Jr. General Hospital, died Aug. 14 of natural causes after a lengthy illness. She was 82.

Always referred to by both of her names — pronounced “Maryhenry” — she arose from the ashes of the 1965 Watts riots to become an architect of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society who helped develop and deliver his ambitious anti-poverty program throughout the nation. She was a member of Johnson’s War on Poverty Task Force, which, among many things, led to the creation of the Head Start Project to provide early childhood education and nutrition to impoverished children. Most of those anti-poverty programs have been disbanded, but Head Start remains and is universally regarded as the most successful manifestation of the government’s attempt to deliver social, psychological and economic benefits to its neediest population.

Mary Henry was already the director of the Avalon-Carver Community Center and dispensing services to the needy in South L.A. when the president tapped her to assist him. In fact, those of us who were in the mean streets of L.A. back in those days didn’t know that a center such as Mary Henry’s existed anywhere else in the world and that a center such as hers would become ground zero for the mobilization of “maximum feasible participation of the poor” in matters pertaining to their own condition. Mary Henry was the mother of community activism and she taught all of us of a certain age that we could change our lives and the lives of our neighbors.

Lawrence Rodgers, executive director of the Avalon-Carver Community Center, said Wednesday that his organization and the city of Los Angeles “has lost one of its greatest leaders, a true community activist and an outstanding advocate for the inclusion of African-Americans and other minorities in the political process. Mary Henry fought to improve the health, welfare and education of all poor people in the city, the state and the nation.”

“She believed every day of her life that we can make our dreams a reality for the coming generations, that we have to rise above division and evilness and do good for mankind,” said Lillian Mobley, a community activist of the era and a close friend of Mary Henry.
A generation of students and disciples of the Mary Henry way of doing things has followed in her footsteps and have devoted their lives to improving their communities. Among them is Tony Nicholas, director of the Tom Bradley Family Source Center, who became impressed by Mary Henry’s passion for community service 40 years ago, and has been in the business of helping others ever since he first saw her speak out at a public meeting. “At our center, we try to emulate everything Mary Henry did with Avalon-Carver,” Nicholas said.

A national civil rights and community leader immersed in health care activism, Roland Betts said: “Mary Henry was like a mother to me. Her efforts were untiring as she served as an advocate for the voiceless and for those cast aside by the system.”

Leo Hill first met Mary Henry back in the 1960s when he was trying to set up a tutorial program for junior high school students at what was then known as Slauson Park. He and Mary Henry became fast friends and fellow travelers ever since. “She was truly a matriarch,” Hill said. “She ruled her domain with compassion, acumen, love and an undying commitment to the community she served.”

Mary Henry’s impact on the community has been duly noted: The Charles R. Drew University of Medicine in Science opened the Mary B. Henry Child Development Center in 2002 and a telemedicine clinic was named in her honor that same year. She has been honored by the National Council of Negro Women, the Los Angeles Urban League, and the Brotherhood Crusade. She was named the Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year in 1967 and has been honored by three U.S. presidents — John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter.

Born Mary Elizabeth Bradshaw in Kansas on Aug. 7, 1927, she grew up in Gary, Ind., where most of her siblings still reside. She moved to Los Angeles in 1958 with her late husband, Louis Charles Henry, with whom she had four sons, one of whom — Raymond — is deceased. She is survived by sons Louis, Craig and Paul; brother, Raymond Bradshaw; sisters John Shaw and Geraldine Pye and five grandchildren.

Cliff McClain has devoted his entire life to developing and implementing programs for youth after encountering Mary Henry almost 50 years ago. He best summarizes the effect Mary Henry had on the lives of all of us who knew and worked with her:
“Ma’am was one of the female role models who helped me become the man I am in spite of myself,” said McClain, who never called her Mary Henry; he always called her “ma’am.” McClain continued: “She taught me that it does not matter how many college degrees or anything else you have, but rather how you apply your intellect, your money, your resources and your influence to better your condition and condition of those around you and to uplift those less fortunate than you.”

Requiescat in pace, Mary Henry.