Since LIJWJ’s founding in 2003, Mary Dewar has been a dedicated member of our board. She announced her retirement this year (at age 103!) and we are proud to honor her over half-century of nursing and fighting for justice at our awards dinner! Read about her amazing life below, and head here for ticket purchases and sponsorships for our dinner!
“Mary was born and grew up in East Orange, NJ. She graduated in 1943 from Oberlin College in Oberlin Ohio with a BA. She received a Master of Nursing (MN) in 1946 from Western Reserve University (now Case WRU) Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing in Cleveland, Ohio and receiving her RN in 1946. She was a Cadet Nurse while at WRU. Later in 1972, she received a MA in Public Health Nursing from NYU and did all but the dissertation work toward a doctorate.
She worked in nursing for more than 50 years.
Her first career was as a missionary nurse for the United Church of Christ (UCC) starting in North China in 1947 – 1951, where she taught student nurses and helped run a 120-bed hospital in Taiku (now Taigu) Shanxi. She worked with Chinese colleagues and students when there was no doctor during liberation and the change from Nationalist to Communist governments in 1948-49. She was reassigned to Angola, Africa in 1951 and worked in mission hospitals in Dondi and Galangue teaching student nurses and running or helping run the hospitals without electricity or running water.
She was reassigned to Mount Silinda hospital in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where she did similar work as a missionary from 1960 – 1965. This hospital is located in the southwest corner of Zimbabwe close to the border with Mozambique.
In 1966 she moved to Worawora Hospital in Ghana for a year to substitute for another missionary nurse to help with the training of student nurses.
She was assigned in 1968 to Geneva, Switzerland to the World Council of Churches (WCC) to serve on a new Christian Medical Commission (CMC), established to survey all church medical work in the third world countries, both Catholic and Protestant. The goal was to understand the expense of operating these hospitals and to make decisions on how to improve the efficiency across multiple institutions. The churches recognized that the costs were increasing beyond the mission boards capacity. The survey was to help missions make these decisions and Mary participated in surveys in Ghana, Cameroun, and India.
In 1970 she returned to the United States and after her studies at NYU, she accepted a university teaching post at Adelphi University in the School of Nursing. She taught Community Health Nursing and Family Dynamics and Epidemiology (after taking a course at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health). She taught for 20 years and retired in 1992.
Her third career as a retired nurse led her to health policy, specifically working for universal health care (Medicare for All or Single Payer). She was on the executive board of the Long Island (LI) Coalition for a National Health Program (1990-2012), health policy point person on the LI Council of Churches (LICC) Public Issues Committee (1994, and chair 2000-2018). As chair she represented LICC on the board of LI Jobs with Justice, one of two faith-based persons on the board. She was also on the Board of District 14 of the New York Nurses Association and later president of the district (1998-2002). She was elected to the nurses’ honor society, Sigma Theta Tau International. In 2012, she was elected to the Board of the Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP, the New York metro chapter), and in 2016 was honored at a gala by this chapter. She has been a member of the American Public Health Association for more than 40 years.
In church work, she has been active since 1984 in the Garden City Community Church, United Church of Christ and has served on their Outreach and Social Responsibility Committees. The committee is responsible for identifying speakers for weekly forums on social issues. She has been their delegate for many years to the state conferences of the United Church of Christ and the local association meetings. She served from 2000-2005 on the Board of the Parish Resource Center West, in the Metro Association of New York UCC she served on the Committee of Ordination and Ministerial Standing from 2006-2012.
She resides at the Bristal in North Hills NY and is 103 years old.”
Please join us for an energizing, movement-strengthening, and worker-centered evening on Tuesday July 14th at Captain Bill’s in Bay Shore! Reserve your tickets here!
This dinner also provides important financial support for LIJWJ’s coalition building work. So if you can’t make it but would still like to support please leave a donation!
Thank you for being a friend of LIJWJ, and we’re glad to be alongside you in the fight for workers’ rights!
In solidarity,
Long Island Jobs with Justice
