Clarice Durham Obituary

Durham, Clarice D. 98, educator, arts patron, social activist, philanthropist, and world traveler died peacefully in her home on April 20. Beloved wife of the late Richard Durham; loving mother of Mark (Octavia) Durham; grandmother of Malaika (Sean) Durham Tyson and Maya (Ivan) Durham Rayner; great-grandmother of Justin and Cameron Tyson; cherished aunt of many nieces and nephews; and devoted friend to many. Preceded in death by parents Robert and Clara Mae Williams Davis, sister Marguerite Davis and brothers Warner, Robert, and Charles Davis. Clarice was born in Mobile, AL on November 12, 1919 and moved with her family to Chattanooga, TN in 1924. After their parents died a year apart, the Davis children came to live with their maternal grandfather, Charles R. Williams in Chicago in 1931. Clarice attended Doolittle elementary school and graduated valedictorian of her DuSable High School class in 1937. She earned an Associate degree from Wilson Junior College, B.E. from Pestalozzi-Froebel Teachers College, M.A. from Roosevelt University, and studied at Chicago Teachers College, University of Chicago, and Northwestern University. From 1958 to 1990, she worked for the Chicago Public Schools, teaching kindergarten and Head Start and retiring as Head Start district coordinator. She was chair of the Parents Association of the Student Woodlawn Area Project (SWAP), a member of Teachers for Quality Education, and served on education committees for the late Congressman Charles A. Hayes and the Southside Branch NAACP. She also volunteered as a tutor for Literacy Chicago. Clarice campaigned for justice for the Scottsboro Boys; African American teens falsely accused of raping two white women and sentenced to death in Alabama in 1931. She attended the 1948 founding convention of the Progressive Party of presidential candidate Henry Wallace, the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and was active in Harold Washington's Chicago mayoral campaigns. She was co-chair of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and treasurer of the Chicago Branch of the National Anti-Imperialist Movement in Solidarity with African Liberation (NAIMSAL). She was a board member of the Mary Herrick Scholarship Fund, and chair of the play reading committee for eta Creative Arts Foundation. Her honors include awards from Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Department of Human Services, Chicago Association for the Education of Young Children, Vivian Harsh Research Collection of the Chicago Public Library, NAIMSAL, eta Creative Arts Foundation, and others. Clarice enjoyed trips with family and friends to Africa, Asia, Europe, Brazil, the Caribbean, and throughout the US. She also donated generously to support education, civil rights, social justice, political empowerment, and other progressive causes. A celebration of her life will be held Saturday, May 19. Prepast 12:30 p.m., memorial service at 2:00 p.m. at A.A. Rayner & Sons Funeral Home, 318 E. 71st St., Chicago, IL. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to eta Creative Arts Foundation, DuSable Museum of African American History, Vivian Harsh Collection of the Chicago Public Library, Mary Herrick Scholarship Fund and the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.