Anne Constant Ewing, 78, a longtime community activist in the areas of education, health care, immigration and peace, died March 17 of pancreatic cancer at her home in Mt. Airy.
Mrs. Ewing’s entry into a wide arena of activism began in 1970, when she returned from Ethiopia with her husband, Bill, a lawyer who had been serving with the Institute for International Education. The couple, seeking to live in an integrated neighborhood, purchased a home in Mt. Airy and soon became active in the East Mt. Airy Neighbors community association.
Mrs. Ewing served several terms as president of EMAN, and her work with the organization led to service on the boards of the Mt. Airy Village Development Association (later Mt. Airy USA) and Mt. Airy Community Living.
With EMAN’s backing, she was elected to the Philadelphia board of the Regional Comprehensive Health Planning Council where she was instrumental in establishing burn centers at St. Agnes Hospital in South Philadelphia and what is now Crozer-Keystone Hospital in Chester.
A lifelong United Methodist, she joined the First United Methodist Church of Germantown (FUMCOG), serving in many areas of the church’s life, most notably as its delegate for decades to the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference. She became active in the campaign to support full LGBT equality in the church and was deeply involved in the Sanctuary Movement. Editor's note: Among many other projects, Mrs. Ewing was a founding benefactor and regular supporter of United Methodist Insight.
In 1994 she served on a FUMCOG team of official international observers at the first free elections in South Africa.
She participated in antiwar efforts throughout her life, taking part in the Pennsylvania Campaign for a Nuclear Weapons Freeze in 1983 and in monthly vigils outside the recruiting office at Broad and Arch streets in opposition to the Vietnam War.
When Philadelphia teachers went on strike in the 1980s, she turned her enclosed front porch into a “Porch School” and recruited volunteer teachers so that her daughters, Susannah and Rebecca, along with other neighborhood children could continue their education.
She also was an accomplished seamstress, making banners for demonstrations as well as clothing for her daughters and ties for her husband, and a talented cook.
Mrs. Ewing’s husband said his wife “brought a deep humanity as well as a formidable array of talents to every cause and interest.”
“If anything needed doing, she was the person to do it,” he said.
For her energy and dedication to a variety of causes, Mrs. Ewing received FUMCOG’s Racial and Social Justice Award, EMAN’s Edgar Baker Award, the Northwest Interfaith Movement Award for Advocacy and Service, and the Lee and Mae Ball Award of the Methodist Foundation for Social Action for “outstanding Christian social witness.”
Born in Oklahoma City, Okla., and raised in Independence, Mo., she received a bachelor’s degree from Radcliffe College and a master of arts in teaching from Harvard University. She had worked as an elementary school librarian at Haverford School, in Washington, D.C., and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In addition to her husband and daughters, Mrs. Ewing is survived by a brother, John E. Constant, and two granddaughters.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 24, at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, 6001 Germantown Ave. Memorial donations may be made in her memory to Reconciling Ministries Network at rmnetwork.org or to Project HOME at projecthome.org.
Walter Fox serves as articles editor for Chestnut Hill Local, a local newspaper and website for the Chestnut Hill neighborhood near Philadelphia. This article is republished with the journal's permission.