Obituary for Harry Cecil Ward

Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)

February 6, 1991

 

(not included) Photo of Harry Cecil Ward

Edition:  Fourth

Section:  Obituaries

Page:  C04

 

Harry Cecil Ward, a former president of the Portland chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, died of lung cancer Saturday in his Northeast Portland home.

 

He was known for his steady and unflappable style of promoting civil rights. Mr. Ward served as president of the Portland chapter of the NAACP from 1959 until 1962 and was active in the sometimes turbulent battles to win fair employment practices for blacks in the Northwest during the early 1960s.

 

Recalling the trailblazing era during a 1979 interview with a writer for The Oregon Journal, he said he felt his greatest achievement was in bringing blacks into the white-dominated work force.

 

In 1962, he led one of the first major challenges against school segregation in Oregon. The protests proved unsuccessful in halting the practice but had enough of an impact that a special committee on race and education was formed to look into the issue.

 

Mr. Ward was born Sept. 16, 1913, in Muskogee, Okla., where he was raised and graduated from high school. He earned his bachelor's degree from Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, and taught in Arkansas and Oklahoma. He was one of the first black juvenile-probation officers in Tulsa, Okla., a position he had for 15 years.

 

After moving to Portland in 1954, he was an Alcoholics Anonymous counselor before spending 12 years as a caseworker for the Oregon Welfare Department.

 

In 1968, Mr. Ward became the first black employee representative for the Oregon State Employment Association. He retired because of disability in 1978.

 

Mr. Ward later was director of the Portland Model Cities program for several years and was chairman of the Community Coalition for School Integration for three years until the organization disbanded in 1980.

 

He continued to serve on the NAACP board for 34 consecutive years, and was a board member for the Business Men's Club and Emanuel Hospital & Health Center. He had been a commissioner for the Metropolitan Human Relations Commission.

 

Additionally, he served as a director for the Boys Clubs of America and was an active member of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

 

Mr. Ward was honored with the Russell A. Peyton Human Relations Award by the Metropolitan Human Relations Commission in 1979 for his outstanding commitment and service to human rights and his many years of involvement and leadership in civil-rights issues.

 

Services will be at 1 p.m. Friday in Mt. Olivet Baptist Church. Burial will be in Rose City Cemetery.

 

The family suggests remembrances be contributions to the Harry C. Ward Memorial Scholarship Fund in care of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church.

 

Submitted by L. Kemp 

Obituary of a former President of the Portland Chapter of the NAACP.