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About Flo Ware
Florasina
Ware - a Tribute by Mary T. Henry
Florasina Ware (1912-1981) was
the quintessential activist, known in Seattle for raising a strong and
logical voice on behalf of children, the elderly, and the poor.
Flo Ware (the name by which she
was known) was born in Fort Worth, Texas on December 7, 1912. She moved
about with her family in a specially equipped railroad car provided by
the company for which her father worked. Until high school she never
went to the same school for more than a few months. She attended college
for a short time, married, and moved to Tacoma.
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She moved to Seattle in 1947 and in the early 1950s, dissatisfied
with the quality of Central Area schools, decided to press school
officials to work harder for improvements. She was arrested once for
passing out leaflets in front of Horace Mann Elementary School. She
continually agitated in a calm, positive manner for academic improvement
in the Central Area public schools, for quality health care for the
aged, and for more employment opportunities for the poor. |
For the Children, For the Old
Flo Ware
was known to be a very secure person with little interest in material
possessions, but her concern for the less fortunate caused her to spend
countless hours on their behalf. She represented Seattle in numerous
national conferences on programs from Head Start to projects in support
of the aged. She served on innumerable national and local boards and
received over 75 awards for her community work.
She was an organizer of the Central Area School Board and the Foster
Parent Association. She spearheaded the Meals on Wheels Program for the
elderly and from 1968 to 1979 had a radio talk show on KRAB.
A Mother to Many Children
In addition to these community and national activities, she raised 20
foster children. She was a mainstay on the Seattle King County Economic
Opportunity Board during the War on Poverty years.
Florasina Ware died
on March 17, 1981. She is buried at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. After her
death, there was an outpouring of feeling from the Central Area
community that she be memorialized. In 1982, the tiny urban park on the
southeast corner of 28th Avenue S and South Jackson Street was named in
her honor.
Sources: Mary T. Henry. Tribute: Seattle Public Places Named for Black
People (Seattle: Statice Press, 1997), 26, 27.
www.historylink.org
- HistoryLink
is an evolving online encyclopedia of Seattle and King County history.
May 8th, 1982
was declared Flo Ware Day in her honor.
See
the proclamation signed by Charles Royer.
WHO
IS FLO WARE?
From the Leschi
News, December 1982 by Carl B. Heller |
