Rubye M. DeWitt

Obituary For Rubye M. DeWitt

Rubye M. DeWitt, 101, a retired supervisor of speech therapists with Richmond Public Schools, died Nov. 2, 2019, in Williamsburg. A native of New York City, Mrs. DeWitt attended Virginia State College, where she met her future husband, Harold O. DeWitt. After marrying, she completed her undergraduate degree at Virginia Union University in 1943 and later a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Teachers College. She began her teaching career in Chesterfield County in 1944. Because African-American teachers and principals were being paid less than their white counterparts, she joined two others in suing the Chesterfield School Board demanding equal pay. Represented in federal court by noted civil rights attorney Oliver W. Hill Sr., Mrs. DeWitt and the other plaintiffs won the case in 1948, with the court ruling the pay disparity unconstitutional and ordering Chesterfield to halt the practice. In the 1949-50 academic year, Mrs. DeWitt left Chesterfield for employment with Richmond Public Schools. She worked with students with speech and language impairments, and later served for many years as supervisor of RPS’ contingent of speech therapists. She and her husband, “Dee,” who had worked with the Richmond Urban League, moved in 1953 to Williamsburg, where he had been named a human resources executive with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Mrs. DeWitt continued working in Richmond, but became engaged with the Williamsburg community. An early member of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, she worked with church volunteers to start in 1965 the Williamsburg Preschool for Special Children and served as one of its first board members. That early education program for youngsters with disabilities and learning delays has since become Child Development Resources in Williamsburg, a nonprofit that helps more than 1,200 children and their families with early intervention services each year. Mrs. DeWitt also was one of the founders of An Occasion for the Arts in 1969, which has grown into an annual fall festival of art and music in Williamsburg. She also was a longtime active member of the Newport News Chapter of The Girl Friends Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. and two bridge clubs. She and her husband, who died in 1990, lost their only child, Carolyn, to a brain aneurysm in 1963. They established a scholarship fund at her alma mater in her memory. Mrs. DeWitt is survived by cousins who love her and close friends who are like family. They include cousins Betty Jones of Bel Air, Md., Eric Wright of Woodbridge, Va., and their late sister Carolyn French of Silver Spring, Md.; cousins Allyson McKithen of Alexandria, Va., Lauren Hill of Frederick, Md., and Jacqueline Young of Sarasota, Fla.; and Macie C. Johnson of Charles City County, Va., and Barbara Blayton Richardson and Oscar and Bonnie Winston Blayton, all of Williamsburg. Remains rest at Scott’s Funeral Home, 115 E. Brookland Park Blvd. Funeral services will be held 1 p.m. Saturday, November 16, at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 1333 Jamestown Road in Williamsburg. Interment Cedar Grove Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made as donations to the Carolyn Lee DeWitt Memorial Scholarship Fund, Cedar Crest College, Allentown, Pa. 18104.