In memory of alumna Zelle Andrews
A 1960 graduate of Wheaton College, Dr. Zelle Andrews, who grew up in New Britain, Connecticut, began her four-decade career as an advocate for social change in the early 1970s, while studying for her doctorate in history at the University of Hawai‘i.
She co-founded the Honolulu chapter of the National Organization for Women and was appointed by the governor to the Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women. She also was a co-founder and president of Hawaii Women’s Liberation, and founder of the Women’s Political Caucus. She later served as president of the New York State and Westchester NOW organizations and eventually became a member of NOW's national board.
Later, during the 1970s, Andrews served as assistant director of WESPAC, a White Plains-based umbrella group for progressive activists throughout the lower Hudson Valley.
From 1980 to 1985, she was a member of the national staff of the United Church of Christ in Washington, DC, during which time she advocated on Capitol Hill for ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
She returned to Westchester where she continued her work for women’s rights and was appointed as liaison to the lesbian and gay community. In 1998 she was named Westchester’s “Woman of the Year” by the Women’s Equality Day Committee in recognition of her decades of work for women’s rights. In 2000, she was recognized by the Westchester Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union for her work in helping to create the Westchester County Human Rights Commission.
WESPAC founder Connie Hogarth, now director of Manhattanville College's Connie Hogarth Center for Social Action, described her as "brilliant," and a "gentle and loving person."
"This is a great loss to us all, and we need to nurture many more young women to follow her example and spirit," she said.