Central New York is saying goodbye to a pioneer in the world of literacy.
From her home in Syracuse, to dozens of countries around the world, Ruth Colvin brought the joy of reading to thousands of people. She founded the organization Literacy Volunteers of America, which quickly expanded, and eventually merged with Laubach Literacy to become ProLiteracy.
Colvin died Sunday at the age of 107. She spoke about her work in a video for ProLiteracy at the age of 101.
"What if you couldn't read the prescription when a doctor gave it to save your child's life?” Colvin said. “What if you couldn't read the directions on a recipe or on groceries when you buy them? You don't know. So, it's important to live a life with reading."
Colvin’s work started in the 1960s when she learned from the 1960 census that 11,000 people in Syracuse were illiterate.
Executive Director of Literacy CNY Joshua Stapf said Colvin’s legacy will help fight adult illiteracy for generations to come.
"Not only does (illiteracy) impact their ability to work and make more money to help get themselves and their family out of poverty, but it also has a health impact, it has a safety impact, and it has a huge impact on their children," Stapf said.
After Colvin’s death, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh honored her, releasing a statement saying in part, “The scope and scale of what she created from her eastside City of Syracuse home is immense. Syracuse and the rest of the world owe Ruth great honor and an immeasurable debt of gratitude.”
Over the course of her life, Colvin was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
But Stapf, who met with Colvin a number of times, said she was most comfortable just sitting with her students, doing the work she loved.
"You just don't get that from when you sit down and speak with her that she has had this international impact, and that she really is a celebrity to so many other people,” he said.
Stapf said he was able to record some of Colvin’s stories, including teaching in South Africa during apartheid, starting a literacy program in a jail in Zimbabwe, and helping people right in her central New York hometown. And he said he hopes Literacy CNY will be able to continue her legacy.
"Being able to keep her philosophy of, it doesn't matter the politics around it. It doesn't matter about who's doing what. It's about helping these people to be able to function in life."
