Pearl Campbell

Campbell, Pearl SARATOGA SPRINGS Pearl Posey Campbell, Ph.D., longtime educator and activist for peace, interfaith cooperation, ecology, labor, and social justice, died Monday, December 18, 2006 at Wesley Health Care in Saratoga Springs. She was 96. Dr. Campbell (usually just "Pearl" to everyone) received a number of awards for her service and achievements over her lifetime, including being part of an exhibit of vitae and photographs honoring "Women Who Have Made History in Albany" organized in 1992 by the American Association of University Women. Born Pearl Mae Posey in Chattano-oga, Tenn., in 1910 to Adella Jarvis Posey and Jacob Posey, Pearl was valedictorian of her high school class in Soddy, Tenn. In Pearl's senior year of high school, she won first place among girls in Tennessee for 4-H achievements and was sent to Washington, DC, to meet the winners from other states and President Hoover. At State Teachers College in Tenn. where she did part of her undergraduate work, Pearl played a leading role in 1931 in a comedy alongside Albert Gore, Sr. (U.S. senator from Tennessee 1953-1971 and father of the recent presidential candidate Al Gore). Both she and Gore were praised highly in a review at that time. About Pearl the critic said, "The Posey maid is good...naïve and appealing as can be.... She got more laughs than any...." Pearl received her B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Tennessee and her Ph.D. from Cornell University. Her dissertation on programmed learning was considered ground-breaking and was a precursor to computer-based learning programs. She was a member of the following scholastic honor societies: Phi Kappa Phi, Omicron Nu, and Pi Lambda Theta. She served for four years on the board of the Alumni Association of Cornell University's College of Human Ecology. Over her career, Pearl taught at every level-from a year of teaching grade school, where she met her husband-to-be, James B. Campbell (the principal of the school), to junior and senior high school, to university level. Her final professional position was as associate supervisor of the Bureau of Home Economics at the State Department of Education from 1969 to 1980, where she coordinated curriculum, conducted teacher workshops, planned and helped start career education in New York schools, and worked with adult education, the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), occupational education for incarcerated youth, programs targeted to pregnant teenagers, and the NYS Future Homemakers of America (in gratitude, she was presented a lifetime membership by the national FHA). During her 30 years in Albany, Pearl and her husband, Jim, were ecumenical activists for peace and social justice in many arenas, receiving in 1986 the Carlyle-Adams Ecumenical Award (named for the late religious editor of the Albany Times-Union) from the Capital Area Council of Churches (CACC). Pearl served as co-chair for nine years with Jim, and then as chair for eight years, of the Peace and Justice Committee of the CACC. After Jim's death in 1989, the James and Pearl Campbell Peace and Justice Award was established to honor someone each year in the Albany area who has contributed an exceptional amount towards peace and justice. One of the recipients of the award was Donna DeMaria of the Homeless Action Committee, another project for which Pearl was an ardent supporter, and to which people can contribute in Pearl's honor if they wish. In 1988, the regional Troy Conference of the United Methodist Church gave Pearl and Jim their "Peace with Justice" award. In 1993, the Interdenominational Ministers Conference of the Capital District presented Pearl an award for "Dedicated Christian Service to Church and Community." Pearl participated in civil rights marches (1963 and 1983 in Washington and later ones in Albany) and lunch-counter sit-ins, efforts to end apartheid, labor research and organizing, and a great variety of other efforts to further peace and help the disadvantaged. Pearl and her husband, Jim, were part of a peace mission to Moscow with the American Friends Service Committee. They were members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the Midwest and in Albany, and Pearl continued an active membership (and at times was on the board of directors) until she was 90 and no longer able to drive. Some of the other organizations to which Pearl devoted her time and energy included the Albany Methodist Society (an inner-city youth project in which Pearl was active for many years and served as vice-president at one point), the Labor and Religion Coalition (from which she received the Joseph Powers-Jeanette Dworkin Memorial Award for "Dedication to Social Justice and Worker Dignity" in 1997) and its newsletter Solidarity Notes, Church Women United, the Interfaith Social Action Coalition of Albany, Uptown Churches, United Methodist Women, the United Nations Association (for which she served on the board of directors), and the Coalition for Native Rights and Survival (she had some Native American ancestry). Each summer through 1996, she attended with extended family (and often helped organize) the Ecumenical Conference at Silver Bay on Lake George. She is a member of the People for the American Way and she belonged to Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, the Cousteau Society, and other ecological organizations. An advocate for daily exercise and balanced nutrition, Pearl found time, after finishing her doctorate and coming to Albany, to work out and run daily (running ten miles for the first time at age 60). In 1975, Pearl received the "Woman of the Year" award from the New York State Education Department Physical Fitness Heart Disease Intervention Program. A consumer activist, she lobbied in state legislatures for better food and drug protection and was a member of the New York State Legislative Forum. Up to her last days, she had a copy of Best Pills, Worst Pills on her shelf and took almost no medication. Pearl is survived by four children, Jeanie Campbell Powell of Lambertville, N.J., Wanda Blynn Campbell of Mont Laurier, Quebec, Malcolm Bernard Campbell of Berkeley, Calif. and Marilala (Laila) Campbell Millar of San Jose, Calif. She is survived by five grandchildren, Jason Robert Powell of London, England, Beth Lynn Robinson of Lambertville, Ayesha Monica Cisneros of Mont Laurier, Anne Posey Millar of Muir Beach, Calif. and Rowan Campbell Millar of San Jose. She is survived by two great-grandchildren, Lukas and Katie Robinson. A memorial service is planned for Wednesday, December 27, at 11:00 at the Activity Room on the first floor at Wesley Health Care in Saratoga Springs. Burial will be next to her husband in Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands. Arrangements are by Meyers Funeral Home, Delmar. Contributions in Pearl's honor can be made to the Capital Area Council of Churches, the Homeless Action Committee in Albany, or the Albany Chapter of the NAACP. Pearl's obituary and a guest book where people can write memories of Pearl is on line at www.timesunion.com Click obituaries at the left, then select Pearl Campbell in the list that appears.