In memoriam.

In February, the League mourned the loss of Willie Campbell, one of our longtime League leaders. Campbell's efforts to advance the League's mission began 61 years ago when she helped establish the Indianapolis LWV. In later years, she described the League that she joined in 1945 as "the best place for an intellectual challenge ... 'It was serious volunteer work, and in terms of my life I wanted to do something serious.'" (Los Angeles Times, Feb. 10, 2006) Campbell became president of the Indianapolis League, and, in 1954, president of the Indiana LWV. She served on the LWVUS Board for 13 years from 1959-1972. In the '60s, as head of the League's Education Fund, Campbell launched voter education projects. She was instrumental in engaging the League's support for the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights movement, and participated in the first White House Conference on Civil Rights. As recently as 2002, Campbell coauthored an election reform article for The National Voter, urging the League to commit its resources to election administration problems that continue to exist 30 years after being documented in a 1972 League publication. Campbell was active in the '70s with the National Women's Education Fund, training women to become campaign managers and candidates for elected office. During those years, she moved into the international arena, serving as president and board chair of the OEF International (formerly the LWV Overseas Education Fund), to empower women in developing countries. International development remained Willie Campbell's mission for the rest of her life. She served on the board of Women, Law and Development International. In the early '90s, President Clinton appointed her vice chair of the African Development Foundation Board, a position she held until her death.