Literacy pioneer Ruth Colvin is being remembered by those who are continuing her seven-decade legacy of teaching people to read and write. She died Sunday at age 107. Literacy CNY Executive Director Joshua Staph first met Colvin a few years ago via zoom during the pandemic. He says they still use many of the same methods Colvin established with volunteers in the early 1960’s.
“It's not about memorization, it's about actually learning and testing," Staph said. "And her model was also meeting the people who needed your services where they could and at the level that they were at, all being very individually designed based on the student. We still do that today.”
Colvin started Literacy Volunteers of America, which grew to serve people across the nation and the world. Staph says she traveled widely with her husband, setting up literacy programs in 52 countries.
“Ruth went to South Africa During the apartheid and she was teaching black South Africans how to read and she almost got in trouble for doing that," Staph said. "She told us an amazing story about her going to a jail in Zimbabwe to help set up a literacy program there.”
Colvin’s organization became ProLiteracy after a merger in 2002, and still operates in Syracuse. She continued her advocacy until the very end, serving as a board member on both ProLiteracy and Literacy CNY.
Colvin received numerous honorary degrees for her work. In 2006, she also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush.
Colvin also wrote a dozen books about her life and travels. She was predeceased by her husband, Bob, who died in 2014 at age 99. They were married 73 years.
Click the listen button above to hear the full interview with Joshua Staph.
