Violet Pennington, recreational therapist, dance teacher, and community activist, has died at 88
She “lived to line dance,” her family said, and she made it a big component in her recreational therapy programs.
Violet Pennington, 88, of Philadelphia, creative recreational therapist, dance teacher, and community activist, died Thursday, Sept. 8, of dementia at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown.
Devoted to her community and those most in need who lived there, Mrs. Pennington spent much of her life helping seniors, young people, former inmates, and recovering drug users improve their circumstances. She worked as a recreational therapist for seniors at the Northwest Center in Nicetown-Tioga, taught dance and music lessons at Germantown House, Emlen Arms, and the Center in the Park community center, and served as a mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
She also did administrative work for Edward W. Robinson Jr., a noted Philadelphia business and civic leader, and recreational therapy with her son, writer and activist Jehron Muhammad, as he ministered to former inmates and recovering drug users. “She always wanted to help someone,” her son said. “She was activist-oriented. She came in and took control, and they followed behind her.”
A dancer and musician — she played guitar and piano — Mrs. Pennington especially liked to share her love of movement and dance. She “lived to line dance,” her family said.
Indeed, she taught line dancing at True Light Fellowship Church in East Mount Airy and the Abington YWCA and made it a staple of her therapy outreach programs. She also toured area churches with a praise dance group and made sure that her children could dance, too.
“There’s an old song, ‘Brighten the Corner Where You Are.’ That’s what Mom did … brighten the lives of others,” said Sharon Mayberry, Mrs. Pennington’s older daughter.
Born Nov. 26, 1933, in Philadelphia, Violet Delores Camp overcame her natural shyness, graduated from Murrell Dobbins Career & Technical Education High School, and earned an associate degree in applied sciences at Community College of Philadelphia in 1980. She married John Hunter and had son Jehron. After a divorce, she and Charles Wilson had daughters Sharon and Debbie.
She later married Charles Pennington. Her husband, former husband, and Wilson died earlier.
Mrs. Pennington was an official Big Sister to neighborhood children, and she organized picnics and other activities to keep folks connected. “She knew that young people needed to know that community meant family,” said her younger daughter, Debbie Kouassi.
A lifelong teacher and supportive mother, she tutored her children when they struggled at school and bought magazines to expand their reading. “She showed me the world and beyond through books,” Mayberry said
She lived in Jenkintown for a while but spent most of her life in Philadelphia. She was an expert seamstress and made many of her own clothes and snazzy outfits for her children. She liked to swim and play tennis with friends, and she followed the careers of tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams closely.
Jamaica was her favorite travel destination, and she visited Canada and most of the 50 U.S. states. She was a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and later became a church mother at True Light. “She was the spiritual force that united the family,” her family said.
She answered the telephone by saying “God’s blessing” to remind folks of the goodness in life. Her family said: “She taught by example how to show love and appreciation for one another.”
In addition to her children, Mrs. Pennington is survived by two grandsons, three great-grandchildren, two brothers, a sister, and other relatives. Two brothers died earlier.
Services were Sept. 20.