AFSCME Retiree, 92, Doesn’t Let Age Slow Activism
by Clyde Weiss | December 19, 2012
AFSCME retiree Roslyn Sims. (Photo by Richard Lenhart)
People noticed when AFSCME retiree Rosyln Sims showed up at the Central Labor Council office in Youngstown to volunteer at the election phone bank. After all, a 92-year-old woman making phone calls to get out the vote for President Obama’s re-election wasn’t a common sight during the campaign.
For those who know her, however, her efforts were not a surprise. “Mom’s been an activist all of her life, and has been active in the Ohio AFSCME Retiree Chapter 1184, Subchapter 118,” says Joe Sims.
Rosyln is among the oldest of the hundreds of AFSCME retiree-members who volunteered for campaign activities throughout Ohio and across the country last month. Her age never slowed her.
“We probably went down there three or four days a week,” says Joe, who spent more than a month in Ohio with his mother working on the campaign. The two wanted to do what they could to help the President and other progressive candidates, but door-knocking was beyond her means so she worked the automatic phone system that dialed the numbers for her.
“There’s no coincidence why she was there. I believe she was sent by God to keep morale up.” said Richard Bailey, international representative for the Plasterers and Cement Masons union, who ran the campaign office. “It was a motivation for everybody there, including myself. You think, if she can do this every day, we can do it.”
“I was delighted to be able to participate in the election campaign, together with my son, to re-elect President Obama,” Rosyln said. “I think that, for the first time, we had a President who – and I want to include his wife as well – understood the problems of the average person who works for a livelihood. I felt we all benefitted from the passage of the health care bill, which is very important in the lives of people who work for a living.”
Rosyln, a librarian for the Youngstown City Schools before she retired, has activism in her blood, says her son. “Her mother was very active back in the ‘30s and ‘40s.”
“If you’re not satisfied with the conditions under which you live, do something about it,” says Rosyln. “I tried to.”
Will she volunteer in the next Presidential election four years from now? “Well, if I’m around, yes,” she laughs. “Absolutely.”
For many campaign activists, the fight for working families continued past Election Day. Add your voice to those calling on Congress to protect the middle class with jobs, not cuts.
