Ermon Fay Duschenes
Wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, humanitarian, art teacher. Born Jan. 31, 1920, in Paris, Ark. Died Jan. 30 in Westfield, N.B., of heart failure, aged 90.
Ermon Fay Duschenes was born and raised in Paris, Ark., in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains where life was far from easy. She was one of four daughters of Guy Johnson, a coal miner and operator, and Ora Ermon Howard, a schoolteacher.
Ermon Fay was educated at the College of the Ozarks, which was founded by her great-grandfather, a Scot-Presbyterian preacher, and received a degree in community art from Berea College in Kentucky.
After graduating, Ermon Fay joined her older sister, Zilphia, a talented musician, and her brother-in-law, Myles Horton, at the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tenn. Highlander was founded in 1932 by Myles, a well-known educator considered by many to be the father of the civil rights movement. As Ermon Fay summarized, the purpose of Highlander was "to extend political and economic democracy in the South." It was a place that deeply influenced many, including Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy and Rosa Parks.
At the school, Ermon Fay volunteered in community, educational and musical activities. During this period, Zilphia compiled and composed the song We Will Overcome, which she later taught to Pete Seeger, who changed the words to We Shall Overcome. Although Ermon Fay liked Pete Seeger, she never quite forgave him.
In 1946, Ermon Fay attended a conference in Quebec and met a young German immigrant and architect named Rolf Duschenes. After their whirlwind romance and marriage that year, they moved to New Brunswick, where they raised five daughters: Ellis Lynn, Jennifer, Julie, Claudia Kochava and Wendy.
Ermon Fay received a bachelor of education from the University of New Brunswick and taught art in elementary and junior high schools until her retirement in 1985. With Rolf, she was a patron of the arts and a friend to local artists. Ermon Fay loved literature and the sound of words. She had a great memory for details, was knowledgeable about wildflowers and birds and was a world traveller.
She also had an extraordinary gift for friendship. Always honest, she told it like it was. She said my coffee was weak, and showed me how to make it properly. Teased for sometimes being undiplomatic, she said, "You have no idea how much I'm holding back!" We trusted her to be a friend - and a trustworthy critic.
Ermon Fay was highly suspicious of organized religion. I tried to tell her that Presbyterians were all right because we were so poorly organized. But I couldn't convince her. Justice and fairness for all - that was her religion, and especially for those who have not been given a fair share of this world's gifts.
We will miss her presence and her friendship but, alongside her, we will overcome - some day.
By Philip J. Lee, retired Presbyterian minister and Ermon Fay's friend.