In Memory Valerie Hawthorne-Bey

9to5 staff, Board members and friends –

We are very sad to let you know that former 9to5 Colorado Board Chair and 9to5 Organizer Valerie “Imani” Hawthorne-Bey passed away last Thursday. Val was a tireless and inspiring 9to5 leader, and a very good friend to many of us. She will be greatly missed.

Val was the kind of person who radiated light and positive energy wherever she went. She helped lead 9to5 Colorado’s work around TANF reauthorization and low-income child care. Val was the chapter’s premier member recruiter – no one before or after her has signed up new members like she did. And she organized all kinds of creative actions and tactics to spread the word about 9to5 – including beautiful photo and story boards, a huge community child care forum, and door-to-door voter registration and education in the Denver housing project where she lived and at the local college where she studied. Val was the first lead plaintiff in a lawsuit to fix Colorado’s broken welfare computer system. She was also one of the first 9to5ers to present a self-care workshop for activists at our Annual Leadership Conference. Val was devoted to 9to5’s organizational mission and to the individual women who are our organization’s members and leaders.

Val was also devoted to her family. Her son Rian, who graduated from Centaurus High School last year, attended a 9to5 Annual Leadership Conference with his mom, as well as a Policy Day meeting with federal HHS officials where he was the only teenager in our contingent. Many of you remember meeting Val’s parents and brother Michael in DC and visiting their church. In recent years, Val had moved from Colorado and lived in the DC area. She came by last year’s Annual Leadership Conference to catch up with all of us and to share her wisdom, experience, joy of life and love for all of us at 9to5.

Val will be missed by all of us who knew her and loved her. She was an amazing woman.

Linda Meric, Executive Director
9to5, National Association of Working Women

Picture Valerie “Imani” Hawthorne-Bey and Linda Meric