Our dear friend, Margie Daffey has passed on.

Margie Daffey showed up on our doorstep when we asked for people to join us for the Voting Rights March the Rev. Jesse Jackson held in Atlanta in August 2005. It was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. Margie had been a supporter of Columbus School Board member Bill Moss and shortly before we left for the march, Bill unexpectedly passed away.

Margie became a very active member of our election integrity movement in Columbus. In 2006, Margie was the key signature-gatherer for my campaign for Ohio Governor. In one day alone at Columbus State, she talked over 1000 students into signing my petition to get on the ballot. After she helped me on the ballot, she drove me all over the state of Ohio for campaign events in her white Lincoln.

Margie had many talents: driving, cooking, signature-gathering, but particularly the woman could sing and play piano. She was the yearly indominable highlight at the Martin Luther King, Jr. alternative breakfast each year, sponsored by James Moss and the Police Officers for Equal Rights. Margie organized for Obama and got to have lunch with him, she was very active in her church, she helped build houses in Haiti, and was a regular at the Free Press Second Saturday salons. Everyone will miss her deviled eggs. The Free Press chose her as our Libby Award winner for Lifetime Achievement in Community Activism.

But Margie didn’t volunteer for social justice causes to win awards. Margie was always ready to fight for voting rights and all human rights. She worked behind the scenes in a selfless, dedicated manner, but was always a lot of fun. In her honor, we will not only mourn her loss, but we will organize.