Harding, Rosemarie Freeney (1931-2004)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2004 Apr 12 p. 6

Birth date: 1931

text of obituary:

Leader who worked for racial justice dies at 73

By Robert Rhodes
Mennonite Weekly Review

Rosemary Freeney Harding, a longtime activist for peace and racial equality, who with her husband made an important contribution to the Anabaptist witness during the civil rights era, died march 3 in Denver. She was 73.

Harding, a native of Chicago, died of complications from diabetes.

Harding and her husband, Vincent, moved to Atlanta in 1961, where they oversaw Mennonite House, an outreach sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee where many active in the Southern freedom movement often gathered.

Though the Hardings later left the Mennonite church, their legacy continues to be felt and acknowledged.

"They really do have kind of an Olympian presence for those of us who live and work here in Atlanta," said Jonathan Larson, former pastor of Atlanta's Berea Mennonite Church. "But that ought not to keep us from taking very seriously the hard things they've said."