Delta Soror Etta Phifer joins our ancestors at 104

Etta Rebecca Phifer, a retired Baltimore public schools English teacher who founded social organizations, died Tuesday of complications from a stroke at her Forest Park home. She was 104.

Born Etta Rebecca Burwell in Baltimore and raised on Druid Hill Avenue, she was a 1922 graduate of the old Colored High School on Dolphin Street. She was a classmate of Thurgood Marshall, who later became a Supreme Court justice. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Howard University.

She taught seventh-grade English at Booker T. Washington Jr. Junior High School for many years and retired nearly 40 years ago from Frederick Douglass High School, where she taught French as well as English.

“She was feisty and smart. She loved to play bridge, and she won all the time,” said Doris Cole, a former student and the widow of Judge Harry Cole, the first African-American to serve on the Court of Appeals. “She was wicked at Scrabble and crossword puzzles.”

As a young woman, Mrs. Phifer began joining social organizations and never relinquished her memberships in them. She was the fifth president, from 1929 to 1930, of the Baltimore Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

In 1997, on the 75th anniversary of the sorority, she was quoted as saying her group made “things better for people society has forgotten” in a Sun article.

She remained active in the sorority and served on its scholarship committee.

In December 1930, she joined a group of 50 friends in New York City to celebrate the Christmas holidays. They named themselves the Golden Girls and decided to reunite for social gatherings. Because they were students or recent graduates of Northeast schools, they named themselves the Gay Northeasterners. Mrs. Phifer was a founding member of the group, which now includes 12 chapters in 10 states and the District of Columbia.

She was a founder of a Baltimore chapter of the Northeasterners – the group shortened its name – in September 1948. The group added charitable undertakings, including raising money for scholarships.

“She was always well-groomed and well-dressed. At 102, she had her monthly hair appointment,” said Doris Cole, who in addition to being a close friend and former student, was also a neighbor. “She told me she would keep her mind active by reciting the alphabet backward.”

Mrs. Phifer was also an organizer of the Baltimore Chapter of the Links Inc., a women’s service organization. In 2003 she was honored as the “last living charter member” of the Baltimore chapter at a ceremony where she was given a crystal vase.

“She was the one who always set the standard for how a young lady should be,” said Roslyn L. Smith, a Links member. “She was a fine role model and always had the time to give you her insights.”

In 1957 Mrs. Phifer became one of the initial depositors in Advance Federal Savings & Loan, a financial institution organized by African-Americans to lend mortgage money and encourage thrift. She also sat on its advisory board.

Her husband of 61 years, Dr. Theodore D. Phifer, who had a practice in East Baltimore, died in 1996.

Services will be held at noon Tuesday at the March West Funeral Home, 4300 Wabash Ave.

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