Mary Ellen Singsen, 88, Was Advocate for Peace

Mary Ellen Singsen, 88, of Edgartown, previously of Scarsdale, N.Y., and Winnetka and Glencoe, Ill., died at her home on Nov. 19.

Loved by family and many friends, she was an advocate for peace and justice from her college days at Smith to her final vigil in Edgartown and a lifelong lover of books, art and music. Mickey, as she was known, left Scarsdale this year to come live with her daughter Sarah Singsen Nevin and Bruce E. Nevin in Edgartown, where she had been a frequent visitor.

She was active on the Island with the peace council, with whom she marched in the July 4 parade and demonstrated at Five Corners, as well as with the Quaker (Friends) Meeting. Her love for the Island flourished throughout this year until cancer claimed her life.

A member of Scarsdale Friends Meeting, former clerk of Friends General Conference, and participant in many New York yearly meeting activities, she was a 30-year board member of the New York office of American Friends service committee. She also worked for peace inside the United Nations and traveled to Russia and the Far East with a group of United Nations delegates. In Westchester County, N.Y., she served on the boards of the Martin Luther King Institute, pre-trial legal services, the League of Women Voters, Scarsdale clergy association, among many others, and became well-known as a historian of Quaker activity in the county. She founded the Scarsdale campaign for peace through common security and devoted much of her time to supporting social justice, nuclear disarmament and an end to war. She served on many Scarsdale village committees as well and proposed creation of what became the Scarsdale Senior Center, where she was honored by the mayor as Scarsdale's 2006 Senior of the Year.

She was the wife of the late Antone G. Singsen and mother of the late William D. Singsen.

She is survived by two brothers, William McKee of West Covina, Calif., and Peirce McKee of Orinda, Calif.; four children, Gerry Singsen of Watertown, Sarah Ellen Nevin of Edgartown, Katrina Taggart of Overland Park, Kans., and Michael P. Singsen of San Francisco, Calif.; their spouses; eleven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Interment will be on Saturday, Dec. 2 at noon at Purchase Friends Meeting cemetery in Purchase, N.Y. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 3 at Scarsdale Friends Meeting, 133 Popham Road, Scarsdale N.Y.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The American Friends Service Committee, 15 Rutherford Place, New York, NY 10003.