Davida Natalie Blake Riedel Obituary (1925 - 2005)

Born Jan 06, 1925, Davida Natalie Blake Riedel attended Charlevoix High School in Charlevoix, MI. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Davida Natalie Blake Riedel.

Graduation Year	Class of 1943
Date of Birth	Jan 06, 1925
Date of Passing	Feb 28, 2005
About	Davida Blake RIEDEL Departed life here on the snowy evening of Monday. February 28th, 2005. She was predeceased by her husband Rev. Paul Riedel. Davida was a very dynamic woman who loved helping people. As a grad student at the U. of Chicago she was commended on her work at a Chicago community center and summer "Y" camp working with impoverished children and their families. Davida credited her family and upbringing in the Congregational Church Charlevoix, Mich. with shaping her love of helping people and promoting human rights. She received her B.S. at Mich. State U. and completed her graduate degree in Guidance, Magna Cum Laude at Columbia U. She worked as Assistant to the Dean of Students at Hunter College before moving with her mother and two small children to Moorestown. Davida worked many years as a high school guidance counselor at Lenape H.S., Burl. H.S., Kennedy H.S. and Triton Reg. H.S. She also worked as a consultant for the state helping set up the pilot program, "Day Care 100". She did social work for "Mi Casita" in Camden and several other centers for children in Trenton and S. Jersey. Davida was an activist marching for Peace and for Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy. She demonstrated in the Capitol and petitioned in Utah in support of the ERA as well as being an early member of the Alice Paul NOW group in Moorestown. Davida was a supporter of the Black People's Unity Movement and West End Play Ground in Moorestown. She supported her husband Paul in his work as the founding pastor of the Church of the Savior in Paramus, NJ. She also played the organ, sang and taught at the Lutheran School there. She loved decorating, poetry, the arts, nature, and animals. Davida's memory will be celebrated in thankfulness by all who knew her and by her son Matthew Riedel and his wife Rosemarie, granddaughters Alexandra and Blake Riedel and Sarah Hughes and daughter Marianne Hughes, as well as her dear childhood friend, Joan Nelson. A memorial service will be held Saturday, March 12, 3:00 pm at St. Matthew Lutheran Church. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to the Am. Diabetes Foundation, Lourdes Hosp., Willingboro or Lutheran Seminary in Phila.