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Dee, a renowned activist and an acclaimed actress on both stage and screen, died in her New Rochelle home in June. Her work spanned more than 50 years, from when she starred in “The Jackie Robinson Story” in 1950 to the Denzel Washington-driven “American Gangster” just seven years ago.
The actress and her husband, playwright/actor Ossie Davis, constantly were raising social consciousness. In 1963, they served as masters of ceremony at the March on Washington and were awarded the Presidential Medial for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts in 1995.
In his speech renaming the park, New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson said it wasn’t what Dee did on the screen or in the streets that made her special to the city, but how important she was to the community.
“She was not simply a resident of this community. She was a pillar of this community, a builder of this community who worked to ensure that the same values she championed all across our country were expressed fully here in the place she called home,” he said.
Bramson said that along with her husband, Dee helped improve the quality of the public school district, helped ensure the local library's survival and was an active participant in local government.
“She could have sat back and sipped the wine, or as was noted in her memorial service, she could have sipped the vodka,” he joked. “Instead, she chose to labor in the vineyard. She chose to thrust her hands in the soil and call forth life.”
The celebration of the great thespian will continue in New Rochelle over the weekend, as the library hosts a film festival featuring some of Davis and Dee’s finest work.
“Our parents were true New Rochelleans for more than 50 years and were always proud to call this beautiful city home,” the family said in a statement. “For us, growing up in New Rochelle was a wonderful experience. To have our mother recognized in this manner, right next to the Ossie Davis Theatre in the Library complex, is both touching and meaningful to all of us.”
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