Remembrance services will be held in Shores, Texas Sunday for Virginia May Currey, former political science professor and charter faculty member of the Women’s Studies Program, who died of pneumonia last Thursday at the age of 78.
In the 32 years that Currey was employed with the university, from 1964 to 1996, she motivated her students to take a real-world approach to learning politics by encouraging them to run for political office and to work on campaigns. She also organized and instructed the nation’s first courses in women in politics and black and white politics.
Currey’s groundbreaking educational style was not restricted to the campus classroom. Through serving as the precinct chairperson from 1970 to 1974 and as a member of the Texas State Board of Education from 1976 to 1984, Currey was able to successfully fight for eradicating racism and sexism from state-adopted textbooks.
“Because of my mother and others like her, textbooks are no longer littered with stereotypes,” daughter Ellen Currey-Wilson said.
Currey served as a delegate to the Democratic convention in 1968 and 1972 and was a founding member of the Texas Women’s Political Caucus, the National Women’s Political Caucus, the National Women’s Studies Association and the Veteran Feminists of America.
Currey’s work as an educator and activist earned her several prestigious awards, including the Wonder Woman award in 1982, which was presented to her by famed feminist Gloria Steinem, and the Friend of Freedom Award, given by the Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Currey, who was described by her daughter as “an affectionate and dedicated mother who as a widow understood first hand the challenges of raising children alone,” is survived by her sister, Margaret Paulos of Davenport, Iowa; a brother, John Anderson of Storm Lake, Iowa; two daughters, Ellen Currey-Wilson of Portland, Ore. and Amy Currey of Eugene, Ore.; a son, James Currey of Shady Shores, Texas; and five grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions can be made to the Democratic Party or the women’s studies department at Southern Methodist University.
