Longtime Elgin resident Ina Dews was known for her community activism, candor and quilting skills.
“She loved Elgin. She loved politics. She made sure politics worked for the people. And she loved family,” said Dews’ nephew, state Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago.
Dews, the mother of six, died Wednesday, a day after her 85th birthday. Funeral arrangements were still being made as of Thursday, family members said.
“She was a strong woman of courage,” said Dews’ niece, Barbara Williams, of Chicago.
Elgin Mayor Kaptain said he knew Dews for about 25 years.
“We’ll miss Ina. She was quite a woman,” he said. “She was outspoken and sometimes confrontational, but she liked to be challenged. She was not much afraid of anyone.”
Elgin Housing Authority Board Chairwoman Ruth Stephens befriended Dews after Dews and her family moved from Chicago to Elgin in 1964. The two worked together on various public housing-related matters over the decades.
“Ina loved activism, fighting for what she felt was right and the social justice world. She was very much a part of that movement,” Stephens said.
Mae Hicks Jones, who now lives in St. Charles, said she met Dews in the 1990s through their mutual involvement with the Elgin Human Relations Commission.
“I was a young mom at the time, and I remember thinking, ‘Who is this feisty woman?’ Ina had an opinion about everything. The more I listened, though, the more I heard that she was looking out for those without a voice,” Hicks Jones said.
In 2015, while taking part in an oral history project at the Gail Borden Public Library, Dews said, “In Chicago, if you had enough money, you could buy a place to live. But in Elgin you could have a pocket full of money and not be able to find a place to live because, unless you were seeking real estate in a certain few neighborhoods, white owners and Realtors would refuse to deal with a black buyer.”
Elgin City Councilwoman Tish Powell noted that Dews was known not only for her brutal honesty and social activism, but also for her artistry, particularly in making quilts.
“She had quilts that had been passed down through her family, and made many quilts (as well). Those quilts all tell stories,” Powell said. “I hope they make their way to the Elgin History Museum for preservation. They’re a part of Elgin’s history and Ina’s legacy.”
Dews donated three quilts to the Illinois State Museum in Springfield in 2008, one of which she made when she was 15 and the others made by aunts who taught her quilt-making. Those were the first quilts made by Black people to be added to the museum’s collection.
She participated in religious missions that took her to the Imbabazi Orphanage in Gisenyi, Rwanda, in 2007, during which she taught crocheting and quilting to children, and Zimbabwe in 1996, where she shared her passion for knitting and quilting with street vendors and learned new stitches.
Dews’ local involvement over the years also included helping at the summer Downtown Harvest Market and assisting with the city’s annual Martin Luther King Day commemorations.
“I was proud to serve with her on the HRC and the King Day committee. Elgin has lost a formidable woman,” said Danise Habun.
When healthy, Dews frequently attended city council meetings.
“One of my fondest memories of my mother is seeing her crocheting at a council meeting, sitting there, keeping everyone in line,” said John Martin, of Elgin, one of Dews’ six grown children.
“My mom really tried to help people as much as possible,” he said. “She always pushed people to do better in life.”
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
