Sue Delves, 1st Female BAPA Leader, Was 'Crusader For Diversity'

CHICAGO, IL - Many local organizations are mourning the recent death of Sue Howard Delves, an icon in the Beverly neighborhood. Delves, the first female president of the Beverly Area Planning Association and an integral part of ensuring the neighborhood's integration, died on July 18 at age 89.

"She was wonderful to work with," said Grace Kuikman, communications manager for BAPA and the Beverly Arts Center. "It is hard to put into words how much she meant to everyone she worked with."

In addition to serving as the first female president of BAPA during the early 1980s and the first female board member at Beverly Bank, Delves was also the president of the PTAs for Kellogg Elementary School and Morgan Park High School, chairman of District 18 Education Council and head of MPHS Community Council.

She was a local historian, involved with the Ridge Historical Society as president and an active and prominent member of the Morgan Park United Methodist Church. She helped establish the Beverly Arts Center in 1968 and was also a leader with the Ridge Service Guild, Infant Welfare Society, Morgan Park Women’s Club and Smith Village Residents Council.

"She was a model for how to stay committed when you love a community," Kuikman said.

An obituary from the Donnellan Funeral Home described Delves as "a crusader for diversity, inclusion and community improvement." She was an integral part of the 1960s movement to ensure Beverly-Morgan Park would be an integrated community.

Never afraid of controversy, she was once quoted as saying, “I think we are intelligent enough to live with integration.”

She and her husband, Gene lived together in North Beverly for 60 years.

Photo: Sue Delves sits in front of her zippy little BMW convertible. The car, with its license plate "SUZJOY," was often seen throughout the neighborhood / Provided