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Edna Pincham remembered
Edna Pincham Funeral
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Funeral services for longtime community activist Edna Pincham were held July 1, 2001 in Youngstown. She had a passion for children and education.
Edna Pincham Funeral
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Funeral services for community activist Edna Pincham were held July 1, 2009 in Youngstown.
‘She was an advocate, mentor and strong supporter,’ Youngstown’s school chief said of Edna Pincham at the ‘celebration of her life.’
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — FRIENDS AND FAMILY REMEMBERED Edna Pincham not only for her historical firsts in government and politics but also for her love and dedication to her community, church and numerous organizations for the less fortunate.
Wednesday’s funeral for Pincham, who died June 24 at 72, was “a celebration of her life,” said the Rev. Dr. Morris W. Lee, pastor of Third Baptist Church on Park Hill Drive. The church is where Pincham met her husband, H. Howard Pincham Sr. The two were married 52 years.
The funeral was at the church. Pincham was buried at Tod Homestead Cemetery on Belmont Avenue.
“She was an advocate, mentor and strong supporter,” said Wendy Webb, superintendent of Youngstown School District. “Our tears are selfish tears. How are we going to go on without her? Who are we going to turn to?”
Pincham was the first woman and black person to be named to the Youngstown mayor’s cabinet, serving 12 years as then-Mayor Patrick Ungaro’s administrative aide.
She was the first black woman elected to the city’s board of education, and served on it for 16 years.
Pincham was also the only black woman to run for Youngstown mayor, losing to George M. McKelvey in the 1997 Democratic primary.
Ungaro said there were times as mayor when he was “angry, hostile or cussing.” He said Pincham would tap him on the shoulder, take him into a room and the two would pray.
“She gave me hope when I needed hope,” Ungaro said. “She gave me strength when I needed strength.”
Before the funeral, Mahoning County Sheriff Randall Wellington, who was Youngstown police chief when Pincham worked for Ungaro, said: “She was a great contact person between the police department and the community. She’s going to be missed.”
Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti said before the funeral that he first met Pincham in 1991 when he was working for then-U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr.
“She was my contact and go-to person for the congressional office” at Youngstown City Hall, he said. “I dealt with her on various issues. She’d tell me, ‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it for you.’”
And she always did, Traficanti said.
Pincham was also known for the colorful hats she wore.
“Sometimes I wondered, “Did she go to bed in her hat?’” Webb said in one of the many moments of levity at Wednesday’s service.
Pincham served on many boards, including those for the Youngstown YWCA, Mahoning County Children Services, Youngstown Playhouse, Youngstown Arts Council, Youngstown Rescue Mission and Youngstown Area Community Action Council.
She was also very active at Third Baptist, and she and her family were the first ones to arrive and the last to leave each Sunday, Rev. Dr. Lee said.
Dr. Lee said he always thought that when he died that “Sister Pincham would be around to give solace and advise and comfort to my family.”
Among Pincham’s main achievements was the creation in 1997 of the Pincham Initiative Resource Center in downtown Youngstown.
The center was a volunteer organization that helped children pass the Ohio Graduation Test with a nearly 100 percent graduation rate.
She was inducted in 1993 into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame and in May into the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.