Items from the late Rev. Lonnie Kwajo A. Simon’s collection to be sold
By LINDA M. LINONIS
YOUNGSTOWN
History buffs and followers of Mahoning Valley notables will find items of interest in a sale during the Christmas Marketplace this weekend at New Bethel Baptist Church, 1507 Hillman St.
Articles from the collection of the late Rev. Lonnie Kwajo A. Simon’s collection and travels will be featured during the marketplace from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday in Dukes Fellowship Hall. There also will be a soup-and-sandwich sale.
The Rev. Kenneth Simon, New Bethel pastor and son of the late pastor, said the marketplace is in its fifth year or so. “It started out as an African marketplace,” he said. “I focused on Ujima, one of the principles of Kwanzaa that’s about cooperative economics.”
The marketplace, he said, provided a place for local vendors to sell various items, some handmade. “The idea was to empower the community from within ... and support local vendors.”
As for the Simon items, the Rev. Mr. Simon said his mother, Florence, said “it was time” to begin to disperse her late husband’s eclectic collection. Mr. Simon said he and his three sisters have taken personal mementoes as keepsakes.
This sale, Mr. Simon said, is the first of others to come. “I’ve just scratched the surface of what my father collected,” he said.
Another sale will take place near Rev. Lonnie Simon’s birthday, March 23. Mr. Simon said the church usually honors the late pastor on the fourth Sunday in March.
“The sale is a way to share his history and legacy,” Mr. Simon said. Proceeds will go to the special project fund, Mr. Simon said, for church endeavors.
The Rev. Lonnie Simon was 87 when he died Oct. 29, 2012, and was pastor emeritus of New Bethel, where he served from 1962 to 1995. He was a chant leader in the 1963 March on Washington, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke, and during the 1965 civil-rights marches on Montgomery, Ala., also with Dr. King.
In the Valley, he is remembered as a pillar of the community and forward thinker. He was a pioneer in assisting women in the ministry and believed churches had a responsibility to work outside the walls. Rev. Lonnie Simon’s legacy continues through the Martin Luther King Planning Day Committee.
Mr. Simon said his father traveled throughout the United States and visited Egypt, Africa, South America and the Holy Land. Wherever he visited, he found articles that interested him. “Some items are from mission trips he took,” Mr. Simon said.
Mr. Simon said his father visited Ghana “in search of his roots.” He became acquainted with the Fonte Tribe with whom he discovered familial ties. Rev. Lonnie Simon changed his name to Kwajo, meaning Monday, because of his birthday.
Articles from Africa include clothing, statues and walking canes. From Egypt, there are unique and colorful drawings on papyrus.
There is a multitude of books, many on African history and the role of the black church. Mr. Simon said some will go to create a Simon library within the church library. Others will be sold, including books of his poetry. There are some framed poems he wrote and signed, which also will be for sale.
Also available will be DVDs made by a reunion choir at the church in October 2012. The choir re-recorded the album “God Can,” which Rev. Lonnie Simon spearheaded in the late 1970s or early 1980s.