S. Allen Bacon of Crosslands

S. Allen Bacon
S. Allen Bacon

S. Allen Bacon, 93, who directed several social agencies in Philadelphia and was active in peace, social justice, and environmental concerns, died Aug. 15 at Crosslands in Kennett Square, of natural causes.

A life-long Quaker, Bacon was a conscientious objector during World War II, taught at a Friends school, worked for the American Friends Service Committee and directed several neighborhood social service agencies in Philadelphia. After retirement, he served on the boards of various agencies and, along with his wife of 68 years, Margaret Hope, helped to restore an historic Quaker burial ground and its neighborhood in North Philadelphia.

He was a graduate of Westtown School, Antioch College and Harvard Graduate School of Education. He wrote in his memoirs that he was motivated by his Quaker heritage and liberal education.  His father had directed the massive AFSC child-feeding program in post-World War I Germany. At Antioch, Horace Mann's injunction to "be afraid to die until you have won some victory for humanity" permeated the curriculum and campus activities in which he and his soon to be wife were engaged.

During the WWII, he was in the government-sanctioned program for conscientious objectors, Civilian Public Service, employed as an attendant on the admission ward of a mental hospital. The doctors credited the conscientious objectors with eliminating the use of restraints and reducing the use of sedation on the wards. His wife later wrote a book, "Love is the Hardest Lesson", describing their hospital experiences working with violent patients.

He gained recognition in the social service field in his first settlement house job as community organizer at Friends Neighborhood Guild.  He designed and directed a program to reduce juvenile delinquency in a gang infested area of North Philadelphia, coordinating staff from six United Way agencies, working with gang members, their families and community.  Delinquency was reduced by 50% in the first two years of operation.  Germantown Settlement, where he was director for nine years, collaborated with the Housing and Redevelopment Authorities to build new public housing on scattered sites, rather than clearing whole blocks of housing, and demonstrated a more humane system of relocating families from condemned houses.

Bacon became director of the Greater Philadelphia Federation of Settlements, which he had helped to re-organize and which operated, through its member agencies, a number of citywide youth programs in vocational training and employment and a program for emotionally disturbed school children.  With a group of community-minded clergy, he helped form the Action Alliance for Senior Citizens, an organization that is still championing the needs and rights of the aging. While working at the William Penn Foundation, he helped design and provide initial funding to the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging.  He was also instrumental, along with his wife, in forming and obtaining support for Women's Way, a pioneer fundraising coalition of agencies providing women's health and social services.

In his last position before retirement, he served as director of the Center for Human Services of the Episcopal Community Services where he was responsible for the operation of about 15 social services ranging from home-based care, foster homes for teen-agers, family counseling, volunteer services to the blind, to prison chaplaincies and a senior center.  He caused considerable controversy when he agreed to supervise and channel United Way funds to a counseling service for gays and lesbians.

Allen and his wife had long been active in efforts to combat racism, starting at Antioch College where they started a scholarship fund to help reintegrate the student body.  As a result, a few years after they graduated, Coretta Scott (later King), Leon Higginbottom (distinguished Philadelphia lawyer) and Eleanor Holmes (later Norton, D.C. Congresswoman) became Antioch students.  Soon after Margret and Allen moved to a Philadelphia suburb, they helped Margaret Collins organize Friends Suburban Housing, a non-discriminating real estate agency, now called Fair Housing Council.  During a sabbatical leave, the Bacons spent time in South Africa and witnessed some of racism's worst acts, arriving just after Nelson Mandela was sent to Robben Island.

In his retirement years, Bacon served on the boards and committees of some of the agencies for which he had previously worked.  He was especially active with Friends Housing Program, a spin-off of Friends Neighborhood Guild.  He helped negotiate the purchase and renovation of the old Women's Hospital property to provide housing for the elderly and for homeless women.

His major retirement activity, however, was first as president and then as fundraiser on the board of the Fair Hill Burial Ground Corporation.  Fair Hill was a neglected and vandalized Quaker burial ground in an area then called the "Bad Lands".  Buried there are Lucretia Mott, Robert Purvis, Anna Jeanes, and a number of other notable 19th century abolitionists and reformers.  The corporation purchased the burial ground from its delinquent owner and restored it to become a beautiful and educational historic site.  The neighbors, encouraged by the restoration of their "central park", cooperated with the police and other city agencies in driving out the drug pushers, cleaned their streets, made gardens in the vacant lots, and painted their houses.  The Bacons considered it another small victory for humanity.

Allen Bacon’s wife of 68 years, Margret Hope Bacon died Feb. 24 2011. He is survived by: their three children, daughters Margaret S. Bacon and Elizabeth H. Caesar, and son Peter F. Bacon, four grandchildren, four step-grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and 12 step-great-grandchildren. He was also survived by his sister Alice Long and his companion Manya Bean.

Memorial meeting will be held at the Crosslands Retirement Community, Kennett Square, on Sept. 14 at 2 p.m. in the community's William Penn Lounge.  Memorial contributions may be made to the Fair Hill Burial Ground Corporation, Antioch College, and the American Friends Service Committee.

 

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