David, Ray (Ray Sarah Morris), 1864-1945

Biography

Ray Morris David became known as the "Little Mother to the Poor" in Denver after she was hired to supervise relief activities for the Denver Jewish Aid Society. Ray David was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1864, the daughter of German Jewish parents. Ray David spent half of her childhood in Germany and migrated with her parents to Colorado in 1879. In 1885 she married David David, a pioneer merchant, and the couple settled in the mining town of Aspen, Colorado. Mrs. David was widowed early and had to raise and support five children. Her first paid position was as a quasi-social worker at National Jewish Hospital and she worked with Seraphine Pisko. Ray David was a member of the State Board of Pardons, the Denver Board of Charities and Corrections, the Women's Club, the Women's Voters League, and was a president of the Denver chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women. She fought for progressive reforms, including women's suffrage, humane treatment of the insane, penal reform, ending racial discrimination, and the elimination of child labor. Ray David died in Denver in 1945 at the age of eighty-one.

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