THE CELEBRATION OF SIDNEY ABBOTT'S LIFE

The Celebration of Sidney Abbott's life at the Judson Memorial Church, NYC, was upbeat, joyous and even inspirational.  About 150 people attended, including many well-known feminists.

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Co-Author of SAPPHO WAS A RIGHT - ON WOMAN.
By SHAWN COHEN and LAURA ITALIANO
New York Post - April 15, 2015

Friends and loved ones will come together for a memorial service for Sidney Abbott on Saturday, May 9, at 2 p.m. at the Cutchogue United Methodist Church, located at 29685 Main Road in Cutchogue.

Longtime NYC-based feminist and lesbian activist Sidney Abbott, 78, was found dead Wednesday morning after a fire in her home in Southold, Suffolk County. (photo: Robert Girard)

The fire was discovered by her next-door neighbor, an off-duty volunteer  firefighter who rushed to the burning Cape-style home and found the former member of the “Lavender Menace” and author of “Sappho Was a Right-on Woman” on the floor of her smoke-filled living room.

Tragically, the firefighter was beaten back by the intense flames.

“He was there instantly and tried pulling her out,” Southold Fire Chief Peggy Killian told The Post.

“He broke the door to get in there,” she said. But before he could pull her out, “the fire flashed over the top of his head, and it made him back out.”

The hero firefighter had to be hospitalized.

 “He sucked in a lot of smoke — he didn’t have a pack,” the chief said.

Abbott was a force for gay women’s rights in New York and beyond since the ’70s, when she helped urge NOW not to ignore lesbian issues.

She had limited mobility and was chair-bound, said Jacqueline Michot Ceballos, a friend for nearly 50 years.

“We were the earliest members of NOW, from day one in New York City, back in 1967,” said Ceballos, a former NOW-New York president and founder of the Veteran Feminists of America.

There were disagreements among the gay and straight members in those early days — famously, Betty Friedan warned about a “Lavender Menace” from the lesbian activists in their movement’s midst. But Abbott was always a mender of rifts within the larger feminist movement.

“She held no grudges and was truly a loving human being,” Ceballos said. “There was no anger whatsoever — It was very, very important to her to make sure we knew that there’s no big difference between us.”

Added VFA president Eleanor Pam, “Sidney Abbott’s contribution to modern feminism cannot be overstated. She was a brilliant, fearless trailblazer, an authentic pioneer in the women revolution and its struggle for equal rights.”

Longtime close friend and co-author Barbara Love spoke by phone with Abbott one hour before the fire. A home attendant had just left to do some shopping for Abbott, Love said.

“She was in good spirits,” said Love, who lived with Abbott in the ’70s and co-authored “Sappho Was a Right-on Woman: A Liberated View of Lesbianism,” which remains “a classic.”

“She’s very well known in the women’s movement,” Love said.

The Suffolk County ME’s office and local arson investigators were at the scene of the fire Wednesday, but found no initial indications that the fire was anything suspicious, officials said.

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

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This From Barbara Love (co-author Sappho Was a Right On Woman)

Sidney and I were very close. I talked to her at 8:55 this am, just before her helper, Cathy, arrived at 9.  Joan Nixon had also talked with her this a.m. Sidney was in good spirits, planning for her future. Cathy, her helper was out of the house shopping for food when the unthinkable happened.
 
I knew Sidney since 1967 when she was studying Urban Planning at Columbia. We lived together for several years. We co-authored the now famous book Sappho Was a Right-on Woman: A Liberated View of Lesbianism, which was the first non-fiction book with a positive look at the lesbian life-style. 
 
We always kept in touch and talked every few days on the phone. She was a good soul who was in great health except for her legs. She could not get out of a chair for two years. The condition was never diagnosed. Sidney said it was something in her brain that made her fall.
 
Joan Nixon was a very important part of Sidney's life for the past 20 years. Sidney lived in Joan's house and took care of it. Sidney had a dog, which has survived, a cat, which died in the fire, and a peacock that lived outside and scampered away. Sidney often said she worried about her animals more than herself.  
 
Some years ago Beva Eastman gave Sidney a plot in Orient, where her friend Phyllis is buried.  Joan Nixon is going to try and get the Unitarian Congregation in Southold, which also burned down a few weeks ago, to give a service at its temporary location.
 
We will miss Sidney a lot. She was always upbeat, a good storyteller (She loved to tell stories of her Texas ancestors) and a proud lesbian-feminist. She is survived by her nephew David Abbott in Brooklyn and a sister-in-law Jane Abbott.

IMAGES of SIDNEY photos by Linda Clarke

Comments: Jacqui Ceballos jcvfa@aol.com

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