Norvice G. Penny, an educator who later was director of human relations for Baltimore County Public Schools and who worked tirelessly to improve race and community relations as well as the quality of education for all students, died of congestive heart failure Sept. 18 at Northwest Hospital Center.
The longtime Lochearn resident was 76.
"I would give Norvice the credit for ushering Baltimore County schools into diversity and minority recognition and providing full equality to all students and the broader community. This is what she was responsible for," said Dr. Walter G. Amprey, former city school superintendent, and a longtime friend.
"And she always brought her warm and gracious spirit to her work," he said. "She was a pillar of the movement."
Norvice Rachel Goodwin, the daughter of a teacher and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised on Woodbrook Avenue.
"There were 17 educators living on our block when we were kids. They were our role models," said a sister, Revie G. Lewie, a retired art department head at Walbrook High School, who lives in Windsor Mill.
After graduating from Douglass High School in 1952, she earned a bachelor's degree from Morgan State University in 1957, and a master's degree in education administration, also from Morgan, in 1960.
Mrs. Penny did graduate studies at Hampton University, Rutgers University and the University of Maryland.
"When she began her career at Hamilton Junior High School in the late 1950s, she was the school's first black faculty member, and a cross was burned on the school grounds," Mrs. Lewie recalled.
"We were so worried that she had to go to school with security. However, she stood her ground and when she left two years later, she was showered with gifts and praise," Mrs. Lewie recalled.
After leaving Hamilton in the early 1960s, Mrs. Penny joined the faculty of Eastern High School where she served as chairman of the history department.
She was vice principal at Douglass High School when she went to work in 1974 for Baltimore County public schools as director of human relations.
Against a backdrop of rapid demographic changes and turmoil in the school system, Mrs. Penny set out to improve and strengthen relationships with teachers, administrators, and community leaders. She was a vocal opponent of discrimination and an advocate for equity in education.
