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Shirley Wright Watts

She was born in Chicago, IL.
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Born in Chicago, Illinois, Shirley M. Wright-Watts has been a Buffalonian since her youth. The mother of seven, and grandmother of eleven, Shirley has a history of community activity dating back to the 1950s. She began her involvement in the Buffalo Public School system, serving several years as PTA President and Parent Coordinator. She was a strong advocate for quality education and parent involvement in inner city schools and was instrumental in the process to desegregate public schools. For three years she chaired the Education Committee of Citizens' Council On Human Relations, working to bring about improvements in all public schools. She was selected by Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Buffalo Mayor Frank Sedita to serve on a statewide Council on Public School Issues. Shirley was one of the first teachers in St. Augustine Center's Early Childhood Development Program, and developed the Center's first after-school remedial and enrichment program for elementary grade students.

She worked fifteen years at Buffalo General Hospital Community Mental Health Center, holding positions as counselor, therapist, treatment planner, and became the first female Coordinator of Psychiatric Day Treatment Services. She implemented staff in-service training on Cross Cultural Counseling Concepts in Treatment Modalities, and advocated for Christian Counseling for patients who desired that approach.

Sensing a call to ministry, Shirley retired early in 1989 to begin study for the mission field under the auspices of the Episcopal Church. She became the first African American female sent into foreign mission from the Diocese of Western New York. She was called to the Episcopal Diocese of the Republic of Panama where she worked as counselor, teacher, director of staff development, and grant writer at a residential home for orphaned and abandoned children from impoverished backgrounds. Upon completion of her Panama assignment, she worked as mission consultant/trainer for National Episcopal Church in New York City. She worked with Trinity Episcopal Church in Buffalo to finalize plans for the Homespace Project. Shirley was a co-founder of the Racial/Ethnic Minority Mission Program, under National Church endorsement, designed to promote mission involvement and support for people of color. Under this program, more than eighty-five persons of color have experienced the opportunity to serve as short-term missionaries around the world.

Shirley continues to serve the national church as mission trainer, speaker, Church School curriculum consultant, and sits on international and ecumenical mission boards. She is active at both the Diocesan and parish levels in Buffalo and is a Lay Liturgical Leader at St. Paul's Cathedral. She chairs the Diocesan World Mission Committee and is a member of the Anti-Racism Committee, Hunger Task Force, Companion Diocese Committee, Cathedral Grants Committee, and several other social ministry committees. In 1998, Bishop David Bowman and Cathedral Dean, Allen Farabee, installed Shirley as the first African American Lay Canon in the Diocese at St. Paul's Cathedral. She is the Canon for Mission and Outreach, advocating for persons in need.

She traveled to South Africa in the fall of 2000, representing the Diocese of Western New York, for the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Anglican Diocese of Klerksdorp and for the commemoration of the birthplace of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. While in South Africa, she was invited to become a member of the Mother's Union, and was inducted at a special ceremony conducted by South African Bishop and Mrs. David Nkwe in the Bishop's Chapel. Shirley is one of only three African American women admitted to a South African Mother's Union Chapter.

She is committed to her work on behalf of the poor, homeless, hungry, unemployed, refugees from areas of conflict, and others in need. Having traveled to many other countries, she is a witness to social problems from a global perspective. According to Shirley, "No one nation has a monopoly on human suffering and human needs and this reality prompts one to rethink the question of being our brother's (sister's) keepers. My work is in thanksgiving for the faith and fortitude of our ancestors, for the accomplishments of my children, and for all blessings that God has given to us."