Uncrowned Community Builders

Mrs. Lillian J. Meadows, born Lillian Johnson was a significant contributor to the Buffalo community. A native of Mobile, Alabama, Mrs. Meadows came to Buffalo as a child after her father, Sidney O. B. Johnson, was called to pastor the former Lloyd's Memorial Congressional Church. As the eldest child, she left Talladega College her junior year to help her sick mother raise the younger children. Her ability to take on heavy responsibilities at such an early age only stood to prove how strong and accomplished she would be later on in life.

Beginning in 1959, she was a strong figure in Buffalo with her devotion to the care and management of senior citizens. She was an integral part of Administration for two offices, first at the old Richard Carnevale Senior Citizens Center for 14 years, then at the Alfred D. Prince Senior Citizens Center, in the Willert Park area, where she retired as supervisor in 1981.

Mrs. Meadows served on the State Committee of Aging, New York State conference on aging, the advisory committees on aging for both Erie County and Buffalo and the advisory board for the Older Americans Act Committee. She began her career in government with the city's Board of Redevelopment. She held a position within the Bureau of Vital Statistics and in the Common Council as aide to Councilman King Peterson and in the Recreation Department.

Mrs. Meadows became the second African American women to serve on the Old Erie County Board of Supervisors from 1965-68. She also became the first African American to win a city-wide primary election in 1961 when she ran for council woman at large. She was the area's first black to serve as a state Democratic committeewoman, a post she held for 30 years.

She was not only a strong political figure but an involved member of the Buffalo community. She was a life member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; served on the boards of the United Way, Travelers Aid Society, Allentown Community Association, and was a volunteer fund-raiser for the Heart Association, Cancer Society, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the United Negro College Fund.

Among her other achievements and awards she was the county nominee in 1984 for state Senior Citizen, the initial inductee in the Buffalo Senior Citizens Hall of Fame and recipient of the 1978 Brotherhood Award for community effort for the National Conference for Christian and Jews. Mrs. Meadows demonstrated through her many accomplishments, recognitions, and achievements her personal drive to achieve dignity for the aging and her continuous efforts toward the betterment of the African American community.

Mrs. Meadows was the widow of Isaac W. Meadows, a minority consultant for the New York State Employment Service. She was the sister of Masten District Councilman Horace C. Johnson and had two sisters, Maggie J. Jones and Josephine J. Holmes as well as another brother, Charles R. Johnson.

Lillian J. Meadows passed away on April 22, 1987 in Sister's Hospital, located in Buffalo, NY. She was truly an uncrowned queen who has rightfully earned her spot on the throne.