Queen Anne Frances Deloney

Queen Esther Howard in Harpersville, Alabama. She was blessed to bare the ancestral

names of her maternal grandmother "Queen" and her paternal grandmother “Frances".

She attended Avondale Grade School and Parker High School in Birmingham, Alabama.

She was reared in the church at an early age and accepted Christ in her life at the St.

Mark Baptist Church, there she was baptized under the pastoral leadership of the late

Reverend R. N. Hall. While attending St. Mark, she learned the bible, attended Sunday

School, and sang in the church choir. She was blessed with a beautiful operatic soprano

voice and loved to worship the Lord in song.

In 1936, she married her first husband the Reverend Joseph C. Hill in Birmingham,

Alabama. From this union was born their only child, Linell Hill. In 1943, the Hill family

moved to the Pacific Northwest. After the emergence of WWII, they settled in Vanport

City, Oregon. Both Queen Anne and Joseph worked in the Kaiser Shipyards. The Hills

divorced in 1948 after the tragic Vanport Flood.

In 1949, Queen Anne joined Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church under the leadership

of the late Reverend Dr. O. B. Williams. She became very active in the church ministry as

a member of the Senior Choir, one of the church's soloist, member of the musical

department, and Sunday School teacher.

Queen Anne was very active in her community. In 1949 she became a member of the

Oregon Association of Colored Women's Clubs, an organization which brought a unity of

sisterhood among the community of African American women residing in Portland. Her

club work brought a great sense of satisfaction and pride to her life. Their motto is:

“Lifting As We Climb.” She also joined the Altruistic Club, which helped organized a

young women's group.

In 1951, she married her second husband Archie Deloney in Portland, Oregon. From this

union was born Donald Lynn, James Garland, Gerald Lee, Angela Yvette, and Janice

Annette Deloney. During her children's formative years, Queen Anne became an

energetic den mother of the Cub Scouts. She was one of several women who met with the

school board to propose a new school in the neighborhood. The school was eventually

built in 1959 and was named Humboldt Elementary. She worked diligently with the

Humboldt PTA and became the second PTA President. She volunteered as room mother

where she touched the lives of countless youngsters. Her personal involvement at

Humboldt led her to a part time position with the school cafeteria food

service program. Her years at Humboldt were her most rewarding, she had a great sense

of pride seeing her children and the other children grow academically.

From 1965-66 Queen Anne enrolled at the extensions C.O.P. Program that had been

offered by the Portland Public School System at Portland Community College, Cascade

Campus. This had become an educational opportunity that nurtured her advancement

with Early Childhood Education curriculum. She retired from Grant High School in 1987,

where she worked in the Physical Education Department, and 17 years as an Instructional

Aid in the Special Education Program.

Queen Anne's contribution to community and church brought her a great sense of

accomplishment. In her lifetime, she received numerous accolades and awards for her

dedicated spirit and life's work. She brought great passion and joy to every aspect of her

life and was genuinely driven by her compassion for those around her. She was a

gracious, warm-hearted, buoyant woman who lived her life with great style and

conviction. Family life was everything, and she did what it took to make things work,

while providing a wonderful, lasting, maternal legacy to everyone she loved and touched.

She truly loved and had great joy for her children, family, and friends.

She leaves to mourn five children: Donald (Janet) Deloney, Sr., James (Cheryl) Deloney,

Sr., Gerald Deloney, Angela (Rodney) Dickens, and Janice (Edward) Harrison, 20

Grandchildren, 24 Great Grandchildren, 3 Great-Great Grandchildren, a host of nieces,

nephews, relatives, and close friends. She was preceded in death by her husband Archie

Deloney, grandson Robert Hill, only sibling Verna Shepherd, and eldest son Linell HIll