They know only her warm smile and soft voice, which has a magical quality. After a few minutes with this diminutive woman, people find themselves agreeing to all sorts of volunteerism.

        “She just looks at you, and you say, "Yeah, all right, I'll do it,'” says Derrick McAllister of Florence, who serves on the board of Ms. Northington's nonprofit foundation.

Mary Northington

        Their first encounter was classic. Ms. Northington saw Mr. McAllister looking at property in east Covington, where she lives. She walked up and introduced herself, which she does whenever she sees young African-Americans who “look like they're about something,” as she puts it.

        They chatted. Then, speaking softly and sincerely, she pounced.

        “Are you just interested in investing in property and making money, or do you want to make a contribution to the community?” she asked.

        That hooked Mr. McAllister, who not only wanted to help but also sensed resistance was futile. This spring, the 34-year-old sales representative and home rehabber found himself planning a Shakespearean festival for Ms. Northington's organization, which will use the proceeds to rehabilitate rental housing in the city's black community.

        “Nobody says no to Mary,” says lawyer Jim Kreuer, who also volunteers on the board. “You can't, and you wouldn't want to. She is just a beautiful lady.”

        Ms. Northington, 72, recently received the 14th annual Covington Award from the Friends of Covington civic group. As usual with such functions, some invited guests were unable to attend the dinner. But this year, with Ms. Northington as the honoree, a record number sent donations along with their regrets, President Chuck Eilerman says.

        “She really builds bridges between all people in society,” he says.

        Born and raised in Covington, Ms. Northington says her role model was her mother, Jane Roberta Summers, who served as director of the Jacob Price public housing complex back when women didn't have jobs like that. Mrs. Summers was still active into her 80s, when she got paralegal training to help senior citizens with simple legal problems.

        When her mother became frail in the late 1980s, Ms. Northington returned to Covington from New York, where she had raised children of her own and worked as a government researcher. Also in New York, she had battled scleroderma, a connective-tissue disorder that causes hardening of the skin. During one period in the 1970s, her condition was so dire that she could not walk. But through prayer, positive thinking and the counsel of a maverick doctor, her symptoms eased, although she still must take eight pills a day, she says.

        Mrs. Summers died in 1992, and Ms. Northington and her longtime partner, Hensley Jemmott, settled in Kentucky. She formed the Jane Roberta Summers Foundation to carry on her mother's tradition of helping people. Besides rehabilitating rental property, it provides college scholarships to minority youths.

        “I was involved with another group that tried to do that, and it never got off the ground,” Mr. Eilerman says. “Mary decided to do it and just did it.”

        The foundation is just one of her causes. Above all, Ms. Northington is determined to illuminate the history of ordinary and outstanding African-Americans in the region, before it's too late. She has been a key leader of the Northern Kentucky African-American Heritage Task Force, which has identified black burial sites and set up educational programs.

        Her current passion is the restoration of the historic Ninth Street United Methodist Church in Covington's black community. This year, it received a $3,000 planning grant from the Kentucky Heritage Council to determine what needs to be done. Preservation consultant Alex Weldon has agreed to help — at Ms. Northington's request, of course.

        “Our commitment to history and preservation is not simply motivated by the desire to tell a good story or to make buildings pretty,” Ms. Weldon said at the awards dinner for her friend. “Our motivation is to use these tools to re-energize the spirit of community, which in the past has made our neighborhoods wonderful places to live.”

        In the midst of all this activity, Ms. Northington somehow finds time to support other people's projects. Jerome Bowles, a young teacher, counted on her advice as he revived the Northern Kentucky chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She now promotes the NAACP in the community.

        “She has her own way of doing things,” Mr. McAllister says.

        Including, of course, the recruitment of potential volunteers. Just a few days ago, Ms. Northington struck up a conversation with two young adults on the steps of the Kenton County Public Library. One of them — a young black woman — mentioned that she thought the Underground Railroad was an actual tunnel, underground.

        Recalling that moment, Ms. Northington's tone grows determined.

        “There is so much out there to be done,” she says, working just across the river from where the many people, places, risks and connections that made up the Underground Railroad will be honored.

        If history is any guide, she will do it.

        Karen Samples is the Enquirer's Kentucky columnist. She can be reached at (859) 578-5584 or at ksamples@enquirer.com.
       

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