Alice Fay Hunter

April 13, 1940 - February 27, 2023

Alice Fay Hunter, 82, of Yuma, AZ, passed away on February 27, 2023 in Yuma, AZ. Alice was born April 13, 1940 in Hope, Arkansas.

Alice was a leader in numerous civic organizations and social service initiatives, including a day care center for indigent families, expansion of food assistance programs, and heading the Yuma Chapter of the NAACP as it's first female elected president. She also served as an officer of the Palo Verde Business and Professional Women's Club as well as Somerton town clerk.

In 1967, Alice pioneered community action programs in Arizona by conducting the original grassroots survey for the Yuma County Office of Economic Opportunity. She later coordinated emergency food and medical services for Arizona Rural Effort (ARE), the Yuma-area grantee for Office of Economic Opportunity programs in the early 1970's. As Alice established her social service career, she was one of the few administrators who lived within the project target area. She was deeply committed to legal aid services for the less privileged, serving as a Board of Directors member for the Community Legal Services Client Council.

Alice also worked to end poverty in tribal areas as Director of Social Services for the Cocopah Indian Tribe. Alice herself fell into poverty following a controversial termination from Yuma's community development division in the late 1970's, which prompted a state Attorney General investigation. The Yuma Sun newspaper reported at the time that Alice was fired from her job after she filed a civil rights complaint. Scores of supporters submitted letters to the editorial pages protesting this decision. One former colleague wrote, “Alice [was] a walking resource bank on the Community Development Program. She could gain the cooperation and confidence of community residents when others on the staff couldn't, even when there was a language problem. When no one else could gain entrance to a person's home or obtain confidential information needed for forms, Alice could. When the other employees or community agencies had questions, it was not the supervisor who was asked but Alice.” Community members also established the Alice Fay Hunter Fund at a local bank to coordinate donations for financial support.

She is survived by daughters, Gail Yvonne Reed (Sacramento), Suzanne Shaw (Burbank), and Suzette Shaw (Los Angeles); sons, Hider Charles Shaw (Yuma), Mac Shaw (Cincinnati), and Jeffrey Bernard Shaw (Yuma); grandchildren, Timothy Shaw (Seattle), Amber Sorrell (Edgewood, WA), and Kristen Aguirre (Seattle); and predeceased by son, Timothy Wayne Shaw.

Cremation and arrangements were entrusted to Reyes Dombrowski Funeral Home.

Please sign the guestbook at www.legacy.com/obituaries/yumasun