IVES, Cecilia van Hollen

Cecilia Coale van Hollen Ives born in Baltimore, Maryland, died on June 18, 2021, at the age of 94 due to complications from a heart attack. She was the daughter of Donald Beauchamp van Hollen and Cecilia Coale van Hollen of Baltimore. She was predeceased by her brother, Ambassador Christopher van Hollen, and her sister Margaret van Hollen Lee.

Known to her wide circle of friends and family as “Celie”, she was a passionate advocate for voting rights, civil justice, and the environment. A graduate of the Garrison Forrest School in 1945, she attended the Union Memorial School of Nursing, graduating in 1949. After moving to Sudbury and then Lincoln, Massachusetts, Celie worked as a volunteer for the League of Women Voters, beginning a 75-year commitment to expanding and encouraging voter participation. She was a leader of early fair housing efforts that sought to end racial discrimination and redlining in her community

Beginning in 1973, Ives worked as the New England Development Director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. In 1981 Celie moved back to Baltimore, and worked as the development director for the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and then in 1989, renovated a historic row house on Thames Street in Fells Point and opened Celie’s Waterfront Bed and Breakfast. She ran it successfully for twelve years, until she retired in 2002.

Celie lived a feisty, fiercely independent life, right to the very end. She remained a committed and engaged Democrat and worked tirelessly on political races in New Hampshire and those of her nephew, Christopher van Hollen, a U.S. Senator from Maryland.

In 2008 she moved to the Rivermead Lifecare Community, where she advocated for increased political forums, spearheaded a campaign to get residents easy access to absentee ballots, and joined the Green Committee, advocating for increased energy efficiency and recycling.

She is survived by her son, Dr. David van Hollen Ives, and his children, Meredith Graves Martineau Ives, Eliza Ives Graeff and her husband Ben Graeff, Jennifer van Hollen Ives, and William Henry Coale Ives, her son the filmmaker, Stephen Goodhue Ives, his wife Anne Cleves Symmes, and their daughter Campbell Symmes Ives.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund,

The League of Women Voters, or the Massachusetts Audubon Society

A memorial service is planned for Baltimore in the fall.