Ethel Roosevelt Derby - Later Life and Death

Later Life and Death

In her later years, Derby devoted more time to the American Civil Rights Movement, a cause she had long been devoted to. She worked on a smaller scale, though no less committed than her first-cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt and believed in solving local problems before working nationally.

When she felt black residents were being discriminated against, Derby formed a committee to bring low-income housing into Oyster Bay. The proposal initially was rebuffed by most of the residents. Ethel had her friends meet at her house where she convinced them that this was a good idea and the housing project was successfully completed. A large number of blacks continue to reside in these areas Mrs. Derby helped to build.

In 1960, she along with her daughter Edith, made a seconding speech for the nomination of Richard Nixon at the Republican National Convention.

By 1975, Derby was in visibly weak condition. In 1977 she made her final visit to the White House to see Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn. Finally, in December, 1977, she died at the Adam-Derby House in Oyster Bay, New York, aged 86 years; she was buried in the nearby Youngs Memorial Cemetery where her parents, husband and other relatives are also buried. She was survived by her two daughters, Edith and Sarah (both now deceased), nine grandchildren (one of whom has died) and two siblings, Archie Roosevelt and Alice Longworth who both are now deceased.