She and her late husband, the Rev. Walter C. Wynn, also did missionary work among the people of Liberia, founded in 1822 by freed American slaves.
Too bad her own country had not yet experienced the acceptance of all people that she discovered in Africa. The reality was brought home to her when she was ordered to the back of a train in the Jim Crow South.
"I kind of wish we were all blind so we couldn't see the differences," she once said. "That would make life so much sweeter."
Thelma Wynn, longtime teacher of English, theater arts and speech in schools in the United States, and a traveler who visited 54 countries, died Sunday. She was 101 and lived at Stapley Senior Citizen Community in Germantown.
Her family described her as a "beloved servant of all mankind."
Among her many honors was the award she received in 2005 from the Booker T. Washington Institute Alumni Association of North America for "outstanding humanitarian services" at its 14th annual convention in Towson, Md.
"She was such a lady of true integrity and class," her granddaughter said. "Her faith, wisdom and love for all are an outstanding testimony."
Her family has been going through the many letters she received from students in Liberia expressing their appreciation for what she did for them.
"Some of the students couldn't read or write, and she was so instrumental in their futures," said another granddaughter, Nia Crawford. "The love and appreciation they expressed in those letters was beautiful."
Thelma Wynn was born in Cambridge, Mass., to Willis and Elizabeth Harten Thornton. She started at Emerson College in Boston at the age of 16 and earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1929.
