Mollie Abraham
has made a difference for young and old, women and minorities
throughout Alexandria.
Living Legend Mollie Abraham’s 50 years as an advocate have one
common thread: she speaks for those who need a voice from youth
through seniors. She speaks out against bigotry and intolerance
wherever she finds it and encourages minorities and women of all ages
to effect change by becoming involved in the political process.
Born in Baltimore in 1926, Mollie met her husband Mike on a blind date
and they married in 1949. Shortly thereafter, they moved to
Alexandria where he worked in the White Star Market, his family
business on King Street. Mollie eventually worked the cash
register. Soon afterwards, they took over and made a success of
Tom’s Garden, (aka The Sportsman's Grill), a restaurant on lower
King Street that catered to working class people. After they
sold it, they undertook many family enterprises: restaurants,
slaughterhouse, and markets including the Vienna Inn which Mollie and
Mike owned and ran from 1960 to 2000.
Despite her busy work schedule, Mollie found time to serve the
community. She began by chaperoning B'nai Brith youth at her
synagogue Agudas Achim. She and Florence Price started the
Valley Drive preschool at Agudas Achim when Mollie’s son, one of her
three children, was small. She also became active with the PTA
especially as an advocate for the integration of the Alexandria City
Public Schools – “whatever it took,” she said. “I always spoke
out for anything that benefited women and minorities of any sort,
whether of race, gender or religion.”
Mollie helped start the Alexandria Chapter of the National
Organization for Women (NOW) in the mid-1970s and served as state
coordinator of Virginia NOW in 1976-77. She remained active in both
organizations for years. Mollie worked at Common Cause for
almost 16 years. She was appointed to the Alexandria Commission
for Women in 1994 and is the only person to serve three terms as
chair. She advocated for equity in pay and benefits for women to
prevent their impoverishment as they age and led the Commission in
advocating for retirement benefits for part-time city employees.
She represented the Women’s Commission on the Human Rights
Commission and served on the Alexandria Youth Policy Commission.
Under Mollie's leadership, the Commission supported the efforts of the
Commission on Aging for inclusion in the City's Affirmative Action
Plan and Utilization Analyses
Mollie's awareness of the increased risk of breast cancer for older
women and the importance to survival of early detection led her to
serve on the City Manager's Breast Cancer Awareness Committee.
In this capacity, Mollie advocated for legislation to require that
women diagnosed with breast cancer be provided adequate information to
make treatment decisions. In 1994, this Committee initiated the
annual Walk to Fight Breast Cancer to raise funds for mammography for
women who cannot pay for them and for the education efforts about the
importance of mammography, especially for women over 50. As a cancer
survivor, Mollie is a strong supporter of this annual walk.