Friends bid farewell to a big man with a big heart

LYNN – They remember him as a fighter for social justice, a veteran who served his country and as a chef extraordinaire, legendary for his special chili recipe.”When the Community Minority Cultural Center board had an important vote to take and we need (General Electric community liaison Robert) Risch there, we would tell him, ‘We’re serving Mr. Darby’s chili,'” recalled long-time friend Virginia Barton.She will join Abner Darby’s many friends, loved ones and elected officials at 10 a.m. Monday in bidding him farewell from Zion Baptist Church. He will be buried in Pine Grove Cemetery. Visiting hours are Sunday at Bethel AME Church on Silsbee Street from 4-7 p.m.Darby was a fighter for social justice who never shied away from a fight. Forty years ago, when George Wallace was a nationally viable third party candidate for president, Darby and 200 others demonstrated at Wallace’s campaign rally at Briarcliff Lodge.”He did not understand people who did not get involved,” Barton said.That desire for involvement in social change was sparked on a hot Texas day in 1950 when a young attorney named Thurgood Marshall walked into Darby’s classroom and told the students, “This is just the beginning.”Marshall was in Darby’s hometown of Austin to argue in court on behalf of an African-American student who sought admission to the University of Texas because he could not earn a law degree at a “Negro” college.Marshall went on to become a U.S. Supreme Court justice and Darby joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.When he got out of the Army and decided to settle in Massachusetts, he worked with NAACP members to get local stores to hire African-American counter girls and to end discrimination in the housing market.In 1967 he sat two seats down from color barrier buster Jackie Robinson at a dinner in St. Michael’s Hall. He helped establish CMCC five years later and spent a quarter century as its executive director.His leadership role, recalled Barton, never kept her friend from climbing ladders to change light bulbs or from sweeping floors. He did his best cooking in the old Sutton Street CMCC kitchen, corralling all idle teenagers within arm or shouting reach and putting them to work drill sergeant-style cleaning floors and scrubbing counters.Barton and other friends organized a tribute to Darby last Oct. 3, knowing how sick he was and knowing how much they had to say to him and about him. Barton and many others will have much more to say over the next three days.”We were old friends. We got so close he always referred to me as his big sister,” she said.