Lydie Kager Cottman

One word to describe Lydie’s notable life would be the word diverse, despite the fact that she never lived anywhere else but on Dickinson Street in South Philadelphia for 74 of her 76 years. She wore many hats, not just in her career but in the activities and interests she pursued.

Her parents, Philip and Lydia, were almost 40 years old when their last daughter was born and named after her mother. She was called Lydie as a child and that was the name that stuck. There were four siblings born several years before her but three died in infancy. She grew up with her sister, Elizabeth, who was 10 years older.

In the 1920s and 30s the Kagers were the only black family in the 2200 block of Dickinson Street. The 1940 census also reveals that Philip had a job at the Philadelphia Gas Works and was making more money than anyone else on the block except one neighbor who was a tailor.

After graduation from high school, Lydie attended Apex School of Beauty Culture, then owned and operated her own business for a dozen years or more, starting in the late 1930s. She continued to live at home after her mother died in 1947 and inherited the home after her father died in 1951. She was good at hair styling so, in addition to running her salon, she became an instructor at the school in 1943. She continued in that role through 1956.

About the time of her father’s death Lydie married and added Cottman to her name, but nothing more is known of her husband. They had two children: Lorraine in 1952 and John in 1954. During those years she sold her business and took a job at the Frankford Arsenal.

Versatility would be another descriptive term for Lydie’s career. In 1956 she began working for the City Commissioners’ Office, which has responsibility for the elections and voter registration in the city. She remained there until she retired 22 years later, taking a two-year leave of absence in 1969.

She was also a lifelong learner, taking night classes in education at Temple University. Later, she studied at Philadelphia College of Bible for two years. She was ordained to the ministry of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1982. Her pursuit of knowledge continued into retirement, culminating in a degree in human services from Antioch College in 1989 when she was 71.

Lydie wasn’t so much “retired” as she was “repurposed.” She gave her time and talent to Contact USA Philadelphia, a telephone counseling service, as well as the Urban League where she counseled senior citizens. On an occasional basis she served as a judge of elections and if there was any free time she would be reading or doing beautiful crochet work.

Zion AME Church at 21st and Tasker Streets was where she worshiped, and that’s where her funeral service was held in the summer of 1994. Her daughter paid her this tribute by saying, “She was a very vibrant, plainspoken woman who had a very zealous lust for life. She believed that all things were possible if you only put God first.”

Her children placed this headstone on her grave, quoting the first verse of Psalm 121. The intention was not to say Lydie looked to the hills for her help. The second verse identifies her real source: “My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.“