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The Rev. Arthur Alvin Zebbs, 66, of Lyndhurst, former pastor of Rust United Methodist Church in Oberlin, died Jan. 23, at Meridia Hillcrest Hospital after a heart attack at his home.
He was born in Oberlin and graduated from Oberlin High School [in 1945]. After graduating from Dillard University in New Orleans, La., he earned the B.D. degree from the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology and the Div.M. degree from Vanderbilt School of Theology.
Rev. Zebbs served as pastor of two churches in Illinois and five in Ohio. Then, after semi-retirement, he became associate pastor of Cory United Methodist Church in Cleveland in July 1992.
During the 1960s he was director of the Conference of Racial Equality in Columbus, director of the Southeast Center of the Columbus Metropolitan Area Community Action Organization, and director of the Black Studies department at Denison University.
For 10 years he wrote a column for the Columbus Call and Post.
Survivors include his wife, Lillian "Shannon"; daughters, Gloria Anderson of Columbus and Sybil "Candy" White of Mansfield, La.; sons, Alvin Marti Zebbs of Columbus and Arthur Amil Zebbs of Lyndhurst; 10 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and his mother, Emma Anna Zebbs of Oberlin.
He was preceded in death by his father, William Arthur Zebbs, and a daughter Emily Beal.
Services were at the Cory United Methodist Church, Cleveland, on Jan. 28, his birthday.
Mother's Maiden Name: Jones
Bob Elmer / Family History Notes 2020 Summer
Arthur Zebbs was born in Oberlin in 1927and graduated from Oberlin High. He graduated from Dillard University, a historically black institution in New Orleans. He received divinity degrees from Oberlin College and Vanderbilt University Schools of Theology, following which Zebbs served numerous United Methodist congregations in Illinois and Ohio. In 1963, Rev. Zebbs took part in a picket (pictured) of a private swimming pool which had denied admission to members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). On another occasion, Zebbs and a colleague chained themselves together and to seats in the Ohio House of Representatives to advocate for fair-housing legislation. The chains were seen as a powerful metaphor for black oppression. It took four officers with bolt cutters to cut through their restraints.
In 1972, Rev. Zebbs took a new road in his life’s journey and became the director of Black Studies at Ohio’s Denison University. He served in this role for four years, a period which saw an increase in Denison’s black student population, creation of a Black Studies major and new courses to study the Black-American experience as well as black experiences found in other parts of the world such as the West Indies and Africa.
Arthur Zebbs died of a heart attack in 1993. He was survived by his wife, their four children and his mother Emma (Jones) Zebbs. Arthur was buried in Oberlin’s Westwood Cemetery, the same resting place as his Canton Glarus-born grandmother, Anna (Marti) Jones (1864-1937). Arthur’s son, Alvin Marti Zebbs, provides evidence that the Marti name survives in this family. Among the legacies of Rev. Zebbs is the Arthur Alvin Zebbs Park, a 200 unit housing complex in Columbus, OH. Built in 2004, the housing complex is a fitting tribute to a man who forcefully advocated for better housing.
1926 - 1993 (66 Jahre)
