Online Archives

Doreatha C. Jordan, 89, the wife of the late Rev. Basha Jordan, died of a pulmonary embolism April 13, 2013, at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. Services were held April 18 at Centennial-Caroline Street UMC.

Doreatha Cecelia Diggs was born Feb. 10, 1924, in New Rochelle, N.Y., the daughter of Leroy and Nellie Diggs. She moved to Baltimore and was a 1942 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School. She attended Coppin State College.

In 1946, she married the Rev. Basha Jordan Sr., whose grandfather had been a slave. He was many years her senior. She served with him throughout his ministry, which included churches in West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland. He had been ordained in 1919 in the Washington Conference. His churches in Maryland were in Cumberland, Mt. Zion in Baltimore, Prince Frederick, Asbury-Broadneck, Laytonsville, Aberdeen and Centennial in Baltimore. He retired in Baltimore in 1963 before the merger between the Baltimore and Washington conferences. He died in 1980.

She was a member of the Ministers' Wives Association and traveled to its conventions.

Family members said she gained a reputation for wearing hats wherever she went.

Not only was Doreatha Jordan a support for her husband throughout the last half of his ministerial career, but she also presided over a weekly religious radio program, which he started in Prince Frederick.

From 1972 to 1991, Jordan worked at the McKeldin Center, now known as the University Student Center, at Morgan State University. She was a manager and campus advisor for the YWCA. Her family made Morgan their university home for several generations: She was grandmother, mother and mother-in-law to Morgan students.

Survivors include a son, the Rev. Basha Jordan Sr. and a daughter, Mary Frances Aikins-Afful; both of Baltimore; and four grandchildren.

Condolences may be sent to her son, Basha Jordan Sr., 3205 Green Knoll Road, Baltimore, MD 21244.