María Magdalena De Leon, antiracism worker, pastor and leader of Mennonite institutions, died Dec. 25. She was 71.

Felipe Hinojosa writes in The Mennonite that she was well-respected in her hometown of Mathis, Texas, first as a school teacher, and went on to impact Mennonite congregations near and far.

Her interaction with voluntary service workers in the 1950s and ’60s defied local segregation and racism. Those experiences inspired her ties to the church and eventual leadership of the Damascas Road Anti-Racism program in the 1990s.

She served on many boards and committees, including the Mennonite Board of Education, the South Texas Unidad Cristiana de Iglesias Menonitas (Christian Union of Mennonite Churches) and Conference Femenil Hispana Menonita (Hispanic Mennonite Women’s Conference). After the turn of the century, she followed up her Damascas Road leadership by being board chair of Mennonite Central Committee Central States, where she worked to address concerns about racism within MCC, specifically in the Central States region.

“Esteemed by many, María’s work in multiple areas in the Mennonite church made her one of the most important Hispanic leaders in the Mennonite Church in the last 50 years,” wrote Hinojosa, who said she was many people’s link to the broader Mennonite church in the U.S. and around the world.