ROANOKE, Va. – A pillar of the Roanoke community passed away this week at 95-year-old.
Roanoke’s Office of Neighborhood Services shared that Estelle McCadden passed away in a post on its Facebook page. In the post, officials described her as passionate and unapologetic.
“No matter how old you were or how close you were to her, she was always ‘Mrs. McCadden.’ Everyone knew her and everyone knew of her. She was a mother, a leader, advocate, activist, trailblazer, church leader, and a good friend. She was the backbone of our neighborhoods,” part of the post reads.
McCadden was a big advocate for northwest Roanoke, and lead the Melrose-Rugby Neighborhood Forum.
She also founded the Virginia Statewide Neighborhood Conference.
McCadden was Roanoke’s Citizen of the Year in 2008.