Gwendolyn Edith Biddle, a retired dance and home economics teacher who called herself a "one person Peace Corps," died of complications from Alzheimer's disease March 3 at the Charlestown retirement community. The former Bentalou Street resident was 90.
Miss Biddle owned and operated a private academy, Francine's School of Dance. Among her pupils was Maria Broom, who appeared in HBO's "The Wire and "The Corner."
"As a child, I remember Miss Biddle as my first dance teacher, as she was for so many little black girls in the mid-'50s." said Ms. Broom, a Baltimore resident. "Her studio was in the basement of her home on Bentalou Street, and it was the highlight of my week to walk over there season after season. As an adult, I also remember Miss Gwendolyn Biddle as a world traveler ... effervescent every time I saw her, wearing beautiful, bright-colored clothes. She gave a lot to so many."
Born in Washington, Miss Biddle was the daughter of Grant E. Biddle, a postal worker and musician who played with fellow Washingtonian Duke Ellington's orchestra, and Francina Foote Biddle, a government worker. She was a 1946 graduate of Washington's Dunbar High School and earned a bachelor's degree at Howard University, where she later created a scholarship fund for dance majors.
As a young woman, she was active in numerous Washington social organizations. During World War II, she and her mother entertained at military bases.
She recalled in a 2000 Baltimore Sun profile that she was fascinated by the embassy flags and insignias she observed from a Washington streetcar.
"These experiences sparked my interest in travel to all parts of the world," she said.
She studied classical and jazz dance at the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and with the June Taylor Dancers in New York City. She opened her Baltimore dance school in 1952 and had her home's basement outfitted with mirrors, a floor and a barre.
She was also a fashion designer and created models' dresses for the Arthur Murray Dance Studio and the Walters Academy, a modeling school.
In 1961 she became a Baltimore City Schools home economics teacher. She taught at Booker T. Washington and Clifton Park junior high schools. She retired from Forest Park High School in 1985.
Miss Biddle traveled widely and studied dance along the way. She did volunteer work in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Spain and Italy. Friends called her a self-appointed missionary who made many annual trips to Costa Rica.
"If only the world had more Gwendolyn Biddles in its midst, traveling far and wide, learning native dances, teaching villagers how to sew, and in general, expressing fascination with those who live differently than she does," said the 2000 Baltimore Sun profile of her. "The world would be a much more peaceful — and inventively dressed — place."
Miss Biddle carried sewing machines and items needed to work with the people she instructed.
"She never stayed in fancy hotels," said a friend, Jacqueline Rone, who lives in Pikesville. "As much as possible, she stayed in villages. Her whole life was about helping people."
"[She] has spent as much time as possible wandering the globe, from Nepal to the Amazon to remote Guatemalan mountain towns," The Sun's profile said. She called herself a "one-person Peace Corps" and taught sewing to "the poor in villages throughout Central America."
"I always carry everything they need: pins, needles, scissors, and I take a sewing machine and leave it there," she said.
She also designed clothing and insisted that her home economics students finish all the clothing they had started to make.
"I made a suit from Guatemalan fabric in fuchsia and black and white that was shot through with silver threads," she said in 2000. "I let the material dictate the design, so I pleated the skirt according to the fabric's stripes. The ruffles on the collar were made from the border. I do bound buttonholes on everything."
She was also an opera patron and member of the old Baltimore Opera Guild.
She was a member of the NAACP, National Council of Negro Women, the 4H Club and the Girl Scouts. She was a member of the National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers.
She was a former member of Our Lady of Lourdes and Corpus Christi parishes. She also attended St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church in Mount Vernon.
In 1988 she was inducted into the Maryland Senior Citizens Hall of Fame in "recognition of her dedicated humanitarian service to the citizens of Maryland."
A memorial Mass will be offered at 10 a.m. Saturday at Our Lady of the Angels Chapel, 711 Maiden Choice Lane.
There are no immediate survivors.