Lydia Ainsley: caught in the act of cleaning up Fillmore Street.
SHE WALKED the street incognito, just another neighbor, often bandannaed, with a shopping bag on her arm.
But Lydia Ainsley was on a mission every time she walked down Fillmore Street. For more than two decades, she made it her business to remove the signs and posters taped to utility poles on Fillmore and discreetly tuck them into her sack.
Nobody asked her to do it, but she approached her task diligently. Eventually the Fillmore merchants began paying her the princely sum of $150 every month, which she expected on time.
She resisted all praise and publicity, insisting it would only blow her cover.
She was also a faithful volunteer for Food Runners, delivering excess food from local businesses to shelters where it was needed. And she did it via Muni, or on foot.
Lydia Ainsley died on August 6 at age 91, still in her beloved apartment of more than 40 years at Fillmore and Vallejo, overlooking the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Filed under: Good Works, Locals