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******************************************************************Edilith Eckart remembered as tireless
activist for peace
By Meghan Vogel The Times-Standard
ARCATA -- The city lost one of
its most active citizens recently when Edilith
Eckart died in her Arcata home this week.
Eckart, 85, will be remembered
most for her tenacious determination in working
toward making the world a better place.
"She will be sorely
missed," said Arcata City Councilman Dave
Meserve of the 30-year Arcata resident. "She
was a fine lady, and a great worker for
peace."
In a 2002 interview, Eckart
said her peace activism began when she had
tomatoes thrown at her for protesting segregation
in the Deep South. For her participation in an
anti-nuclear demonstration she was jailed in
Washington, D.C. In 1996, Eckart protested at the
School of the Americas in Georgia. Eckart's
daughter, Marilee Coriell of Arcata, said her
mother was arrested a number of times for her
participation in nonviolent protests.
After fighting for civil rights
in the 1950s and 60s, Eckart immersed herself in
the environmental movement. She became a
self-taught expert on the subject, Coriell said.
A fearless globe-trotter,
Eckart traveled to Russia with "peace
groups" at the height of the Cold War in the
1980s as a citizen-to-citizen diplomat.
Betsy Roberts, who was
instrumental along with Eckart in starting the
local Women in Black movement in 1999 to protest
the bombing of Yugoslavia, called Eckart "a
local iconic saintly figure." Roberts also
said Eckart was essential to the start of the
Redwood Peace and Justice Center in Arcata.
"She was someone who
really had faith in the goodness of the
world," she said. "She believed in the
magic of the universe, and that gave her the
faith to step into the craziest of
projects."
While in her 70s and 80s,
Eckart traveled to Jerusalem six times to stand
with the original Israeli Women in Black. She
also went to Iraq with former U.S. Attorney
General Ramsay Clark to bring medical supplies to
the country. Eckart helped found the Iraq Water
Project to rebuild four water plants in the
country with Veterans for Peace after the first
Gulf War.
Bill Thompson of Veterans for
Peace said Eckart was one of the local chapter's
original members, joining in 1991. He remembered
Eckart as a bright woman who attended Cornell
University and was a Navy radar technician
specialist during World War II.
"She was someone who
recognized that peace requires more than just
talking and writing," Thompson said.
"She was willing to go out and put her body
on the line."
By 1996, Eckart had become so
involved with Veterans for Peace, she was awarded
the organization's national honor. She served two
terms on the national board of directors of
Veterans for Peace, and was the only woman on the
board at the time, Thompson said.
"She had a wide range of
experience," he said. "She had all the
strength of a quiet Quaker woman, combined with
the strength of Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly
Fiorina."
In 2000, Eckart was honored
with an award from Physicians for Social
Responsibility for her "commitment and
passion for a better world."
The night before she was found
dead in her home, Eckart was to appear at the
Arcata City Council meeting to protest the
subdivision of a small lot near her 12th Street
home. She went to Kinko's before the meeting
started, Roberts said, then went home to take a
nap. She never woke. Roberts said Eckart wanted
to see a park on the lot, which borders Campbell
Creek, instead of houses.
She went down fighting,"
Coriell said.
Those who knew Eckart find it
hard to believe a woman with so much strength and
energy is gone.
"You could always count on
her," Roberts said. "She was routine,
like clockwork. We always counted on her and now
there's a huge gap. We've lost a matriarch."
A public memorial service is
planned for Sunday, June 27, at 2 p.m. at the
Arcata Community Center. Donations in Eckart's
name may be made to Veterans for Peace, Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom or
American Friends Service Committee.
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