Powerful Mothers Shaped U.S. History

Two Quakers:

Herbert Hoover's mother, Huldah, a devout Quaker, was a tower of strength after the death of her husband. She raised her family with stern values, refused charity, sewed for food and became a popular minister in the Quaker church. Huldah refused to spend a single penny of her husband's life insurance, saving it instead for her children's education. One night, exhausted after preaching a sermon, she walked twenty miles home in a cold rain, caught pneumonia and died. Herbert Hoover was suddenly an orphan at the age of nine, but he was empowered with a remarkable heritage......

Hannah Nixon was a calm, understated woman who, as in the case of so many other presidents' mothers, was deeply religious. Unpretentious and nonjudgmental, she was a stark contrast to her choleric, loud husband. When Richard Nixon was in political trouble he would call her and she would say, "I will be thinking of you." It was her signal that she would be praying, for as a humble Quaker she took literally the admonition not to pray publicly or make a pretense of one's prayers. In 1974, when Richard M. Nixon gave his tearful farewell to the nation he declared, "My mother was a saint."

And a Baptist:

Jimmy Carter, more poetic than the Quaker presidents, wrote a poem about his mother:

We can all learn from each other. Hoover was an engineer with an impressive reputation in philanthropic work after WWI but failed to prevent the depression. Nixon’s most Quakerly achievement was opening peaceful relations with China; his faults are now widely known. Jimmy Carter, working for peace and against poverty, may be our best ever ex-president . He was defeated for re-election largely by the seizure of the US embassy staff in Teheran as hostages.

Business Meeting

Gary Whiting gave the annual report of the First Day School Committee. He thanked Friends who were not members of the committee for their help with Young Friends through the year. In the coming year they will be interviewing some older Friends “regarding their Quaker leanings and areas of discernment,” will study various historical Friends, learn of Jesus’s parables, and, again, make steppingstone tiling. It was pointed out that the committee members are not solely responsible for time spent with the children.

He expressed great appreciation for Lucy’s care of the younger ones. Her care over the years is still remembered lovingly by his own children. Gary was thanked for the committee’s work.

Janet Southwood gave the M&O report. The committee spent most of its time this month considering in what ways the spiritual life of Meeting could be nourished, bearing in mind that lives outside of meeting are very busy and sometimes stressed. There is a searching for opportunities to get to know each other in the things which are eternal but also in the day to day things for each one of us.

M&O shared in preparing a document. Use of the Meetinghouse, in draft form, which is now circulated for review by Meeting until ready to be presented to Meeting again for final review.

Charles Goebel continues to suffer from cancer. His recent surgery was completed successfully. Many of us have been touched by his quiet friendliness, support for our Quakerly efforts, and sense of humor. A small group of Friends are providing much practical help to Charles and loving care in many other ways. He appreciates cards and phone calls.

For Outreach, Ken Southwood said that Jim Jacobs has provided detailed specs for the corner sign at Eisenhauer/ Vandiver to several companies and we await the estimates.

The draft proposal on conditions of use and procedure for booking use of Meeting property has been approved by the Finance, M&O and Outreach Committees. It has undergone very thorough review for several months and is presented for consideration by Meeting. It will be circulated by e-mail and paper and raised again in November.

The Bring and Share evening was held on Friday evening despite difficulties in circulating reminders. A cookout on the patio will be arranged for Friday October 26. We shall probably need two grills. Meat will be provided. Please bring other food.

FGC has chosen a photo of the meetinghouse for display in its conference room in Philadelphia.

The clerks of M&O, First Day School, and Outreach presented a set of recommendations for furnishing the meetinghouse. This considers the uses of each room, how they should be furnished and equipped, priorities, and detailed estimates of costs. The report will be circulated and raised again at the November meeting for business.

Personal

Bill Wilkins on has work here in San Antonio, in fact within walking distance of home. Here is his description of the job:

“I will be working for EdVance Research, Inc. It was established in 2005 and is dedicated to improving student achievement by supporting educational organizations in learning about evidence based practices and using that information to improve their work and results. I will be conducting secondary research on behalf of constituents from school districts and state boards of education in TX, NM, OK, LA, AR to other interested stakeholders. I will also be the regional liaison to various national and regional assistance centers and a network of research libra rians.”

Pam Wilkinson has gone off to college in Michigan, dealing with some freshman blues.

Amanda Whiting continues working as Gary's office manager and has a night job as a bartender which pays quite well indeed. She states she wants to study and get fluent in Spanish, but that appears to be on the back burner for now. Molly is a full time English major, happily taking only English and humanities courses since she has finished all her other required classes, and she makes some spending money delivering pizza in the evenings. Clara is taking genetics and anthropology courses and looking forward to starting her Americorps service in January. That will be a 10 month program in which she is placed on a team with 10 to 15 other young volunteers, given some training, and then sent out on 5 or 6 one to two month jobs which could involve environmental work, working in inner-city schools, helping out with the elderly, something in the public health sector, or maybe disaster relief.

Janet and Ken Southwood returned from a five week trip visiting family in Kansas City (MO), Minneapolis, Chicago, Champaign (IL), and Atklanta )GA). They also visited with Mel and Priscilla Zuck in Greensboro (NC). They were out and about in Minneapolis when the I35W bridge came down, hearing of it by cellphone. On the way home from Atlanta they drove along the devastated coastal road between Biloxi and Gulfport where only the trees are standing. Their granddaughter Beth has moved to Denver, found work as a caseworker, and found Denver Meeting, and a friend who is an AFSC intern there.

Gayle Copeland’s father died at the end of August. Gayle and Jim had very recently moved to be near him and he had just taken his family to Alaska for a vacation. Marian Carter attended the memorial service at the Episcopal Church of Reconciliation, where a gospel singer sang songs he loved.

Charles Goebel has had successful surgery to relieve pain. His niece Ann visited from Canada in September and arranged for him to move into a nursing home in Boerne. She attended meeting and expressed her gratitude for the loving care Friends had provided for him.

Events

Marian Carter told of following her uncle as a child, on her pony, whacking it on the neck, and sliding backwards off it as it rose in protest. Ken showed a device called a gobek api, a traditional firemaker from SE Asia. It works on the same principal as the diesel engine, igniting a pinch of special fluff by the heat of air pressure by a piston in a cylinder. Both made of buffalo horn by an aborigine living upriver in jungle. And he told a story of the location of embassies in Kuala Lumpur in 1960. Doing his homework showed up some others who had not. So, do your homework!

Crystal Redfield told us about her kindergarten (with some prompting by Carol). Neil Redfield showed us a display of a science project which has won him several awards. He tested whether a Math Blaster game improved the skills of a group of high schoolers compared with a control group. He will be taking this further. And Joe Redfield told us the fascinating tale of “what makes him get up in the morning.” Namely, his work at Southwest Research on future transportation using less and less oil and polluting less and less. He waxed eloquent imitating a writer who preaches the understanding of the exponential effect, even pulling his shirt out and ruffling his hair to provide the full image. The exponential effect shows the ever-accelerating use of our resources. Suppose, for instance, we use 10% more each year. Starting with 100, in the first year it increases by 10, in the 10th by 28.5, in the 31st by 175. It doubles each eight years.

Bric A Brac

The idea that it was for slaves was doubted as it could have endangered slaves and their protectors if it fell into the wrong hands. But it was concluded that it was very probably for Friends migrating north into Ohio to escape the association with slavery farther south. Many were known to have done this and the map would have shown them where they would find Meetings.

Friends objections to slavery were explained as due to a belief that they should “do unto others as they would wish others to do unto them.” This was undoubtedly true but it is a pale description of Friends’ belief compared with that of God within everyone.

Nozizwe Madl ala-Routledge, Quaker deputy health minister of South Africa, who transformed policy on AIDS, urging antiretroviral treatment when acting as minister when the minister was ill, has been fired. The minister advocates vitamins, garlic, and beetroot as treatment. The president, Thabo Mbeki, agrees with her. Nozizwe, her son, and an aide, had attended an AIDS conference in Spain before Mbeki had approved this. He then didn’t. It was suggested that she was not a team-player. Mbeki has been criticized for the firing.

Starting to read an old science fiction story by John Wyndham, we were surprised to find that an introduction for “teachers and parents” had been written by Richard Tyre, Chairman of the English Department of Germantown Friends School. A major theme, he said, was the same as Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible: The danger of the demand for conformity; the horror when people faced with overwhelming physical struggles try to stifle any differences among their group, try to kill anyone different from themselves, and, when trouble does come, immediately seek a scape goat.”

Among the questions posed, he noted, “What is the real nature of God? Is He as the orthodox creeds describe Him, or is there change and growth?”

But don't rush out to read it. The book is, let us say, fanciful.

Friends All Over

QUNO in New York has expanded attention to conflicts in Central Africa as well as the Middle East. It has focused on work in northern Uganda, and the dire need for civilian protection in eastern Congo and developed program work around the UN Peacebuilding Commission.

You can get Friends World News by writing to FWC at 1506 Race St., Philadelphia, PA 19102, preferably enclosing a contribution. Val Liveoak has just returned from the FWC meetings in Dublin, Ireland.

FCNL’s Indian Report focuses on the treaty obligation of the US government to provide housing, health and education programs for Indian tribes particularly ho using. It also reports that Indian women are 2.5 times as likely to be raped as US women in general, villages often being inaccessible and with no police presence. At Rosebud Reservation in S. Dakota a state of emergency has been declared over youth suicide.

FCNL’s Washington Newsletter focuses on poverty and inequality in the US, with recommendations for Congressional actions. It also has an article on the essential need for habeas corpus as the b asic protection for protecting the liberty of innocent people and another on “slowing the rush” to corn-based ethanol due to the danger of driving up the price of corn and other foodstuffs all over the world.

Sea of Life

Never to resist the nat ure of this evolution that
Bequests me . . .
So much is absorbed
When I let the forces free . . .

To cease this spirit of ever renewing its purpose;
Is as if life denies to exist.

So I let it be, for onl y I can create
or destroy the sea of life. . .

Urban Environment Report: How Does Your City Rank?

Disability Status 14.4%

Emphysema 1.10%

Cardiovascular Disease 22.46%

Diabetes 4.71%

Pediatric Asthma 8.52%

Adult Asthma 7.39%

Adult Obesity 23.8%

People Without Health Insurance 24.5%

Age: Children under 5 y ears 8.4%

Age: 65 years and over 10.2%

Not Literate (Adult Level 1 Literacy) 27.0%

Adults without High School Degree (or higher) 22.3%

High School Drop-Out Rate 48.0%

Unemployed (Civilian Labor Force) 6.9%

Children (below 18):

Meetinghouse

“Just a note to let you know that we have selected one of your photographs of San Antonio meetinghouse for inclusion in the display in the conference room of FGC’s renovated offices. We’ll be scanning the image and reproducing it that way, so at some point in the next few weeks I will return your original prints to you by mail.

Though I know it’s unlikely you will be able to attend, you are warmly invited to the FGC Open House to see our renovated offices and new art installations on Wednesday, September 19th from 4:00 – 6:30pm at the FGC offices at 1216 Arch Street Suite 2B in Philadelphia . More information is available here: www.fgcquaker.org/friends-general-conference-open-house.

Thank you for your time and creative work. Let me know if I can answer any questions or concerns.

Sincerely, Angelina Conti “

And now Karen Eldridge of Lake Flato has told us: “Also, we have been asked by the London publisher to submit the project for possible inclusion in the Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture.”

What next, the Seven Wonders of the World? The National Register of Historic Places? Somebody make history, quick.

And not even a steeple. . .

There is now a solid stone pathway down to the stone circle behind the meetingroom.

Mark Twain on Biblical Text

Is it not well worthy of note that of all the multitude of texts through which man has driven his annihilating pen he has never once made the mistake of obliterating a good and useful one? It does certainly seem to suggest that if man continues in the direction of enlightenment, his religious practice may, in the end, attain some semblance of human decency.”

Are we there yet?

Quaker Chuckles

A Heady Exchange

“Don’t let me keep thee if thee really must go, the bored, long-suffering host replied politely.

“Yes, I must depart. But, truly, I did enjoy this little visit. Does thee know that when I came in here, I had a headache? But now I’ve lost it entirely.”

“Oh, thee hasn’t really lost it,” came the resigned reply. “It seems I have it now.”

Fishing for Gold

“Hmmm,” she said, “I’m not sure I like the look of that codfish.”

It had been a long day for Scattergood, and his patience was not what it might have been. “Well, if it’s looks thee wants,” he answered gruffly, why don’t thee get a goldfish?”

From Quaker House Newsletter

Where, we wonder, does Chuck Fager get his Quaker jokes? Most probably by modifying non-Quaker jokes? We note that Quarterly Meeting announces that there will be “shared beds and baths.” That should produce some Quaker jokes.

High Holy Days

Advice for October