"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and
let us run with endurance the race set out for us".--Hebrews 12:1
I was sad to
hear of the passing of Bobbi Kendig, a dear Friend I came to know
through many visits to Marloma Long Beach meeting since arriving in California
30 years ago. Whenever I showed up in the pre-school where Marloma Friends met,
Bobbi was always welcoming and friendly and full of love. She embodied the
Quaker spirit of hospitality. She was deeply concerned about “the least of
these.” Even though Marloma was a tiny meeting, she often took some
marginalized group, such as a refugee family, under its care. She introduced me
to Fred Newkirk, a remarkable Quaker pastor who started a half-way house for former
inmates and did amazing work. Bobbi also ran a home for abused children and
wrote a book about it called “Cedar House.”
I looked it up on Amazon and found that it relates to this year’s annual session: “The theme of the book springs from a
mind-set of inclusiveness--including clients in every step of the process
related to them, enlisting their abilities to help each other as well as
themselves, embracing community members in the search for answers, and
providing channels for people at all levels to give and to grow.”
A Friend told a story about her going
to Kosovo to be a peacemaker. Some Serbian soldiers stopped her and pointed
their guns at her, asking why she had come to their country. She spoke of her
desire to reach out to traumatized families with such emotion that the soldiers
pointed down their guns and asked if she would come to Serbia to do similar healing
work.
Bobbi, you were one of the most radically inclusive and loving people
I’ve ever known. I will miss you and your smile, dear friend!
Bob Barns. Bob was one of the first activist Friends I
met when I came to California in 1989. He regularly attended PYM annual sessions
was passionate about Right Sharing and AVP. Not one to hide his light under a
bushel, hwore a vest advertising his involvement with these organizations. He
was also passionate about Latin American concerns and wrote a book called Nica
Notes about his experiences in Nicaragua during the days of death squads.
I
love this story from his Memorial Minute. “ In later
years, during Meeting for Worship in Grass Valley Friends Meeting, Bob’s
Australian girlfriend, Giri, detailed an experience he had in an AVP workshop
in Folsom Prison. Bob was confronted by a wretched, tearful, and mournful
man who had been assigned the task of killing Bob when he was in Nicaragua. He
even had Bob’s face in his rifle’s scope, but could not bring himself to do it.
He said there was something in Bob’s face that would not allow him to carry out
the assassination.”
It turns out this man (named Bold Bear) was under the pay
of the US government. (He was later paroled.)
Bob was a compassionate, bodacious
man of peace and a true Friend. He is also remembered for his kindness and
sense of humor. I am very grateful for how he challenged me with his example of
fearless faithfulness.
Henriette Groot. I got to know our beloved Dutch Friend Henrietta
when I drove her back from annual session and stayed at her home. She was a
very gracious host and I got to hear her amazing story of how she and her husband
spent over a decade circling the globe in a sail boat. What a free spirit! When
Jill and I visited her home, she showed us pictures of her travels and also the
llamas in her backyard! She was a passionate environmentalist and a lover of
beauty and nature. I am grateful for the example of her life lived fully and
deeply and with integrity.
Tom King. I got to know Tom when I traveled with him to
the Soviet Union on a work camp in the 1990s with a bunch of Quaker teens. Thee
I learned that Tom was a very frugal friend. Because we were able to purchase
items at Russian prices instead of inflated tourist prices, we were able to get
huge bargains. Restaurant meals were only 25 cents. Tickets to the Bolshoi were
$2. I felt super rich. When I got a haircut, the Russian barber charge me 10
kopecks, around 10 cents. I told this to Tom and he was indignant. He told me I
was ripped off. He said I could have gotten the haircut for only 5 kopecks. I shocked
him when I told him I gave the barber a $1 tip. (So generous of me!) Tom loved
Quaker history and devoted many years of his life to writing the history of San
Jose Friends. He was tireless in gathering data from original documents and
eventually put together a meticulously researched 500-page tome, of which he
was very proud. I am glad to have known Tom, who loved the Society of Friends
and its complicated history in which he played a part.
Stephen Matchett. It was
shocking to learn of Stephen’s sudden death from a brain tumor: he seemed so full
of life it was hard to believe he could die, much less pass so quickly. I got
to know Stephen when I was editor of Friends Bulletin (now the Western Friend)
and he served as clerk of the FB Board. He was an excellent clerk and I often
stayed at his home in San Francisco where I got to know something of his life story.
For example, at one point he was a lawyer defending clients on death row—a very
frustrating but worthwhile task. He also led the Bible study at Yearly Meeting which
had a big influence on my wife Jill and me. An Evangelical Christian, Jill loved
the way that Stephen led Friendly Bible studies in an inclusive and
non-dogmatic way and we brought this model to Orange Grove Meeting, where it
has been highly successful. Stephen has visited us at our home in Pasadena several
times, arriving by bike since he refused for reasons of conscience to ride in a
private car. (He traveled only by public transportation and bike). Stephen was
a man of great kindness and great integrity, with a disarming sense of humor. I
am still grieving his passing. He will be sorely missed.
Laura Kohl. I got to know Laura and her husband when my
wife Jill and I went to San Diego to check out the Golden Rule, a sail boat
that the Quaker Albert Bigelow tried to sail into the forbidden nuclear test zone
in the Pacific Ocean in 1958. (This voyage never reached its goal, but influenced
Green Peace and other peace groups.) The Golden Rule was refurbished by Vets for
Peace so it could be used to promote peace and ending nuclear weaponry. Laura
and her husband were avid sailors and took us sailing on the Golden Rule through
San Diego harbor with some Friends and Vets for Peace. Afterwards, we had
dinner and swapped stories. She was such a fun person it was hard to believe
she was once part of the Jonestown scene. She wrote a book about her experiences
and went on speaking tours around the country. She was also very active in
local political causes, standing up for immigrants and others. Laura became my
Facebook friend and always liked or loved my postings relating to peace and
social justice. I can’t help smiling when I think of her. She was a true Friend,
a lover of peace and social justice, with a beautiful, loving heart.
La Jolla Monthly Meeting Memorial Minute
Laura Johnston Kohl
October 22, 1947-November 19, 2019
Laura Johnston Kohl was born on October 22, 1947 in Washington D.C. Her
mother
was an activist, a writer and wrote a column for the Washington Post.
She raised Laura
and her two older sisters as a single parent.
Laura grew up as an
activist in Washington, D.C., and watched many of her heroes
being assassinated in the 1960s. While she was in high school and
college, John
Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and
others
were killed. That had a huge impact on her. She attended
college in Connecticut and
continued her commitment to work for change and to make a
difference. While
exercising her civil rights to protest peacefully, she was tear-gassed
while protesting the
war in Vietnam. After a brief marriage, a visit to Woodstock, and
a stint working with the
Black Panthers, she moved to California to join her sister.
Soon after that, she
was introduced to Peoples Temple and spent the next nine years in
California and Guyana. She was away from Jonestown on the day when
913 of her
friends and family died. The next twenty years were spent
recovering, and rebuilding
her life. For the first ten years, she lived in Synanon, a
residential community. The
following ten years, with her husband, Ron Kohl and young son Raul, she
began
rebuilding her life. She earned her BA in philosophy/psychology,
and then earned her
California Teaching Credential. She also found some peace by
becoming a Quaker.
She became a public
speaker about Peoples Temple and was on the Speakers’ Bureau
of the Jonestown Institute. She was interviewed locally,
nationally, and internationally
on television, on radio, in newspapers, in documentaries, and for
research papers. She
wrote many articles about the details of life in Peoples Temple and her
survival in the
annual Jonestown Report. Laura was an annual speaker at the
Communal Studies
Association Conference, and her scholarly work is published in
their Communal
Societies Journal. She made frequent presentations at
universities, libraries, book
stores, conferences, and on internet radio. She was interviewed on Ben
Modo Live
television show, and appeared in several documentaries on different
aspects of Peoples
Temple. Laura received a number of requests for interviews from all
around the world
every week. In March 2010, she published her own book, JONESTOWN
SURVIVOR:
An Insider’s Look.
Laura worked as a
bilingual public school teacher and was nominated for “Teacher of the Year” by her middle school. She was chosen as "A Woman of
the Year 2011-12" by the National Association for Professional Women.
In October 2012, she was added to the Board of Directors of the Communal Studies Association. She was a
member of Read Local San Diego, and Writers and Publishers of San Diego, as well
as other
author's groups. In the last few years, after retiring from
full-time public school teaching, she traveled extensively across the country from Hawaii to New York, and
Seattle to Florida, speaking at universities about New Religions, survival, Peoples
Temple &
Jonestown, psychology, cults, Critical Thinking, writing, and the
decades of the 1960s
and 1970s – and the evolution of Peoples Temple during those twenty
years. She also
taught OSHER classes around the country and spoke at Quaker Meetings
around the
U.S. She was on the Advisory Committee of the California Historical
Society's Peoples
Temple Archives.
In San Diego Laura was
active in many peace and justice activities with groups such as the Democratic Party, the American Civil Liberties Union, her
teachers' union, and
especially events that promoted racial understanding and justice for
migrants. Laura
had been active in La Jolla Meeting for over 20 years. Her loving
presence was felt
especially as she encouraged us to create a banner to take to events
such as the Martin
Luther King and LGBTQ parades. She had Quaker t-shirts printed for
us to wear
routinely and especially at public gatherings. We will miss her
insistence on our being
active in the community. She served on many committees, most of
which were involved
in peace, social action and immigration issues. She was on the SCQM
Peace
Committee for many years and was also very active in peace issues at
Pacific Yearly
Meeting.
Laura struggled with a
debilitating cancer the last couple of years of her life but it didn’t stop her indomitable spirit. She remained active until her last days.
Four days before
her death, Laura’s husband Ron hosted a celebration of life at her home
at her request.
Over 130 people attended to say good-by. Laura will be remembered for
her wide-open
heart, optimism, passion for justice, and incredible energy. Her passing
leaves a hole in
the lives of her family, colleagues, and friends from all walks of life.
Friends at La Jolla
Meeting will miss her deeply.
Memorial Minute Bob Barns
Besides a variety of occupations, Bob Barns, or Bodacious Bob as many
came to know and love him, was a father, an activist, a teacher, a writer, and
an inspiration. He was a social activist especially for issues regarding
violence, peace, and environmental concerns. He was a man who tried hard to
live his ideals. Many within the Alternatives to Violence Project circles
praise his effervescence, his clarity, and his loving, joyful spirit.
Robert Edward Barns was
born in New York, New York, on May 21, 1926 to parents, Frederick Balston Barns
and Virginia Elizabeth Kift Barns. Bob moved with the family to Philadelphia
where his mother worked for the Ladies Home Journal. His next move was
to California with his father. He lived in Morgan Hill with his grandparents
who operated a prune orchard. Later he moved to the Burlingame area to live
with his father and his second wife.
Finishing high school
at 17 he joined the Army and was in Germany when the atomic bomb fell and the war
soon ended. The military attempt to teach him how to use a bayonet led him to
decide war was futile and to become a lifelong pacifist. Bob studied at
University of California at Berkeley, where he also came into contact with
Quakers. He spent wonderful summers hiking and camping with a friend. They
hiked from Lake Tahoe to Yosemite—taking on a section each year for three
years. After completing his studies he taught in Davis, California and
continued in his relationship with Friends in the Davis Friends Meeting.
Bob married Dorene
Mercer in 1953. In 1954, Bob and Dorene, before they had children, participated
in an AFSC work project. The project was to build a school in the Seri Indian
fishing village of Desemboque, Mexico. During his career, his various jobs included
being a draftsman at a pump manufacturing company, running his own company, and
working with volunteer organizations. During the Korean War he saw that his employer
was doing more work on war equipment then he could deal with, so he quit and
went back to Mexico to work with Quakers on the water supply for a small
village. Later he worked with them on similar
projects in northern Mexico. The work was very hard—laying pipes and blasting
rocks. There was no
electricity in the area and water had to be carried about two miles, but
Bob loved the people and several called him God with a beard. Bob and Dorene
separated in 1979.
One of Bob’s
publications was Nica Notes: A Collection of Newsletters from a Peace
Activist’s Stay in Nicaragua. It documented many of his experiences while
living in war-torn Nicaragua in 1986. He used his life to accompany those who
were in danger of being killed, as the presence of a foreigner abated some
risk.
In later years, during
Meeting for Worship in Grass Valley Friends Meeting, Bob’s Australian
girlfriend, Giri, detailed an experience he had in an AVP workshop in Folsom
Prison. Bob was confronted by a wretched, tearful, and mournful man who
had been assigned the task of killing Bob when he was in Nicaragua. He even had
Bob’s face in his rifle’s scope, but could not bring himself to do it. He said
there was something in Bob’s face that would not allow him to carry out the
assassination.
Perhaps Bob’s two most
impactful ministries were his dedication to the good within all people and his concern
for the environment. Bob was a disciple of the Alternative to Violence Project
(AVP). Bob led AVP workshops in prisons and out of prisons around the world,
possibly on 6 continents. Bodacious Bob, as he was better known approached all
people he met with civility, love, respect, and good humor. This same caring
for all people led to the advice he gave Amanda and Nick Wilcox. Amanda said, My
personal memory is that Bob was a steadfast supporter of our efforts to prevent
gun violence and our most loyal Brady Chapter member. Our first early action
was to stop gun shows in Nevada County. Bob was worried about the strong
feelings and possible acrimony that the issue could cause
and early on, advised Nick and me
to always seek to understand the needs of those who disagreed with us. It was
the best advice we ever received. In the years since, we have had strong policy
disagreements but have never had a negative or disrespectful interaction with
our opponents. I attribute this to Bob’s advice.
Bob’s sense of right
use of the world’s resources led to a lifelong involvement, including spending
time on the national board of Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR). When Bob
moved to Nevada City, he built his own home largely from recycled materials and
lived for many years as a neighbor of the John Woolman School without a
personal vehicle.
As an attender and then
a member of Grass Valley Friends Meeting, Bob served in a number of capacities
and continuously championed many important causes. He volunteered with
organizations including Witness for Peace, Alternatives to Violence, and Right
Sharing of World Resources. At one point he served as Treasurer of the Meeting,
but stepped down because of all the travel he engaged in, mostly due to his
work for AVP and Right Sharing of World Resources. He also was instrumental in
the success of the Stamp Project, collecting used and new stamps from around
the world to raise money for RSWR. Many times our Business Meeting heard Bob ask,”Is
this (spending) the best way for us to use the world’s
resources?”
Bob lived the last few
years of his life in Beaverton, Oregon, near his son Chris and his wife
Caroline. During that time he was able to visit with most of his family. Bob
passed away peacefully at home on July 16, 2019.
Thomas Million King
October 27, 1940 to September 9, 2019
Tom King was born on October 27, 1940 in Colusa, California to Mr.
William Byron King and Mrs. Rose Elizabeth Standish King. He was the younger brother of
Charles Standish King of San Bruno, California. Tom attended Yuba College in Marysville,
California, then he transferred to University of California, in Berkeley. After his
graduation, he served for two years in the US Army. Following the service, he entered the teaching
profession. It was while teaching in Novato, California that he met his first wife;
they were married for three years.
Tom started attending San Jose Friends Meeting in 1972, joining as a
member of the Meeting in 1975. He was an active member, serving on the Library
Committee, the Property Committee, and as recording clerk. In the mid 1980’s, Tom
played an important
role in preserving the archival records of the Meeting, which resulted
in the transfer of all the pre-1885 business meeting minutes, as well as Meeting’s oldest and
most valuable papers and books to the Quaker Collection of Haverford College in
Pennsylvania.
Tom was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in the mid 1990’s. After
researching available treatment options, he entered a two-year drug program for
Parkinson’s Disease at the National Institute of Health. He used the Traveling Friends
Directory for securing temporary housing. One of the hosts was a Quaker named Amy Southwick,
whom he married in 2001. Tom’s frequent visits to D.C. gave him opportunities to
use the National Archives and the Library of Congress for pursuing his research. After
Amy retired, the couple lived in Tom’s historic home in the Burbank area of San Jose. In
2003, they took up residence in a home in Santa Rosa located close to Friends House. Tom
attended Quaker meetings in the Santa Rosa area while he maintained his membership in
San Jose Friends Meeting. After he and Amy divorced in 2012, Tom moved back to his home
in San Jose.
Tom was a man of many interests, among them genealogy, travel, the
history of San Jose, and the history of Quakers. He authored several historical articles, and
in 2012, he published his first book, “History of San Jose Quakers, West Coast
Friends.” At the time of his death, he was working on a sequel.
Tom was a man who held strong opinions and was not easily dissuaded. His independence and tenacity sustained him through years of physical
challenges. One of the major surgeries Tom had was a deep brain stimulator implantation, around
2005, which helped relieve some of his Parkinson’s symptoms. Despite his many
physical challenges, Tom refused to let anything prevent him from living life on his terms.
He attended meeting for worship nearly every Sunday -- taking two buses to get there – and
participated in the life of the meeting with enthusiasm. His indomitable spirit and
persistence in pursuing his goals were inspirational and admired by those who knew him.
It was Tom’s wish that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Habitat
for Humanity.
