STANISLAUS CONNECTIONS
Working For Peace, Justice, and A Sustainable Environment
In Memoriam
Helen Nutson passes away
By INDIRA CLARK
Helen Nutson remembered our nation's first Veterans' Day.
It was called Armistice Day then, and marked the end of the First World War, the "war to end all wars."
1918: "Kids running up and down the street, waving flags, cheering," she recalled in a 1991 Stanislaus Connections interview with Fred Herman. At age 7, she in contrast, "was just glad it was over."
Helen died on September 28th, three months after her husband Gordon. While her husband is widely remembered as gregarious with the commitment to buttonhole at least one person daily about the "stupidity and racketeering of war," Helen was also steadfast in her work against war and violence, to feed the hungry, and for racial equality and human rights.
The Nutsons were among the founders of the Modesto Peace Center in 1970. As the Vietnam war raged, companies which made familiar consumer products were found to had a darker sides. Helen joined in the Honeywell Project to publicize that this company didn't just make the thermostat on the wall of your cozy living room and the home movie camera which preserved the delight of your family life: it also manufactured anti-personnel weapons designed to rip through human flesh, "war profiteering."
Helen was the perennial chair of the Modesto First United Methodist Church Social Concerns committee. She campaigned against war toys, and served on the board of Interfaith Ministries and with other local and international hunger programs. And while the Nutsons did vigil outside Lawrence Livermore National Labs against the weapons developed there - and US foreign policy which was influenced by the availability of those weapons, they were more comfortable doing peace education than holding picket sign.
Canadian-born but raised in Detroit, Helen came from a pacifist family, open to discussing views on any issue. The peace feelings stuck. At age 18, she addressed her local Women's Christian Temperance Union, the early anti-domestic violence organization, on peace. She attended Wayne State University and met her future husband in a church choir in 1937.
In Michigan they traveled all over to hear the social gospel preached in some "terrific sermons". Today's church leaders, they averred to Fred, aren't nearly as dedicated.
While Gordon was serving as a conscientious objector during World War II in Michigan, Oregon, and lastly Modesto, Helen raised their two sons. They settled here, joined in the local Fellowship of Reconciliation, and shared their lives with the community and the world.
Helen was an assistant librarian at Modesto High School for several years. She served as pianist and organist for local churches, directed her own music studio for 35 years, and was active in music teacher associations. She gave free music lessons when students weren't able to pay. I've found that Helen is widely remembered as a no nonsense piano teacher.
The Nutsons traveled widely. "We make it a point to go in small groups and express our views," Helen told Fred. In 1987 they traveled to the then-Soviet Union with then- Modesto Mayor Peggy Mensinger to formalize the sister city program with Khmelnitsky. The Nutsons slipped away from the group at night to attend church, meet people not on the official schedule, and, of course, express and discuss their views.
In 1991 the Modesto Peace/Life Center honored Helen and Gordon as Friends of Peace for a lifetime of serving peace.
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In Memoriam Wilfred D. Weaver August 1, 1916 — November 15, 2002 |
Remembering Michael Matherly
Michael Matherly died on November 7th. Following a stroke, his mother and his sister Pam Wilson had brought him back to his old home in Modesto from his new home in Mendicino. In the last hours of his life, many friends were able to say good-bye and reminisce with his family about this man so close to our hearts. He was 56.
In 1993 Jim Higgs captured a bit of Mike's spirit in an interview for
Stanislaus Connections just before Mike left to Modesto another time. Even as a
young man, Mike cared for people as they died. He embraced the Brethren
Volunteer Service opportunity to work in a Hospice program in Texas,
"allowing terminal cancer patients to die in their homes as they wish to
die." Excerpts from that interview follows.
--Indira Clark
Michael Matherly, a willowy, intense man in his mid-forties, has been a consistent and key working in the peace, environmental, health, and gay communities. He is an [early] member of the Stanislaus Safe Energy Committee [which worked to stop the proposed proliferation of nuclear power in California including a plant near Waterford in eastern Stanislaus county - and no more plants were built!], a tireless member of Peace/Life (he, along with Sam Tyson, promoted and secured the down payment for the 6th Street house), and avid and knowledgeable horticulturist, a steadfast peace vigiler in from of the I Street Post Office almost every Tuesday afternoon, and a loving and thorough charge nurse at Casa de Modesto, the non-profit facility that offers humane, dignified care for the aged.
"My modus operandi is that when I join an organization, or into a new
group, I will absolutely listen for three to six months before I even say a word
or do anything. O.K.? That's just the way I do it."
JH: You have done door-to-door precinct walking for . . .every election?
MM: Every election. I take an issue.
JH: Talk about your recollections of Ecology Action's famous Can Relay.
MM: The winning team for a non-profit organization for four years in a row. I
did have to recruit an "Olympic" runner [Jim] for the running team one
year. He ran so fast it didn't matter what the canoe or bicycle did.
JH: You won the Can Relay for the Peace Center, right?
MM: Yes.
JH: Where did you learn about plants? You didn't go to school to learn that did
you?
MM: Yes, I took botany, California Native Plants and Propagation, and
Horticulture at [Modesto Junior College]. I landscaped my first yard at age
twelve and I became interested in plants about the age of nine. When I was a
kid, the family, my mother would spend a month in the Sierra backpacking without
husband. . . I kept track of plants as children before I knew the names of them,
their progress, how much they have grown, the sculpture, the shape of the, how
they contrast with the background, should they be there, how does the rock or
tree relate to the plant that's growing next to it.
JH: Haven't you been active in gay rights and gay issues?
MM: Yes, Stanislaus Gay Alliance. [SaTORI] had a tremendous influence on me. The
intent of SaTORI was to fling off social/sexual roles and become more human. I
was introduced to it by Chris Bristro.
JH: Why don't you talk about your philosophy of money and your philosophy
of simplicity.
MM: I think it's called minimalism. For me, minimalism means that I enjoy
objects, especially art objects, that are well created, but I do not wish to
maintain them or keep track of them, so I don't have them. Also, I find that if
I have things - if I have a TV or album , . . .things, when the stranger knocks
at my front door, I look at him twice. If I do not have these things, I open the
door wide because I have no fear of losing these things. I have nothing to lose.
JH: That is nicely said.
MM: I put my money into Jenny Maes. Jenny Maes are federal , low interest loans
to low income people for housing. I have put 25% of my income into Jenny Maes.
JH: You have been a tax resister.
MM: I do not pay taxes voluntarily. I file and fill out the papers correctly
because if you do not, that's defrauding and they [IRS] can put you in jail. I
fill out my papers and send them in, but I do not send a check.
JH: Do they attach your wages?
MM: They attach my wages every three years or so.
JH: What would you like to see happen in this community?
MM: The people thing. Every organization I know of is dying from the lack of
people. Ecology Action has $80,000 in the bank and they don't have people. Casa
de Modesto - they need people. They are a non-profit organization that thrives
on volunteers. Peace/Life, Stanislaus Safe Energy - it is the same thing; its
people.
I used to be interview by JC students as a deviant. Sociology class. They came
to me for years and years.
I took it as a compliment.
Memories of John Martin
By MYRTLE OSNER
Modesto's losses of community activists seems to be hitting us all at once these days. In November, Peggy Mensinger and John Martin slipped away from life leaving their legacies for all of us to carry on.
With the death of John Martin, one of the most effective advocates for the common people of Stanislaus County has left us. As director of the Senior Opportunity Service Program (SOSP), he developed a program providing delicious, attractive meals for at sites throughout the county, and other services for seniors
I was surprised to hear that many years ago John was executive director of both the Stanislaus and San Joaquin County Taxpayers Associations. But his motivation to do this work was quite different from what I hear about today's taxpayers associations.
John watched closely how government was spending our money. He showed up at so many government meetings that he really came to be viewed as a valued contributor to governmental decision-making.
He believed that the poor, the elderly, the handicapped, the other voiceless ones were not getting their fair share of tax money. He was tireless in his advocacy for these people who needed a spokesperson.
Later, he was not just concerned about the nutritional health of the elderly, but also believed that it was good for people to get out of their homes, since many of them lived alone, to socialize with others. He also worked with Meals on Wheels, a program in which volunteers took meals to housebound persons.
During the Vietnam War years John and his wife Helen opposed the war in principle, losing some long-time friends as a result. Helen was one of the first to volunteer to staff the office when the Modesto Peace Center opened its doors to provide draft counseling and peace education to this community. Through the years John continued to greet long-time activists with words of encouragement, a hardy handshake while palming a bill to help keep the Center open. The Martins were also supporters and active members of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). They have been speakers at the Modesto high schools during Day of Respect programs.
Their Catholic faith stood them in good stead as principles by which to live a life of true service to others. Helen related that John's father, when it came time for John to go to college, didn't give his son a choice; Mr. Martin just took John to Notre Dame and enrolled him. Thus was nurtured his Christian ethics that never left him. "He always saw a need, and he filled it," says Helen.
"And don't forget to say what a strong supporter he was of Notre Dame's football team. John died right after the big win for his team!"
Tribute to Peggy Mensinger
By JIM KNOX
I first encountered the Mensinger family when I met son John--a fellow college sophomore-- studying at Stanford's overseas campus in England. It was 1975, and he was rightfully proud of his mother who was running for Mayor at the time. Although I think he felt a bit guilty that he was thousands of miles away and unable to be of much help on the campaign.
As an east coast native, I had never heard of Modesto. But a few years later I found my first job in Modesto working for Ecology Action Educational Institute.
I picked a great time to live in Modesto. It coincided almost exactly with Peggy's reign as Mayor, so it provided me the good fortune to watch and learn from Peggy as she championed the issues I cared most about:
These were new concepts in the 1970s, and might have sounded radical coming from anyone else. But coming from Peggy--a pillar in the community, a PTA and Girl Scout leader, and apparent mother figure--it simply sounded like the irrefutable common sense it was then, and continues to be now.
Nonetheless, it remained minority viewpoint on the city council. And while leadership is admirable in any situation, it is particularly impressive when it emerges in an uphill battle.
Being in the minority on controversial issues one cares most deeply about would be terribly frustrating for most people. But it never seemed to have that effect on Peggy. She conducted city council meetings with remarkable dignity and patience. And through perseverance and unassailable integrity, she accomplished much on the council. And what she could not get through the council, she had the ingenuity and vision to achieve through a popular mandate by going directly to the public. Most dramatically with Measure A--a seemingly radical idea that the public should play a role in shaping the community's growth and development.
The more I watched Peggy, the more my admiration grew. She was open minded, but firm in her convictions. She stood for something and was willing to take not-yet-popular stands--a trait increasingly rare in politics.
She was graceful in defeat, but never willing to give up. She was always ready to press the issue at another juncture.
She was always humble and gentle in victory. There was never a touch of arrogance in Peggy.
She was dedicated, and so completely in command of the facts-no matter what the issue. Underdogs usually have to out-study and out-prepare their adversaries. And Peggy was always a master at it.
She had an understated manner, but was always in control of the fact and the tenor of the debate.
She was always willing to tackle the big issues, no matter how long the odds were or how politically risky it might be.
In my 25 years in politics, starting here in Modesto, then for many years as an environmental lobbyist at the State Capitol, and more recently as the state director for the political reform group Common Cause, I have come in contact with many, many political figures on the local, state and national levels. But I have never encountered anyone in public life that I admire more than Peggy Mensinger.
To me, Peggy will always be the embodiment of what a public servant ought to be. She will always be the standard by which I measure others in public life--and myself. When I am in a quandary over what is the right thing to do about this issue or that, I think "What would Peggy do?" I count myself fortunate, and proud, to be part of the legacy that Peggy leaves:
