Georgia Walker, a former member of the PeaceWorks-KC Board of Directors, died March 7 suddenly, of septic shock. She was only 74. We miss you, Georgia!!!
Her wake will be at 10 am this Sat., March 19, at St. James Catholic Church, 3909 Harrison St., KC MO, with the funeral there at 11 am. See her obituary at https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/kansascity/name/georgia-walker-obituary?n=georgia-walker&pid=201569926&fhid=42063
“Georgia was a great intellect,” says Henry Stoever, co-chair of PeaceWorks. She held a PhD and taught at the university level. Many of us in PeaceWorks knew of her great heart, co-founding and directing Journey to New Life to help persons coming out of prison, and others, find housing, employment, and help with a wide variety of problems. She embodied compassion! Two residences through Journey to New Life offer a home to women released from prison as they also gain assistance in finding permanent homes.
Some PeaceWorks memories: On 5/31/14, during a weekend of PeaceWorks resistance to war and its weapons, Georgia held up the “nuclear continuum of death” banner–from mine to bomb–at an entry to Bannister Federal Complex in KC MO. She said the IRS office formerly at BFC had been shut down because of contaminants from the making of parts for nuclear weapons at BFC since 1949. Georgia fought back tears as she said two of her relatives, IRS employees, had died unusually early from the toxins at BFC. Non-nuclear parts for nuclear weapons were made at BFC from 1949 to 2014, and a reported 154 persons died from those toxins.
Georgia then crossed a property line with Ethan Hughes at BFC and was soon arrested, processed by the police, and released. That evening, she learned the famed resister Kathy Kelly would do civil resistance the next day at Whiteman Air Force Base, where training in drone warfare was being conducted near Knob Noster, MO. “How could I resist a chance to go to jail with Kathy Kelly?” Georgia explained to those who suggested doing one action of resistance that weekend might be enough.
So on 6/1/14, Georgia and Kathy Kelly did civil resistance, refusing to leave the entry road to Whiteman AFB near Knob Noster, MO. The guards there refused the bread that Georgia and Kathy offered them. The guards ordered everyone to back away and soon took Georgia and Kathy to the base for processing and then released them, pending trial.
Georgia’s sentence for the Whiteman AFB action was a year’s probation, and Kathy Kelly, a repeat resister, got 3 months in prison.
Thanks, Georgia, for your witness and your brave spirit!!!
© 2022, Jane Stoever, Ron Faust, Andrew Nelson, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License.
