1960s: Milestones from the Minutes
Throughout the Decade:
- LOFM members were involved in Vietnam War protests including attending vigils at LBJ’s ranch, writing letters to elected officials and letters to the editor.
- There were also multiple letters to elected officials calling for a nuclear testing moratorium.
- LOFM was involved in coaching young men on becoming conscientious objectors.
March 1961: Peace Pilgrim visited. (Linked article says she “was given overnight shelter by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Whitsun [sic], 2336 N. Boulevard, ‘I’ll be here a week,’ she said Thursday, ‘then I’m off to the West.'”)
March 1963: Twelve Friends were volunteering as nurses aides at Jeff Davis Hospital. Background: At a cocktail party, Marjorie de Hartog heard that the babies at Houston’s charity hospital were going hungry because there were not enough nurses to feed them. Marjorie started volunteering in the nursery; when Jan de Hartog offered his services, he was assigned to the emergency room.
Within his first ten minutes he had encountered a young black woman hemorrhaging from a miscarriage, a pool of blood spreading under her wheelchair. She had not received any assistance because she was too weak to wheel herself to the front desk to register.
Part of the de Hartogs’ struggle was overcoming the racist restrictions placed on the volunteers; the hospital volunteer administration had made plain to Marjorie that “Southern ladies did not touch n***er babies…” (from a piece by Ann Sieber about the de Hartogs)
April 1963: LOFM wrote letters to editor and proposals for fundraising to support the charity hospital.
July 1963: Ten of the 12-15 white people at the NAACP memorial for Medgar Evers were from LOFM.
February 1964: Because the Red Cross had taken over the training program for nurses aides, LOFM Hospital Committee layed down. Marjorie de Hartog was chair of program. LOFM stayed involved through advocating for a new hospital district.
February 1968: Live Oak Friends Meeting hosted Thich Nhat Hanh.