Author: By Gloria Negri, Globe Staff

Date: 08/19/2004 Page: B12 Section: Obituary

Margaret (Fellows) Schirmer took part in protests and marches for social justice and peace most of her life, making her point in a restrained yet dogged manner that got her arrested only once, in 1987, when she was 72.

"Getting arrested for protesting was a very proud moment in Mom's life," said her daughter, Abigail of Cambridge, who was arrested with her for trespassing when voicing opposition to Harvard University's investments in apartheid South Africa. "We were taken away to the station in a police wagon with other protesters, but didn't have to stay overnight."

Mrs. Schirmer, whose final protest which she attended in a wheelchair last winter was against the war in Iraq, died of heart failure on Aug. 8 at her Cambridge home. She was 89 and suffered from Parkinson's disease.

"Peggy was an absolutely magnificent woman," said Betty Burkes of Cambridge, a member of the Cambridge Peace Commission, which Mrs. Schirmer helped found. "She was a determined, brilliant organizer whose work came out of a deep commitment to social justice and nonviolence. Peggy was quiet but carried a big stick."

In Cambridge in 1979, Mrs. Schirmer, who had been a preschool teacher, founded the Concerned Educators Allied for a Safe Environment (CEASE), an antinuclear, antiviolence, and antimilitary group of parents, teachers, and concerned citizens.

Her lifelong commitment to peace and social justice was a family affair. She met Boone Schirmer, her husband of 65 years, when they were students she at Radcliffe, he at Harvard while stuffing envelopes for the politically active American Student Union.

"Our marriage was a collaborative affair," her husband said. "Peggy was a wonderful woman . . . very compassionate and very loving."

The two took part in many protests together and were the first recipients of the Cambridge Peace Commission's Peace and Justice award and the Boston Mobilization for Survival's Peace Leadership award in 1989.

Their children have vivid memories of participating in protests as small children. Joseph, of Madison, Wis., who works in lead poisoning control for the state, recalled yesterday the time in the late 1950s that his mother took him to Woolworth's at Dudley Station to protest the chain store's segregated lunch counters in the South.

When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched in Boston, Mrs. Schirmer was with him.

When Abigail was in elementary school, she accompanied her mother to protest the cold lunches served in public schools. She carried a placard that read: "Cold lunches hurt my tummy."

In a Vietnam War protest in 1972, Mrs. Schirmer was the one protester who agreed not to be arrested. She had to be the driver for the group that went to demonstrate at Hanscom Field in Bedford.

In 1987, Mrs. Schirmer, who wore her hair in braids wrapped around her head, protested against the sale of war-like toys. She was quoted in the Globe at the time, saying "In a day when we are threatened with extinction, they give our children weapons to play with."

Mrs. Schirmer was born in Pulham Market, Norfolk County, England, the daughter of Lancelot Desmond and Audrey (Plummer) Fellows. She graduated from the London School of Economics in 1937 with a bachelor's degree in economics and sociology. While working at a slum parish in London's East End, she helped write a report of working class women published in 1939. After graduation, she spent a year at the German University in Prague studying sociology.

She came to this country in 1938 and worked as a volunteer for the Boston YWCA, investigating working conditions in Boston industries. She also volunteered at the former Window Shop in Cambridge, helping refugees get settled here. She enrolled at Radcliffe to study US history and met Boone.

The couple lived in Boston with their family, moving to Cambridge in 1960. When Boone's activism took him away from home for a period of years, Mrs. Schirmer worked as a seamstress and was a union representative for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, negotiating wages and prices for piecework.

When her husband returned, Mrs. Schirmer enrolled at Tufts University, where she earned a degree in early childhood education in 1968, and worked, first as a teacher in that field at Tufts and then as director of the Radcliffe Child Care Center and the Cambridge Headstart program.

Her interest in early childhood education took her many places. In 1970, she went to Mexico to student Spanish and then to Cuba as part of the Boston Teacher Education Project to work with the Cuban Ministry of Education. In 1985, she went to China, the Netherlands, and Denmark to learn about child care in other cultures.

"Peggy was unstoppable," said State Representative and former Cambridge mayor Alice Wolf. "She was just a wonderful, strong, quiet peace activist."

Besides her husband, son, and daughter, Mrs. Schirmer leaves another daughter, Audrey of Montreal; a sister, Judith Bell of England; and eight grandchildren.

Video clip of Peggy:

David Boeri reports (WGBH-Boston 10 o'clock news) on the trial of five Harvard alumni for protesting apartheid.

Remembering Peggy Schirmer, Educator-Activist

From Craig Simpson and the Fall 2004 newsletter of Concerned Educators Allied for a Safe Environment, 55 Frost St., Cambridge MA 02140; 617/661-8347; info@peaceeducators.org

Peggy Schirmer, lifelong advocate for justice and co-founder of Concerned Educators Allied for a Safe Environment, died on August 8, 2004. She is missed by educators and justice advocates around the world.

In 1979, as the Nuclear Freeze movement was growing in the US, Peggy organized a workshop at the annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, called "Nuclear Weapons, Our Legacy to Our Children?" Sixteen teachers found each other at this workshop, and formed CEASE. Soon CEASE became a national network committed to generating a strong voice among early childhood educators continuing to protest the development of nuclear weapons which threaten our world and the children we strive to protect. As membership grew the mission became focused on a broad view of "safety" as articulated by Peggy and others. Safety for children is a global issue. It goes beyond the classroom and the playground to include: safety from nuclear weapons, safety from pollution, safety from war and weapons in our neighborhoods, and safety from economic and social injustice. The CEASE newsletter began in 1980 and was edited and mailed from Peggy's kitchen table for the next 20 years. An annual CEASE Seminar has been offered at the NAEYC Conference since the one Peggy led.

Peggy's whole life was one of dedication to a better world. She was often seen demonstrating against war toys at Boston's Downtown Crossing shopping area. She was active with the Cambridge Peace Commission and helped introduce Peace Kits to the Cambridge Public Schools. She worked against apartheid and US racism, and helped develop curricula that respected native peoples. Her children remember that throughout their childhood they participated in protests with their mother against segregation, for hot school lunches, and against the Vietnam War.

Whether protesting war toys and media violence or nuclear weapons and both the US-led wars in Iraq, Peggy did not waste time on anger. She got active and persevered. Her model of educator-activist will serve us well as we confront the continuing conflicts in our world and our nation.

Celebrating A Life for Children:  Peggy Schirmer

By Bonnie Neugebauer and Lucy Stroock

Margaret Fellows Schirmer, better known as Peggy, died August 8, 2004, at home surrounded by her family. A life-long peace and justice activist, familiar to many NAEYC Conference participants, Peggy spent the second half of her 89 years working to make a safer world for children.

Born and educated in England, Peggy came to the U.S. as a young woman interested in economics and justice, particularly working conditions for women. After marriage to fellow activist Boone Schirmer, while raising their children, she worked as a seamstress and was a representative for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union negotiating wages and prices for piecework. Throughout their childhood her children remember participating in protests with their mother: against segregation, for hot school lunches, and against the Vietnam War.

In her fifties, Peggy went to Tufts University for a degree in early childhood education. She taught preschool and became director at the Radcliffe Child Care Center and then at Cambridge Headstart. During 1970 she traveled to Mexico to learn Spanish and to Cuba to work with the Cuban Ministry of Education. In 1985 she went to China, the Netherlands, and Denmark to learn about child care in other cultures. Her perspective was global, and her commitment was to all children everywhere.

In 1979 as the Nuclear Freeze movement was growing in the U.S., Peggy organized a workshop at the annual NAEYC National Conference entitled "Nuclear Weapons, Our Legacy to our Children?" Sixteen teachers found each other at this workshop. This group became CEASE, Concerned Educators Allied for a Safe Environment. Soon CEASE became a national network committed to generating a strong voice among early childhood educators continuing to protest the development of nuclear weapons which threaten our world and the children we strive to protect. As membership grew the mission became focused on the broad view of "safety" as articulated by Peggy and others. Safety for children is a global issue. It goes beyond the classroom and the playground to include: safety from nuclear weapons, from pollution, safety from war and weapons in our neighborhoods, and safety from economic and social injustice. The CEASE Newsletter began in 1980 and was edited and mailed from Peggy's kitchen table for the next 20 years. An annual CEASE Seminar has been offered at the NAEYC Conference ever since.

Peggy attended the NAEYC Board meetings at the annual conference and "respectfully submitted" suggestions for ways the Association could address the issues of social policy which so directly affect children's lives: welfare reform, violence in society, war toys, violence on TV. Her quietly spoken statements and her editorials in CEASE News strongly placed these topics in the larger context of militarism in conflict with life-giving social policies. In 1995 she wrote, "reliance on military dominance permeates our whole society endangering international relations, glorifying violence in the media, and wasting the resources needed here and abroad to build a safe and healthy world for children."

Whether protesting war toys and media violence, or nuclear weapons and both wars in Iraq, Peggy did not waste time on anger. She got active and persevered. Her model as educator/activist will serve us well as we confront the continuing conflicts in our world and our nation. As the late Jane Davidson wrote at the time of the 20th Anniversary of CEASE, "Thank you, Peggy, for making us all feel that what we do is important."



Thanks to Lucy Stroock for help in writing this tribute.

Craig Simpson’s Talk at Peggy’s Memorial Service

Today is Gandhi’s birthday- a good day to honor Peggy Schirmer. I am here to talk about Peggy’s group CEASE (Concerned Educators Allied for a Safe Environment) Peggy co- founded CEASE in 1979. “Co-founded”? In the 20 years I have been associated with CEASE I have never met the other Cos. Is this another one of Peggy’s tricks? Everything, it seems in her life was Co. She didn’t do anything by solo. She organized CEASE, a group of early childhood educators who work for peace and justice and on lots of social issues with young children.

There are people here that were drawn to her-Peggy’s Kitchen table veterans (as opposed to the Swift Boat veterans) and they will all attest to how Peggy impacted their lives.

We came to meetings splattered with paint on our shirts, bleach on our jeans, smelling of infant formula spit to fold newsletters- exhausted from teaching babies, children, and adults. No one really cared for this motley crew like Peggy who saw the big picture- the vision to full together this overworked, underpaid, underappreciated, trivialized, condescended, visionary group

Did you know these things about Peggy?

· The year that Klansman David Duke was running for Senate in Louisiana, CEASE organized a Petition drive to not hold a National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) annual conference of 30.000 people the next year in New Orleans if Duke was elected. We gathered 15,000 signatures in three days and the governing board of NAEYC agreed to boycott a New Orleans Conference. David Duke was not elected.

• Did you hear about how CEASE developed a Native American Curriculum during the Columbus Quincentenial for young Children?

• Did you hear how CEASE brought together inner city teenagers from Atlanta and East Los Angeles to talk to early educators about what it was like for them growing up in violent streets and what teachers did or didn’t do to support them as young children?

• Did you hear that CEASE sponsored a talk with Howard Zinn about teaching history to young children?

• Did you hear how CEASE played a major role in raising issues about superhero play, war toys, violence in the lives of young children in one of the largest early childhood organizations in the country?

Did Peggy do all these things? Yes she was a co. She was always part of a cooperative effort.

She helped channel our passions to cooperative, political acts. She stood by our sides as we stood up. She had the natural skill of listening for hours at an NAEYC governing Board meeting- then make a short statement that would change people harden positions dramatically. She forced us to see ourselves as crucial in the world of children as forces of change.

Here are some of the people that came today from CEASE that were effected by Peggy:

Karol  Betty  Diane  Nancy  Pat  Karen  Roz  Beth  Fran

But a lot of people have said nice things about Peggy.  But she was not always nice you know:

• She woke up late

• Walked around the house in her bed clothes early

• Forced Boone to give an annual CEASE address about the state of the world and the U.S. military expansion. Sorry Boone you had to endure that.

• She once chastised me for mixing up zip codes in a CEASE newsletter mailing.

That’s all I can think of. You just have to believe me she wasn’t always nice.

But we will remember Peggy for the simple things:

• Our newsletter very simple- looks the same issue after issue but full of everything you need.

• Those little coffee cups she served in at the Cape which took several times to fill your appetite.

• Those beautiful flowers that always adored sat in a clean vase on the kitchen.

In a system that is dirty and rotten that saps us of hope and direction, Peggy fueled our passions and supported our love for children and the world like the vase of wild flowers or a child singing “Skip to my Lou” for showing us the beauty in the world.

Thanks Peggy!