Archiving Living History

I want to capture the living history of our local community, and make these resources accessible to the public. These faces represent so many stories that want to be heard. Click on somebody and hear their story!

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Lou Ann Parsons was assigned to work near Port Elizabeth, South Africa in the 1950s. People were killed and YWCA leaders disappeared so that church leaders became “a voice for hope,” a life hub holding workshops and preparing people with training for leadership. She used spiritual analysis to discern “what must we do?” With apartheid controlling life in South Africa in the ‘70s, the oneness of all peoples came together with Bishop Tutu. Hope arrived with a new Bill of Rights, which included women. In 2012, 72% of South Africans voted in their election with no violence, with freedom to have a voice, and access to advanced education.

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Charles Bayer has dedicated himself to a lifetime of Christian ministry. He shared his wisdom and knowledge as a professor on the ecumenical faculty of the theological school in Melbourne, Australia.

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Robert "Bob" Traer was born in 1943 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He met turmoil in the 1960's with the Vietnam War, the Cuban Missile crisis, the Cold War, revolt against racial and sexual discrimination, and the Civil Rights Movement led by Martin Luther King, Jr. A nation filled with hatred and danger was created by: racial tension resulting in the Ku Klux Klan burning crosses in black neighborhoods, bombing churches, the hostile atmosphere of the police and courts, the assassinations of civil rights leaders and President John F. Kennedy. During Traer's junior year, at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, he joined the Civil Rights Movement by living in a black community with hostile, racial barriers with no crossing of white boundaries in Chicago. He volunteered to work in Benton County, Mississippi to enforce federal laws for the integration of schools and to register black voters. With no physical protection but the federal courts, the schools were integrated and the black voters registered. While attending Divinity School at the University of Chicago, Bob joined a civil rights march in, Marquette Park, Illinois, a strictly white area, to demonstrate the right of black people to live there. They were bombarded with bricks and their cars were burnt to ashes, which publicized the malicious racism still prevalent in the North.

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Louilyn Hargett

was born in 1933 to a large African-American family in Lancaster, South Carolina. Little did she know that her world was full of racial animosity and prejudice.  “In her words, ‘getting angry only takes up unnecessary energy.’”  Louilyn believed that “everyone is capable of continuing to grow and learn.” She was trained by Methodist missionaries in education, religion, and love, “to remove the obstacles to a life of learning, joy, and fulfillment and spiritual growth.” After college, at age 19, she married future civil rights leader, Dr. James Hargett. The couple moved to Boston to continue their studies, hers in psychology at Boston University and his at Yale Divinity School, where they met Martin Luther King, Jr. who was also working on his Ph.D. Later James Hargett was named West Coast representative of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1955 they moved to Honolulu, Hawaii where he was a pastor and she was a full-time mother of three. Louilyn’s work began in the Montessori school programs where she continued for 35 years as a Montessori teacher, administrator, Board member, and Vice President of Professional Development for “the maximization of human potential.” In 1975, she completed her doctorate in theoretical education at Rutgers University. Louilyn was chosen as an educator to study education in the new Republic of China. She wrote a 150 page study, Physical Aggression and Altruism in Young Children, which refuted Piaget’s theory that young children are egocentric. Her motivation in education aligned with Montessori principles: set no limits to academic potential. Louilyn and James Hargett supported Dr. King, Civil Rights, and non-violence who always reminded individuals to act through “compassion and love” with support and resources to increase our potential for learning.

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Reverend Dr. James Hargett is the epitome of African-American excellence, born in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1930, as the son of an educated black minister. His support came from the black community through a Windsor Community center for blacks, with sports facilities, and superior institutions all in one complex, which encouraged him to attend Johnson C. Smith University and obtain his Ph.D. in religion from Yale Divinity School. James began his career as a minister and seeker of racial and social justice. Dr. Hargett served the Church of the Crossroads in Honolulu, Hawaii from 1955-1958, consisting mainly of Japanese, Chinese, and Philipino congregants. He spread the gospel to rural Hawaii as the first black person they knew, performing many weddings and youth services. Returning to California, Dr. Hargett accepted a position as Minister to the United Church of Christ in Los Angeles in 1958, and as West Coast Convener of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the premier leaders in the Civil Right Movement. In this position, he was in charge of all SCLC meetings on the west coast, working with Dr. King and Malcolm X to cure social injustice. James held many ministerial positions along with his Civil Rights work in Chicago, New York, and New Jersey. He traveled to Africa, with nineteen ministers, and returned teaching historic black religion, including hand-clapping with singing where there was no other instrument.

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Eleonore Powell, born in Manhattan, New York City, into a dysfunctional family on June 12, 1917. At age five she was left at an orphanage where she developed inner strength and open-mindedness in her religious participation. Eleonore studied nursing at Hunter College. She married a fellow student, Oliver Powell, and supported him through his studies at Union Seminary. They worked for the church and the United Christian Youth Movement in the 1930s, which served 42 Protestant denominations. Oliver was co-chair with Dorothy Height, a longtime civil rights leader. While Eleonore worked in New York City, Boston, and Chicago, where integration, voting, housing, and movement outside the Black Belt were denied. They marched many times with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Eleonore finished her nutrition degree at Rosary College. She sought for the end of discrimination in the LGBT movement where her daughter was active, and they spoke together at many colleges. Eleonore remembers that she was used to turmoil. She liked trying new things and understanding others with a passion to serve.

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Jane "Pudge" Hartmire - The Farm Workers Movement, in the 1960's and 1970's led by Cesar Chavez, ignited unionization efforts for justice, respect, better wages, and living and working conditions for farm workers. Jane worked with her husband in the Farm Workers Movement as a nurse, a mother with four children, a wife of a Presbyterian minister, a political activist developing community service, fighting race and class injustices, and a feminist in the Civil Rights Movement and The Cold War. Born in 1932 in Philadelphia, PA Jane was raised in an upper class home, training in church, race equality, and service in Quaker work camps, settlement houses, counseling for disadvantaged kids, with a mindset of service. After her children went to college, Jane and her husband moved to the Farm Workers headquarters, in Tehachapi, CA, where she ran the Farm Worker health clinics, and accompanied rallies and marches because of the "rightness of the cause." Cesar Chavez led the march to Sacramento, CA to bring attention to the farm workers with his fasting, community support, non-violence, and religious stubbornness. Her advice for young women: choose carefully who you marry and be an organizer and leader utilizing the increased advantages for women in this day and age.  

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Wayne "Chris" Hartmire combined his Christian upbringing and his desire for social justice in his work with César Chávez and the Farm Workers Movement in the biggest labor struggle of the 1960s. He fought for the rights denied to Mexican farm workers, including economic and civil rights. Chris was born in 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was trained by his mother and the Presbyterian Church, which said that it was "more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). He studied civil engineering at Princeton University followed by studying for the ministry at Union Theological Seminary. Chris worked in East Harlem until his wife was physically assaulted. They moved to California where Chris took a job as Director of California Migrant Ministry with César Chávez, organizing migrant farm workers who had no legislation to protect their civil rights. The farm workers were overworked, underpaid with no affordable housing or education living always under the fear of deportation. César Chávez and Chris worked together in the Community Service Organization (CSO) to form a farm workers’ union. Chris supplied the financial support and the ministry to help organize strikes, boycotts, and church support, changing the course of history. Chris and César Chávez utilized collective action toward a common goal. A community led by God, all shouting the same message, can create a just society to end suffering here on Earth.

Click the links below to hear his interview

https://soundcloud.com/archiving-living-history/chris-hartmire-interview (Introduction)

https://soundcloud.com/archiving-living-history/chris-hartmire-interview-track (Track 2)

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Donna Ambrogi was born April 18, 1929 in St. Paul, Minnesota. She grew up in Huntington Park, California during World War II. Her family was Jewish and supported political work against discrimination. She was baptized a Christian, and in 1957 Donna received a Fulbright Grant to study ecumenism in Europe and the U.S. She was involved with Catholic-Protestant dialogue, and facilitated cooperation between Catholic lay people and Protestant clergy. In 1963-64, Donna participated in civil rights work with members of the Grail, attending the March on Washington, civil rights activism in Boston and her first arrest during a sit-in in Williamston, North Carolina. Her studies continued at the Ecumenical Institute, in 1966 at Bossey, Switzerland, with a World Council of Churches internship in Scotland. She was the first woman on staff at the Jesuit Theologate, Los Gatos, California, "always the token woman." Her work led her to participate in a post-Vatican II meeting at Notre Dame, the only woman in all male Catholic-Protestant dialogue group, where she met her husband, clergyman Tom Ambrogi.

Click the links below to hear her interview

https://soundcloud.com/archiving-living-history/donna-ambrogi-interview (Introduction)

https://soundcloud.com/archiving-living-history/donna-ambrogi-interview-track (Track 2)

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Thomas Ambrogi is a citizen of the world, deeply concerned by inequality in all forms. Thomas has dedicated himself to fight for the rights of all people. He is an accomplished scholar, teacher, and activist who has done much to curb inequality in the world around him. Thomas was born in 1931 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a teenager he lost both of his parents. Thomas joined a Jesuit seminary for fifteen years because of their commitment to teaching and strong association with foreign mission work and grassroots movements. He studied the Classics at Fordham University and received a doctorate in ecumenism, theology, and religion from the University of Strasbourg, France. Thomas began teaching at Woodstock College, Baltimore, Maryland. He organized the first ecumenical consortium, including Yale Divinity School and Columbia University. Thomas married his wife, Donna, in 1969 and moved to California to join the faculty at University of the Pacific and serve as Dean of Chapel at Stanford University. For his world service he was Project Director for Operation Crossroads where he gained familiarity with the inequality in the world. As a fellow in Religious Studies at the University of Cape Town, Thomas clarified the role of faith and human values in developing South Africa. In the 1980s, he led a delegation to El Salvador calling for the release of Ricardo Calderon, imprisoned due to his activism against government policy. Thomas was a prominent ecumenical scholar serving in his fight against inequality all over the world at the grassroots level.

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Gene Boutilier's grandparents were Congregational ministers working in church camps. In 8th grade he found the values for a lifetime of pursuit for social justice. After graduating from the Pacific School of Religion, Gene became a minister in Fresno, California and a leader for justice for the farm workers, taking a full-time position with the California Migrant Ministry and the United Farm Workers organizing and teaching a summer student project, and organizing boycotts of cities. Working in Washington, D.C., for several years, for the National Campaign for Agricultural Democracy, he finally got farm workers included in the National Labor Relations Act in 1935. Gene traveled on Mule Trains throughout the South in the Poor People's campaign assigned by the National Council of Churches after the assassination of Dr. M.L. King, Jr. with no overt violence. He worked on Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign in order to amend the Labor Relations Act. Directing an ecumenical ministry in Wisconsin, Gene worked on urban organizing, creating day care centers and Spanish culture centers along with welfare rights, and working with the Farm Workers for five years. He returned to Los Angeles Homeless Services and continues to work with the California Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice.

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Marilee Scaff was born and raised in Austin, Texas long before the Civil Rights Movement. She attended the University of Texas in 1932 and worked with the Methodist Church and the YMCA to narrow the divide between black and white students. Marilee’s family was always concerned about social justice issues, finding ways to support both the black and the white communities. In the college environment they worked together to create new ways of thinking about race and equality. The YMCA held meetings of multiple colleges, including black and white students to work together against Jim Crow laws that required racial segregation in education and public facilities. From her work in the church, she learned the impact of the church on human rights. The Methodist Church promoted integration and provided a place for the black community to work together, laying the ground work 30 years prior to the Civil Rights Movement with dignity and equality. Marilee majored in sociology and economics graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Texas. She left Texas to attend the University of Chicago Divinity School where she received her master’s degree. Marilee was heavily involved in the Chicago housing projects and the Lincoln Congregational Church where she joined race, class, and the church. In 1940, she and her husband went to the Philippines to work for peace, but the Japanese captured them and moved them to a POW internment camp, where many others died. After the war Marilee finished a Ph.D. at a Claremont Graduate University. She and her husband returned to the Philippines and afterward to East Africa where he worked for the United Nations and she continued her work for social justice.

Click the links below to hear her interview

https://soundcloud.com/archiving-living-history/marilee-scaff-track-1 (Introduction)

https://soundcloud.com/archiving-living-history/marilee-scaff-track-2 (Track 2)

https://soundcloud.com/archiving-living-history/track-3 (Track 3)

https://soundcloud.com/archiving-living-history/track-4 (Track 4)

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John Washington's story was "at once exciting, funny, and grave, ranging from tense encounters with southern police to amusing anecdotes to sorrowful tales" (Sheridan Grant, interviewer). Washington discusses his involvement with the Freedom Rides during the Civil Rights Movement. Washington organized his first "sit in" at age 11 [2:07]. He experienced racism while serving in the Air Force in the South [18:29]. He describes an underlying narrative of his life: a desire to provide adequate education for all, especially those with poor access to education [25:07]. Summer 1961, Washington few to Jackson, Mississippi to join the Freedom Rides [14:51] to test the Supreme Court's ruling declaring segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional [48:50]. As a prison chaplain, Washington mentored and educated prisoners, which helped them re-assimilate into society [1:02:30].

Click the links below to hear his interview

https://soundcloud.com/archiving-living-history/john-washington-interview-1 (Introduction)

https://soundcloud.com/archiving-living-history/john-washington-interview (Track 2)

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Paul Kittlaus was guided all his life by: "one should be involved with the issues of your time for fear of not having lived" (Justice Oliver W. Holmes, Jr.). He was directly involved in Black Civil Rights Movement, bus and school desegregation, beginning with an ineffective theater desegregation while at the University of Missouri. After seminary in Chicago in 1963, Paul participated in the first march for black civil rights in Selma, Alabama on "Bloody Sunday," which was brutally repressed by police. He became a founder of pre-school for black students, later called Head Start. Paul founded a youth center for decreasing Hispanic and black gang violence. He was a pastor at Washington DC Church of Christ and worked diligently for ten years on national social issues. Paul saved millions in social services for the poor during the huge cuts by President Reagan's 2nd budget by organizing all the churches in Washington in opposition. He led the Open and Affirming Movement and acceptance of LGBT by getting a declaration on national news that "homosexuality is neither sickness or sin."

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Mary Ida Gardner was raised in Augusta, Georgia, in 1930, with a Christian background, and a mother who worked in the library and community center after her father left. She showed courage as a leader and a community helper. Mary Ida received college degrees from Knoxville College in Tennessee and from Teachers College of Columbia University with an M.A. in Music Education and Administration. Mary Ida taught music for many years in Georgia, and then moved to New Jersey with the YWCA fighting racism and teaching women empowerment. She worked in Long Beach for three years to make open housing available to all races. Then she became a member of the World Wide YMCA receiving training in Switzerland, learning to encourage others in the desire to travel. In Botswana, Mary Ida developed a program for women; most of whom had come from South Africa, and also took over the job of General Secretary for YMCA, after 20 years work in Korea, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Botswana, Mary Ida returned to work for the Presbyterian Church in New York, helping schools with students from many racial backgrounds, and writing a handbook about the purpose of public education, followed by an AIDS education program for Church World Services.

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Bob Smith and his wife, Anelise, lived in Africa from 1964-1993. Mr. Smith was born in the Congo to missionary parents. After college he married Annalise, and returned to the Congo to teach African history. They are now retired, but Mr. Smith still teaches African history on occasion.

Click the link below to hear Bob and Anelise Smith's interview

https://soundcloud.com/archiving-living-history/bob-and-annalise-interview

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Ruth Brown - Missionary for 40 years from 1952-1992.