|
|
Frances H. Steadman
By Rita Gardner
In conjunction with the Writer's Center of Marin
“Social responsibility means - every human being
on the earth has the right to enough food, a decent place to live, and
dignity.”
Frances Steadman was born in Los
Angeles in 1920. Her parents were
Quakers, and this contributed greatly to Frances’ lifelong commitment to
social responsibility – even before she understood what those words meant. In
a 1998 interview, Frances credited her parents as her greatest mentors. “They
were my role models”, she said. “They were good, honest caring people.
We weren’t terribly active in the Quaker church – the one we belonged
to was too far away to get to very often. We
simply were raised with those ideals. My
parents always encouraged me to stand up for my rights.
I was the shy one, so that wasn’t easy at first, but it became part of
my life.” Frances and her
three sisters attended public school, and because of the Great Depression,
family activities were modest, and life was simple by necessity.
Camping trips in the summers
introduced Frances to the rich bounties of the natural world and the joy of the
wilderness. For a long time, there
really wasn’t any inkling that her life would be anything but simple. However, growing up in a family that - in today’s words - “walked their talk” regarding
human rights, began to shape Frances’ life in ways she did not expect.
Armed with little more than the passionate belief that she could, and
indeed should help others –
young Frances found herself embarking on a life of service in the cause
of peace. This journey would
take her to the far ends of the earth, even to jail for a short time.
The world and its people touched and taught Frances as much as she taught
them – and each were changed forever. Here’s
her amazing and inspiring story.
After graduating high school in
1937, Frances entered UCLA to study zoology – a logical field of study given
her love of nature and its living creatures.. While working on her degree, she
was introduced to an entirely new world, where young people were committing
themselves to making a difference in their world. A number of students were actively involved in righting
societal wrongs, others who had been in the Spanish Civil war, and several
others who championed other causes involving justice and ethics. Their “fire” and desire to fight for what they felt was
right impressed Frances tremendously. After
receiving a B.A. in Zoology and then M.A.
in 1944, Frances decided to change directions.
She decided to become a doctor, so that she could help people in a very
direct way. However, after
enrolling in med school, she met and married another pre-med student. After the
birth of their first child, Frances gave up the dream of becoming a doctor, and
instead worked to help her husband finish his medical studies and become
established in his career.
Before and during World War II, Frances worked variously as a
Teaching Assistant, and an Oil Inspector for Richfield Oil.
They moved away from California and Frances became a Medical Technician
at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary in Chicago.
From 1950 to 1951 she was Science Editor for the American People’s
Encyclopedia.
The Steadmans moved back to
California in the early 1950s. Frances was glad to be home.
She’d fallen in love with the Bay Area after coming up to UC Berkeley
during her college years. The
family settled into Mill Valley in Marin County, an area Frances recalls as
“the most beautiful place in the world”.
By 1953 the Steadmans had four children..
As a full-time mother, Frances had her hands full with her
children’s’ school activities. She
was active with Cub Scouts and Campfire Girls as well as being the Program Chair
of the PTA.
In the early 1950’s Frances’
concern for her children’s health spurred her activism.
Her social conscience was calling her – loud and clear - and it was
time to take action. She joined the
Marin Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She and others picketed to stop the nuclear explosions.
She fought that battle for years, and in 1982, was even arrested for her
actions. “Our government
was exploding atomic bombs in the atmosphere.
Locally, at Lawrence Livermore Labs, engineers were designing new nuclear
weapons. I had to get involved.
I was in a Quaker group – we were marching, protesting the development
of nuclear weapons. We knew it must
stop”.
When asked years later if she
thought her actions had made any difference, she replied. “I feel there has
been a great curtailment of nuclear testing – because of the protests of so
many people. The atmospheric weapons testing stopped – I think largely because
so many people took action”. She
also volunteered in other organizations, including Marin Sane Freeze (formerly
Marin Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy).
She was on the Marin Center for Peace newsletter staff, and a member of
the Marin Center for Peace and Justice. A
tireless worker and contributor, her affiliations with those groups lasted well
into the late 1990’s.
In the early 1960’s, at
the height of the civil rights movement in America’s southern states, Frances
gathered her family and joined the war on racism in the South by assisting in
the drive for voter registration of African-Americans.
With a truck loaded full of material aid from California, Frances and her
family drove from the liberal West Coast and into the time-warp of the American
South. In the deep South of 1963,
descendants of slaves were still being treated as inferior beings.
In old buildings, faded signs still bore witness to the cruelty
perpetrated on those who were born of black skin in our own “land of the
free.” Old signs with lettering
that said “Colored only” were battling freshly painted signs and slogans
that declared “Equality for all”. Many
whites in the South of the 1960’s still ignored the injustices, and resented
the new activists (white and black) who were now marching to bring justice to
all. Facing this racism, fear
and hostility – on both sides of the color line - Frances and her family faced
many dangers on that journey, and were even shot at by vigilantes. Did that stop her? Hardly
– it steeled her for future battles, large and small, in the U.S. and in
impoverished nations.
Back home in California in 1965, Frances began teaching school.
She taught fourth grade at Sun Valley School in San Rafael, and later was
a Substitute Teacher for Grades 6-8. She
also was a Reading Therapist at Dewitt Reading Clinic in San Rafael. When asked what made her decide to become a teacher, she
replied “It was the only thing available at the time.
I wasn’t terribly enthusiastic about it.” But soon, major events in Frances’ life changed everything.
Her marriage ended in the early 1970’s, and teaching positions were cut
back in Marin County. Finding herself adrift at age 55 - and without a job – she
decided to join the Peace Corps. Thus,
in 1974 she found herself in a remote rural village Kenya, Africa, teaching
biology at a boy’s school. It
was a profound experience. She
recalled: “I learned more from the Kenyans than they did from me.
I think Kenya was where biology was invented;
it was so full of life”. In
a primitive village surrounded by dirt farms and dust, Frances chaired the
Science Department, and was Director of the Wildlife Club at the school.
She also directed the Library and Drama clubs.
In 1997, when Frances Steadman was nominated to the Marin Women’s Hall
of Fame, Betty Jo vanGelder, wrote a short piece describing Frances’ work in
Africa, titled “Peace Corps Service, Frances Steadman Style”.
In it she describes a particular event where Frances managed to shake up
some established gender roles when taking her male students on a field trip.
“Frances organized an overnight hike up Mt. Kenya.
This was daring for a couple of reasons.
For one thing, none of the boys had ever gone there before because the
mountain was an object of awe and considerable legend.
To them, it was a very brave thing to undertake.
For another, the tradition in Kenya is that women do the carrying.
The boys who accompanied (Frances) would have to be unconventional enough
to carry their own gear. It was a
groundbreaking experience for all involved”.
Frances Steadman made
a difference in other ways during those years.
She mentored students who were particularly bright, showing them how to
build chicken coops, create gardens and learn other skills that she hoped would
help sustain them long after she was gone.
After considerable difficulty, she managed to purchase some land suitable
for farming, which she then gave to two of her students in the hopes they would
have a productive future. Frances
also took it upon herself to help another young boy with a grave medical
problem. This child suffered eye
damage and lived in almost unbearable pain. She found doctors in Nairobi (hours away) who could provide
the needed care, and years later, she continued to assist with his education
costs. Because of this, the young
man was able to attend trade school, learning electronics.
His life, and that of others, was completely changed by her determination
and compassion. Out of her years in
Africa, Kenyan friendships grew and flourished, and decades later, Frances
remarked that her African friends had become part of her extended family.
She stayed in touch with several families, returning to Kenya several
times with her own daughter or grandchildren.
As vanGelder noted in her essay, these were not easy trips. “These
families are widely dispersed and it’s not easy to reach them.
It means dirt roads, crowded buses, and in one case a two-mile walk from
the road to the house. Frances is
not dismayed – she thinks of herself as a world citizen visiting neighbors she
cares about”. VanGelder ended her
recollection of Frances’s Peace Corp years by writing: “My husband and I
were Peace Corp volunteers in the ‘70s. We saw nothing approaching the
personal involvement and ongoing generosity that Frances brought to her service
overseas.”
“Whenever help is needed,
Frances is there, helping. She
donates her time and energy with no thought to herself. Doing right is her reward.”
When Frances Steadman returned from Africa in late 1977, she brought with
her a growing understanding of the many problems in poor countries.
Rather than feeling impotent and resigned about how little one person can
do, she did what she’d always done: Take a stand, and take action.
She learned about Pastors for Peace, a national organization that sent
humanitarian aid to countries in need. From
1983 until 1997, Frances was the Chair of the Marin Contingent , and became
directly involved with organizing and sending caravans of supplies and goods to
Central America, Mexico and Cuba. She
was a founding member of the Marin Interfaith Task Force on Central America. In
the 80’s when people were fleeing oppression in El Salvador, churches across
the US began to offer sanctuary. Out of this movement it became clear that in order to get
people (in the U.S.) involved, they needed to see the conditions and situations
in these countries themselves. Thus
the Task Force was born. Its
mission is to educate North Americans about realities in Central America,
Mexico, and the Caribbean and the role the US plays there.
It provides humanitarian aid and project support in those regions.
Frances helped to organize tours to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Chiapas
(Mexico). About the tours, Frances said: “It opens up your heart – you are
never the same”. She traveled
more than once to El Salvador during that country’s prolonged civil war.
In 1989, during a particularly difficult and dangerous time, Frances
participated in a peace march in the capital, San Salvador.
One of the outcomes of her
congregation’s involvement in El Salvador was the decision to ‘adopt’
Jesus Campos and his family. Campos
was on the “hit list” of Salvadoran death squads.
Frances helped Campos find housing and employment in Marin County. As one person put it, “had he remained in El Salvador, he
most assuredly would have been killed or “disappeared.” Campos became a high school language teacher and
an outstanding community leader. In
1995, he was honored as California Teacher of the Year.
He was quoted as saying: “Frances
Steadman is my mother. My mother in
El Salvador gave me life, and Frances gave me life – again.”
In Chiapas, Mexico, Frances
was instrumental in bringing equipment (gasoline-powered corn mill, and
bread-baking ovens) to the native Mayan women.
These tools helped the women create small businesses milling corn, and
baking and selling bread. In a war
torn state much neglected – or attacked - by its own government, these
indigenous peoples could for the first time help their own families and
neighbors to be more healthy and self-sufficient.
Even while being harassed by the paramilitary groups and other government
forces, Frances was in the front lines of their fight for survival and well
being.
Here at home in Marin
County, Frances put even the things she enjoyed – pleasurable hobbies like
singing and playing guitar –to use serving others.
She was a member of the Freedom Song Network for over ten years.
In 1979 She became the Director of the San Anselmo Senior Access
Sing-along Program for the Frail Elderly. When
interviewed in 1998 for the Women’s Hall of Fame, she was still actively
singing with the group because “it’s such a great joy”.
It was a great joy to the elderly who responded to Frances’ visits.
As Lillie Anderson, Ruth Downing and Karen Klingel so eloquently put it
in the form that nominated Frances to the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame, “She
also concerns herself with the less visible – for example, the practically
invisible frail, elderly people in Marin. For
20 years, Frances has brought music to their lives. She maintains and raises
their spirits by singing the old songs that are synonymous with youth and
happier times. She is passionately
devoted to the cause of helping old people continue to appreciate the beauty of
the world they live in. She has even engineered wheelchair “hikes” on Marin
trails for those who never thought they could enjoy the out-of-doors this way
again.” Frances Steadman had a
special ability to draw out those otherwise quiet and withdrawn – and surely
depressed – elders from their lonely shells with her music and songs.
From 1984 to 1994, Frances was the Chair of the Peace
Contingent for the Larkspur-Corte Madera Fourth of July parades.
As Faye Hinze wrote: “One of the ways (Frances) raised social
consciousness was that she organized walking and motor floats for the Marin Sane
Freeze. One of the memorable
walking floats was in celebration of the United Nations’ 40th
anniversary. All the participants
carried full-sized flags of U.N. member nations. Frances is a carpenter, a gardener, and there’s nothing she
can’t do, it seems. Every year
she designed and built the Fourth of July floats – even slept on them to
prevent vandalism the night before the parade!”
Frances joined the Gray Panthers in 1987 It was
entirely logical for her to become involved with this national organization
devoted to social change. For over
30 years, Gray Panthers have worked to make America a better place to live for
the young and old and everyone in between.
Tackling tough problems – peace, health care, jobs and housing, its
members fight to change laws and attitudes for social justice.
Frances joined that battle in the Marin Chapter, and fight she did.
In addition to managing meetings, thinking up new ideas, and even keeping
the group supplied with her delicious oatmeal cookies, Frances thought up,
designed and carried out the “Postcard Project”, the organization’s most
effective project. Terry Allen,
former Convener of the Marin Gray Panthers, described Frances’s tireless work. “Every month she shows up with cards, pens and suggestions
of those to be contacted about needed actions, a vote, an idea to help make our
community, our state, and our country a better place. Whether it is a county
supervisor, or a congressperson, The President – the arrival of twenty or
thirty thoughtfully written postcards must have an effect.”
Indeed, her passionate involvement with the Grey
Panthers made a big difference. In
1992, a grant was awarded to Grace Cox (also a member of the Gray Panthers) to
investigate what keeps some people fighting for social justice even as they age.
From over 300 men and women surveyed, 40 people were chosen to interview
extensively. In the end Frances
Steadman was one of six senior “stars” selected to include in a video
entitled: “Making a Difference: Lifelong Political Activists.”
In a letter from Cox after the six winners were announced: “Of course
Frances is one of those six. She is
a star of the video-film ( although she would be the first to deny it) – but
the clarity of her thinking and the sincerity of her commitment to peace and
justice stands out.” Terry Allen
wrote: “Frances is the best role model I have had.
Her complete dedication to improving the environment, the lives around
the world and at home – and her clear-minded steadfastness are a beacon for
those around her. Her light shines
bright and steady.”
“I believe when people care enough and express themselves enough, in
large enough numbers, it does affect what our legislature and government
does”. -- Frances Steadman
Amidst all that Frances Steadman
accomplished in her life, her own curiosity and quest for learning never
stopped. From 1967 through 1997,
she pursued classes in a wide variety of interests, including Geology,
Afro-American History, nature studies, and Emeritus Chorus.
She even spent a year in Zurich, Switzerland at the Jung Institute for
Psychological Studies. She studied
Spanish in Mexico. In addition to
her African Peace Corps years and her travels in Mexico and Central America,
Frances also visited Brazil, China, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Cook Islands,
Russia, Europe, Galapagos Islands, Equador, Peru, Bali, Canada and Madagascar.
“I’m always impressed at how clearly (Frances)
sees…the connection
between human peace and justice and the survival of the planet.
Her peace work is environmental work; her environmental work is peace and
justice work.”
When interviewed in 1998,
Theresa Blythe (interviewer) asked Frances (age 78)
what her current concerns and causes are. She replied: “Corporate
disclosures. For instance: Getting a large corporation – like a Wal-Mart –
to disclose facts about where their factories are, under what conditions are the
workers toiling; what wages are being paid?
Are my clothes being made by an
underage girl of 15 who isn’t even making enough money to buy food?
People need to care about how their clothing is made – and to
reconsider what companies to support.”
When asked if it has been
difficult to be involved in unpopular causes, she answered:
“By the time you get to be my age, you stop worrying – (about what
people think). I don’t have
any trouble expressing what’s right. When
you’re younger it’s harder, but you just live through that and develop more
confidence. Getting
confidence wasn’t by anything I
did – it’s just the process of growing older.”
“Frances has redefined the standards
of volunteerism. She brings to her
work the organizational ability and vision of a CEO and schedules her time with
the precision of an executive secretary.”
Frances Steadman raised a
family, worked in a number of occupations between 1942 and 1997.
But because her life’s work was so enmeshed in volunteerism and
activism, it’s important to take a quick snapshot of all the volunteer
activities and organizations she managed to not only find time for – but
excelled in. Frances Steadman’s involvement in volunteer activities and
organizations spans fifty-some years. She
took leadership roles in most, but wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty and
paste, staple, write, hammer, lick stamps – cheerfully doing whatever was
needed “in the trenches” to accomplish the tasks at hand.
Whether as a “worker bee”, cheerfully camping out to save a Fourth of
July float from any harm the day before the big parade, or being imprisoned for
10 days for taking a stand against nuclear bomb development, she was a visible,
and vocal presence. As Alan Barnett, community activist and Secretary for the
Marin Coalition for Immigrant Rights remembered:
“On marches (with the Freedom Song Network), the voice of Frances can
often be heard above the rest, singing: ‘this
little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine/Let it shine, let it shine, let
it shine.”
We’re all grateful that Frances Steadman’s light
has continued to shine steady and bright throughout the years.
Not so “little” a light, after all.
***
Many examples of Frances Steadman’s volunteer
achievements are noted in this bio – but because so much of Frances’s life was
her mission, I’m taking the liberty of also listing these organizations
alphabetically.
American Civil Liberties Union
Campfire Girls (Leader)
Cub Scouts (Den Mother)
Freedom Song Network
Gray Panthers of Marin (Steering Committee; Chair: Peace, Justice & Environ.
Marin Center for Peace and Justice
Marin Coalition for Immigration Rights, Canal Ministry
Marin Contingent of Pastors for Peace (Chair)
Marin Interfaith Sanctuary Covenant (Chair for Campos Family)
Marin Interfaith Task
Force on Central America (Founding member, President)
Marin People for Peace (Newspaper Staff)
Marin Sane Freeze (formerly Marin Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy)
Marin WIN (Welfare Immigration Network)
National Farmworkers Union
Peace Contingent, Larkspur-Corte Madera 4th of July Parade (Chair)
PTA (Program Chair)
Unitarian Church (since 1960).(Co-Chair, Social Concerns Committee)
U.S. Peace Corps, Kenya
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Among the major awards and honors Frances gained
since 1990 are the following:
· 1990:
Outstanding Senior Award, Certificate of Appreciation for Outstanding
Contributions to the County and Community of Marin (from Marin Senior
Coordinating Council).
·
1990:
Certificate of Special Congressional recognition for Peace Work (from
Senator Barbara Boxer).
· 1993:
Selected by Maher Research Institute of the National Gray Panthers as one
of six “stars” in video entitled Making
a Difference: Lifelong Political
Activists”
·
1996:
Martin Luther King Community Service Award
Credits
Note: I’ve
liberally quoted from the many good souls who nominated Frances Steadman for the
Marin Women’s Hall of Fame award, and who wrote eloquently and with heart
about this remarkable woman. Because
their words often “said it all”, I’ve included some quotes in this bio
from: Betty Jo van Gelder, Faye Hinze, Theresa Allen, Grace Cox, Jesus Campos,
Alan Barnett, Lillie Anderson, Ruth Downing, Karen Klingel – and several
others. While I didn’t have the
privilege of meeting Frances Steadman, it was easy to get a very good “view”
of her life from reading the words of those who were in the trenches with her
– also fighting the good fight.
|
