Peg McIntire, Rest in Peace

Our friend Peg McIntire died last night at age 97.
When I last saw her, she and the group People for Peace and Justice(PPJ) had a flag-draped coffin by the Old Slave Market (a/k/a Plaza de la Constitución) to protest the Iraq war quagmire, complete with a wall listing all of the Americans killed there. It was eloquent and moving.
Then and there, only three (3) days before she died, Peg told me Monday that she really liked my column in the St. Augustine Record the day before.
I am honored to have had Peg McIntire as a friend.
Peg McIntire founded Grandmothers for Peace and she and several St. Augustine grandmothers turned up at a recruiting station, saying "take us" instead of the kids we're slaughtering in Iraq in the name of our contemptible foreign policy. (See this week's and next week's Folio Weekly regarding St. Augustine Police harassment of peace protesters on May 17th).
In war and in peace since the 1930s, Peg McIntire worked to make our country a better place.
She was with us on Cuna Street on June 11, 2005 -- 41st anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's incarceration here. Peg and her son Joe were there for a block party on Cuna Street, helping Gay and Lesbian people celebrate our federal court victory that led to an order to fly the Rainbow Flags on our historic Bridge of Lions..
Peg loved to laugh at the foibles of the powerful. She was a supporter of all progressive causes.
She loved America and St. Augustine and knew that it takes "tough love" to stand up to tyrants
Peg McIntire lost her brother in the Spanish Civil War and was in Spain at the time. She's lived and traveled almost everywhere. Peg McIntire was an inspiration to us all.
We're going to miss you, Peg.