[Peace] reminder: celebration of Grandpa Sunday 2-4PM (plus my letter to him)

[Kimberlie Kranich]

Very moving letter, Randall.  Thank you for sharing it with all of us.

I wanted to let you and others know that Harriet Williamson interviewed Grandpa last October about his WWII experiences.  He enlisted in the Navy and was involved in combat missions.  In his interview he says:  "The military teaches you how to kill when you go in but they don't teach you how not to kill when you get out."

Grandpa's commitment to Civil Rights was formed in WWII when he discovered that a small group of black seamen were segregated on his ship.  Their sole duty was to serve the officers.  

The interview with Grandpa is 1 hour and 10 minutes long. He starts to talk about combat and then his interaction with Black sailors around 38 minutes into the interview.

The entire interview may be viewed at the link below (scroll down the page until you see his photo):

http://will.illinois.edu/WWII/stories/C236/

Peace,
Kim



--- On Thu, 6/12/08, Randall Cotton <recotton at earthlink.net> wrote:
From: Randall Cotton <recotton at earthlink.net>
Subject: [Peace] reminder: celebration of Grandpa Sunday 2-4PM (plus my letter to him)
To: Peace at lists.chambana.net
Date: Thursday, June 12, 2008, 11:59 PM

Just a quick reminder and an additional request for help for this Sunday's
remembrance and celebration of Grandpa Wahlfeldt.

It's at the IMC (202 S. Broadway, Urbana) from 2-4PM and we still need
help from volunteers with:

1. Snacks (munchies like chips, cheese, crackers, fruit,
    veggies and desserts)
2. Drinks (like coffee, lemonade, iced tea, punch).
3. Help with setup one full hour before (starting 1PM)
4. Help with teardown a half hour after (until 4:30PM)

We've had some folks come forward as volunteers, but we really do need
more (especially in the snacks and drinks departments). Please drop me a
line with what you'd like to offer.

And remember:

There will be a ceremony to permanently dedicate the downstairs
meeting room in his name as "The Grandpa Wahlfeldt Family Room".
There
will be a display case permanently mounted in Bob's new room with items
and photos from his life.

We are also putting out a call for folks to contribute photos, articles,
mementos and memorabilia of Grandpa that they would like to have on
display in his new room. A group of us are committed to installing
whatever is necessary in terms of display cases to make this happen.

And in particular, if you want to write a letter to or about Grandpa to
show what he meant to you, we'll make sure it gets securely displayed in
Bob's new room.

I've written this letter to Grandpa for the display case and I really
encourage those of you who knew him to do something like this to help
people understand why he was so special:

*********

Dear Grandpa,



I'm writing this letter to you, though you've left us earlier this
year,
to try to help show people how special you were. I've found in my life
that I've met virtually no one that I looked up to as a complete role
model, especially in recent years after becoming an activist. But even
though I only met you five years ago and I only got to know you very
gradually, you wound up becoming someone I admire very deeply and someone
I aspire to emulate - indeed, a role model. And though I actually strive
to follow your example in many respects, I often wonder whether I could
ever match that example - whether it's even possible for me no matter how
hard I try (though I still will try).



I've never met (and I doubt I will ever meet) someone who has so
completely overcome the human self-centered tendency we are all born with
and utterly replaced it with a pure passion for the common good of all. I
aspire to this, but I have work to do if I'm going to match you.



I've never met anyone who, being so free of self-centered concerns, was
able to see so deeply into the experience of others, even those who are
very, very different from you with radically different life experiences
than you, empathizing so profoundly with them that I could only describe
it as seeing into their souls. I have tried, I think with some success, at
empathizing with others in this way, but again, I have a long, long way to
go to match you.



And I've also never met anyone who had such a steady love and giving
spirit for all individuals, not only for personal friends and
acquaintances, not only for the oppressed and downtrodden, not only for
total strangers, but even for what one might call "the enemy". Love
for
one's enemy. Though you may vehemently disagree with your enemy, I could
see you still respected them as an individual, could empathize with them,
and even love them. I've tried to grow into this and I'm getting
better,
but I still look to you as an ideal I've yet to reach.



I wish I had gotten to know you sooner. I admit to being jealous of others
who knew you so much longer than I did. Though I really only began to
understand and appreciate you in recent years, I will still always miss
you.



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