The passing of a great spirit.

Visit Peggy and Boone's website.

Dear Friends,
Our peace and justice community has lost a passionate and beautiful presence, an elegant statesman and a great spirit and so have I. On Friday, April 21, Boone Schirmer died at home peacefully.

For so much of 91 years, Boone's lanky figure and emphatic, craggy voice railed against the wrongs of injustice and called for the creation of a world which would work for all - in opposition to a US empire intent on domination and warring, corporate power and greed and the scourges of racial discrimination and with absolute faith in a democratic, global alternative
of solidarity and equity.

From street corner Communist party soap box oratory to Goddard College symposiums and Boston University lecturing,
 
From penning fiery Peoples' Daily World articles to authoring the important account of the early 20th century anti-imperialist movement which challenged the US quest for empire in the Philippines

From the stoop of a Roxbury 3-decker witnessing the arrest of his books by undercover agents to the steps of Harvard in defense of divestment from South Africa,

From eluding Smith Act persecution with 3 years of underground life to being exonerated publicly in the streets of Okinawa and Manila,

From marching for disarmament and a nuclear weapons  free world in Boston to a wheel chair appearance at Cambridge City Hall  for Martin Luther King Day,

From offering welcoming living rooms to a world of activists in Cambridge and Truro  to enjoying the constancy and delights of  a life-long partnership with Peggy and a family of children and grand-children,

From honoring the struggles for economic, social and political justice and peace locally and globally to being honored by the people of the Philippines and the Cambridge Peace Commission,

Boone was there - with passion, dedication, and testimony - spanning class, continents, and generations.

He cared. He talked. He marched. He told stories. He talked. He drank tea and sherry. He listened. He wrote love poetry for Peggy. He wrote books for everyone. He loved beauty. He joined movements. He talked.

Both Betty and I knew Boone separately. I ran into him one spring afternoon on  Mt. Auburn street and when I told him the news about our falling in love, his eyes lit up. He rushed home and called Betty on the Cape leaving a message that he and Peggy gave us their blessings. A week later we were invited to tea and given a wedding gift with an offer to host a wedding in
their garden. We asked him to be the best man at our wedding celebration and he was honored to accept.

He welcomed our company as conversationalists, fellow travelers, friends. There was a hope that Gwyn Kirk, Margo Okazawa-Rey, Betty and I would help him re-write a new introduction to his book so that it could be republished. We shared his sense of the importance of the book to inform current struggles against the US war in Iraq, multinational corporate interests and the media consolidation benefiting both. We also understood his desire to
make a contribution. While the preface went through many drafts none of which would be finalized, the time enabled 4 women to pay tribute to a mentor and to receive encouragement to continue  work and beliefs which meant so much to us all.

Boone died in the physical presence of the son and daughters he loved and the ever-present serene, grounding spirit of his beloved wife Peggy.  He was also surrounded by a larger extended family - of friends, admirers, comrades, students and devoted ones.

I loved him and will miss the inspiration of his care, his teaching, and the friendship extended to me among so many others.

THIS was written by CEASE member Cathy Hoffman about Boone.