Lisa Kalvelage   

A memorial service will be held for long-time peace activist Lisa Kalvelage on June 20 at 2 p.m.  The memorial service will be held at the Palo Alto Unitarian Church, 505 E. Charleston Road, Palo Alto.  The San Jose Peace Chorale will sing at the memorial service. 

Lisa Kalvelage passed away on March 8. She was active at the San Jose Peace Center and in Women's International League for Peace & Freedom for many years. In 1966, along with three other WILPF members, Lisa engaged in an act of civil disobedience against the Vietnam War which was commemorated in a song by Pete Seeger and is described in this 2003 article in the Cupertino Courier.

You can listen to a 2003 interview with Lisa by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! here.

Donations to the San Jose Peace & Justice Center are suggested by the family.

When notified of Lisa's death, Pete Seeger sent a note to her husband, Bernie:"I wish I could come out to help the Peace & Justice Center again, but it's unlikely. I'm not able to travel like I used to. Love to you and family. Lisa lives on!"

Mary Ayers remembers Lisa: "I met Lisa Kalvelage at the San Jose Peace Center during the Vietname War. I had been investigated by the U.S. government who sent 2 men to my door. I did not know I had a right not to let them in so there they sat for 2 hours interrogating me about anti-war demos I had been to and letters I had written to the U.S. government condemning the war."
"Needless to say, I was a bit upset and every day about mid-afternoon I would get the shakes! At this time I did not belong to any group but had heard about the San Jose Peace Center and so I called there and Lisa answered the phone and said "Come on down and join us". Lisa was a great help to me for which I am ever grateful, and the folks I worked with there were all so great."