June/July Milestones 2012

Schultz—Adele Schultz Schutz, 98, on June 8, 2010, in Hunt Valley, Md. Adele was born on December 9, 1911, in Vienna, Austria, to Antonia and Josef Schultz. After she lost three family members when she was very young, further suffering after World War I led her to Vienna Quakers, whose practical and spiritual nurture began a connection that sustained her for the rest of her life. As a young woman, she apprenticed as an office worker and served as secretary to the president of an engineering firm in Vienna, where she met the man she would marry, Harald Schutz. In 1938, she fled to England because of the coming war, and she and Harald emigrated to Cambridge, Mass., where Cambridge Meeting helped them in their settlement. A second move in the United States brought them and their children to Baltimore, Md., in 1948. There they joined Stony Run Meeting. Adele’s proficiency in French, German, and English allowed her to help other central European immigrants in the years after World War II. She was an active volunteer at Baltimore’s McKim Settlement House during the 1950s and 60s and took part in a sewing group that sorted and repaired garments for American Friends Service Committee. Adele remained an ardent worker for peace throughout her life. She and Harald moved to the Quaker retirement community Broadmead in 1987, and she began attending Gunpowder Meeting in Sparks, Md., transferring her membership in 1998, saying in a letter to the meeting in 2007 that she had found warmth and peace there and closeness “to what we all seek.” Adele was sustained through a long life by her love of walking, the joys of music, and a spirit of service to others summed up in her watchwords, “Be good to yourself and be good to others.” She remained cheerful and welcoming through her last years, and when Friends visited her for singing, reading, and spiritual nurture, they left with a sense of the fullness of her spirit. On the day of her death, Friends at Broadmead greeted her as she collected her mail; she enjoyed a telephone conversation with her daughter shortly before she drew her last breath in the comfort of her home. Adele’s husband, Harald Schutz, preceded her in death. She is survived by her son, Hank Schutz; her daughter, Trudi Schutz; and her grandchildren, Allen David Schutz (Alexandra) and Kathryn Elizabeth Schutz. Her ashes were interred beside those of her beloved husband Harald in Gunpowder Meeting burial ground in Tenth Month 2011.

Watson—George Henry Watson, on December 21, 2011, at home in Minneapolis, Minn., surrounded by family and friends. George was born on September 29, 1915, in Chrisman, Ill., to Margaret and P.M. Watson. He graduated from Miami University of Ohio in 1936. Receiving his MA from University of Illinois in 1937, he married his cherished companion and partner, Elizabeth Grill, whom he had met again on a blind date in college after having known her growing up in Lakewood, Ohio. They began attending 57th Street Meeting in Chicago in 1937, becoming members in 1938. Starting in 1939 he taught political science at Southern Illinois University, and he received his Doctorate in Political Science from University of Chicago in 1942. From 1942 to 1945, he worked as research director of the Federation of Tax Administrators, becoming executive director. After serving in Civilian Public Service from 1945 to 1946, he joined the faculty of Roosevelt University. This racially- and religiously-integrated experiment in higher education offered evening and weekend classes so that working men and women could pursue college and graduate degrees, and some of his students went on to become leaders in Chicago’s African American community. Over the next 26 years, George served as professor and chair of the Political Science Department, created and directed a new multidisciplinary graduate program in Public Administration, and served as both Dean of Students and Dean of Arts and Sciences. He was a member of the Independent Voters of Illinois (part of Americans for Democratic Action) and served as president of the neighborhood Hyde Park Co-op in Chicago and as board member of Central States Cooperatives. In addition to their three biological children, he and Elizabeth raised a foster daughter and in 1964 adopted three daughters from Germany. They worked to improve race relations, establishing with other Chicago Quakers the Hyde Park Kenwood Community Conference, one of the first inner-city community organizations in the United States formed to develop interracial harmony. In 1972, the family moved to Long Island, N.Y., where he and Elizabeth helped to found Lloyd Harbor Meeting. From 1972 to 1980, he was president of Friends World College, and he finished his academic career as a Fellow at Woodbrooke College in Birmingham, England, in 1983-84. George was often clerk of his monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings and served on the boards of American Friends Service Committee and Friends Committee on National Legislation, as a representative to seven Friends World Committee triennial meetings, and on the executive committee of the FWCC Section of the Americas from 1976 to 1982. In addition to Quaker commitments, he held local and regional positions in the American Society for Public Administration; served on commissions for tax fairness, higher education, and other issues; and published extensively in professional journals. He also consulted with local governments and state and federal agencies and in addition to public speaking, taught several educational TV courses. After retiring, George focused on peace education and training. Both in the United States and in England, he led workshops on Imaging a World Without Weapons, a program initiated by Elise Boulding. In 1980, he and Elizabeth moved to North Easton, Mass., making Friends Community their home base during travels sponsored by Quaker organizations. They also served as Friends in Residence at Pendle Hill during this time. In 1991, they moved to Minneapolis, Minn. When macular degeneration caused him to become legally blind in 1995, George adapted to his greatly changed abilities with grace and patience. Cherishing his family, classical music, and political discussions, he continued to be active in Minneapolis Meeting, in Blind Incorporated, and in Missing Children Minnesota, and his graciousness, good humor, and appetite for learning continued until his death. He was committed to building a better world through peace witness, civil rights work, and organizational reform, both in his beloved Religious Society of Friends and in the community, state, and nation. George’s wife, Elizabeth, died in 2006. He left behind six children, Jean McCandless, John Watson, Carol Watson, Elke Diener, Heidi Whelan, and Silke Peterson; a foster daughter, Jamie Paradise; 17 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren; and countless friends and colleagues.