Caroline Canafax.

CAROLINE, former WILPF International Vice President and lifetime WILPF member from Seattle, Washington, passed away on April 23, 2011. A celebration of life event was held June 4 in Seattle, attended by family, friends, fellow Raging Grannies, and political co-conspirators. For the majority of her 90 years, Caroline Canafax dedicated her life toward the betterment of society as an educator, peace activist, singer, and mentor.

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Caroline became a member of WILPF in 1975, when she decided to attend the WILPF Congress in Minnesota. She held various leadership positions in WILPF at the local, national, and international levels. In 1987, Caroline founded Pacific Vision, a newsletter that covered the issues and experiences of the peoples in the Asia Pacific region. Through the newsletter, Caroline wanted to "bring the reality" of those people, "who are for the most part people of color, to the mostly white women of the U.S. Pacific Region, who are members of WILPF." She wanted to "promote disarmament and peace in this region which has suffered so many wars in the past century" (From an interview conducted by Mariza Cabral in April, 2005).

Caroline's interest in the Pacific region emerged during her travels and studies at the University of Washington and Reed College in Oregon. Her profession as a teacher came later in her life. She worked as a boilermaker helper during WWII and raised a family. Eventually, Caroline earned her Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education. She became a grade school teacher, but her radical politics led to her termination when she was accused of being a communist during the McCarthy era. At the time, two Seattle Public School Board members belonged to the John Birch Society. Caroline remained in the education field by teaching in Headstart until Dorothy Hollingsworth, leader of Seattle's Headstart program and well-known African American educator and civil rights activist, helped Caroline and others back into the Seattle School system where she taught until her retirement in 1981.

I first met Caroline in 1981 in the aftermath of my brother's murder, a highly political assassination that was carried out by Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Caroline and other WILPF women became part of the organization we formed to get justice in my brother 's and his fellow union officer's deaths. No matter how often the meetings were held or what work needed to be done, Caroline and her WILPF sisters were there to do logistics, hand out leaflets, lend political analysis and, of course, give political and personal support.

Caroline loved WILPF and she wanted younger women to join WILPF and to carry on its legacy. That's the reason I got involved. You just couldn't say no to Caroline. She was unrelenting, persuasive, and politically on target! I could always depend on a call from Caroline to ask me for updates on the national board meetings and gatherings.

In 2008, Caroline said, "Be sad because you will miss me, not because I have died." And to that I have to say I will miss her. I miss her because she reminded me constantly that we must never give up the struggle for peace, democracy, and equality--no matter how old we get or how difficult the struggle is!

Cindy Domingo worked with Caroline Canafax on Pacific Vision and is co-chair of the Women, Cuba and Bolivarian Alliance WILPF Issues Committee.