Lois Pitkin Booth Memorial Minute

Lois Pitkin Booth Memorial Minute [1]

Approved by Concord Friends Meeting, 2019-12-08

Lois Pitkin Booth, born in 1922, passed away in September 2019, having lived a long, inspiring life.  She was raised in a Methodist family and in the 1950s she became an early member of the newly-formed Concord (NH) Friends Meeting.

Lois was the fire that kept Concord Friends Meeting warm with her core belief in Love’s power and her indomitable optimism.  She was joyfully welcoming to all.  She had a wonderfully inclusive ability to draw out strengths and gifts of service from others. In her humble way, she was able to step aside and let others assume leadership once they showed interest.  She led by example and through her countercultural life modeled the change that she wanted to see in the world.

Lois started the Meeting’s First Day School program with the central value that every child feel loved.  The Meeting grew as families were drawn to the culture of love and respect that she cultivated with her gentle compassion.  She promoted music and hymns as an important way for children to connect with the Spirit, believing that these songs would provide a resource they could draw upon for the rest of their lives.  Thus, singing became a regular part of First Day School.  This led to the whole Meeting singing together before unprogrammed worship which has become an important Spirit-building part of our Meeting.

Lois was a strong supporter of families; in the Meeting and in her extended family she was an advocate for communication and expression of feelings as a way to strengthen family relationships.  Ever sensitive to the feelings of others, she made sure that people felt welcome in Meeting regardless of their ability to contribute financially, reminding us that we all bring diverse gifts to the community.  Don and Lois’ commitment to their 65 year marriage was an inspiration, as was her patient care for her father in her home in the last years of his life.

Lois’ witness in the world grew out of her compassion for others, her belief in the transforming power of love, and her keen awareness of inequality and injustice in its many forms.  Her deep faith in a loving God centered her actions and witness. Her commitment to peace led to war tax resistance, starting with the Korean War.  She was a person willing to speak truth to power, and a gentle yet persistent force for peace and justice. From the Nuclear Test Ban movement through the steady stream of wars and military actions since then, Lois was there organizing and educating.  She believed that citizens would respond well to good information and that education would lead to positive change.  She also was Clerk of Peace and Social Concerns Committee for years.

Lois was a key force behind opening a New Hampshire office of the AFSC in 1978; she organized Canterbury Citizens for Peace and Justice in 1981; and she helped found New Hampshire Peace Action in 1982.  For over two decades, Lois focused her energy on NH Peace Action as a full-time volunteer and lead fundraiser.

Lois concentrated on the root causes of problems rather than on the symptoms.  She had a keen sense of how to motivate and organize people in order to not only achieve a purpose but also build community.  We learned from her the lesson of the importance of food, music, and fun to engage us in community as we work for change.

Lois raised six children in their no-frills country home built by her husband, Don, who conscientiously opposed war and performed Alternative Service during World War II.  Their yearning for deep relationships with others led them in the 1950s to try living in several intentional communities around the country.  To our great benefit they always returned to Canterbury to deepen their roots there where they lived from 1951 until 2003 when she and Don moved to the Havenwood Retirement Community in Concord.  “Living simply so that others may simply live” was her way, not just a motto.

Lois loved to garden. It was a natural part of living simply.  She grew a large portion of their vegetables, baked her own bread, and was committed to healthy eating, feeding her family whole grains and sprouts and vegetarian meals long before it was fashionable or common.  She maintained an extensive flower garden and regularly brought a beautiful array of flowers to Meeting, another way of sharing God’s bounty.  She offered wholesome meals and a bed to many who came to the Concord area trying out lifestyles that earned them little money.  She and Don joyfully shared their cars, their tools, their labor, and the fruits of her garden with others in need.  The way they so freely shared was an expression of their love and sense of community.  This generosity was a deep inspiration to many.

Although Lois was highly intelligent and a college graduate, she put her family, the Meeting community, and her peace work ahead of paid work outside the home.  She did become a realtor and, as such, gave special attention to the appropriate use of the land, making wise purchases and then reselling to good people for good purposes whenever possible.

Lois and Don’s generous spirit was also evidenced in their gift of land on the Merrimack River to the town of Canterbury to become the town beach and the Riverland Conservation Area.  Our Meetinghouse would not have been built without their generosity. First Lois’s offer of land reignited a languishing meetinghouse project.  Then when that plot proved too small, an organization to whom the Booths had previously donated another larger tract of land, gifted a portion of it to the Meeting which is where the Meetinghouse now sits, a powerful demonstration of the ripple effect of Lois and Don’s witness of love and generosity.

One of Lois’ greater gifts was her tolerance in the face of conflict.  Many learned about Quaker ways from her creative responses to interpersonal conflict and her loving acceptance toward all people, particularly difficult people and those with mental illness.  She fully embodied the concept of “let peace begin with me,” in her interpersonal relationships and within the Meeting, the community, and the world.

Lois trusted in the power of prayer; for example, she suggested that members of the Religious Education Committee pray for Meeting children individually. Wisdom born from difficulty and hardship in her own life attracted others to seek her counsel.  They were always met with compassion and prayers. She believed completely in a loving God, and often said that God is Love.  Even

in her last years, she gave vocal ministry of the loving words of Jesus.

Lois was never frustrated or bitter as her body and mind aged.  She remained cheerful to the end.  Lois’ understanding of the importance of spiritual education for children, her leadership in peace and justice issues, and her personal warmth helped to make the Concord Friends Meeting a welcoming place that has attracted other Spirit-led people for generations.

Lois Booth’s example continues to shine brightly in the lives of those who knew her.  Many of us have asked ourselves, “How would Lois deal with this problem?” finding Light and courage in the answer.