Featured Peacebuilders

Phyllis Hockley

Dec. 12, 2012 -- I've known Phyllis since the 2004 Dennis Kucinich campaign and our days in The Peace Alliance together, visiting Congressmen in Washington, D.C. She met her husband Len while they were missionaries together in the Ecumenical Institute, and they were married during a monsoon in Indonesia.

Phyllis turned 80 years old in 2011 at one of the best birthday parties ever, a fundraiser for Sponsors, Inc. She shows no signs of slowing down. The most frequent comment you may hear about Phyllis is, "She's everywhere!" How does she do it? She says she gets 7 to 8 hours of sleep at night, then begins her day at 7 AM with meditation and the prayer of St. Francis, said slowly phrase by phrase. She often has breakfast with friends. Once a week, she meditates with a group at her church, St. Mary's Episcopal. She attends the Interfaith Prayer services once a month, Dances of Universal Peace twice a month, a weekly bible study, a weekly Circle Service on Saturday evenings, practices Tai Chi three times a week, reads spiritually-inspired novels, and works in her community garden during the growing season. All this contributes to her personal peace.

In service to the community, once a month she does each of the following: edit and publish the Church Women United newsletter, meets with the Church Women United board, Interfaith Occupy, Earthkeepers, an environmentally-focused group at her congregation called "Cool Congregation," and the steering team of Emerald F.E.A.S.T. When the FEAST event rolls around every 3 months, she's there chopping up veggies for the salad. Did I say she loves to cook for people? Not only does she host many dinners at her home with Len, she serves coffee at her church's social hour and helps Patty Harrison make breakfasts for the Eagan Warming Centers. Her chocolate chip cookies are legendary!

On the political front, Phyllis and Len donate more than 10% of their income to "at least 20-30 different groups." Every week she's down at the corner of 7th & Pearl in vigil for peace with Betsy, Peg and others. She writes letters to elected officials, attends rallies, and signs many online petitions. She guesstimated that she spends perhaps 3 hours a day building peace, but she sparkled brightly when I suggested that she had probably grossly underestimated the time that she invests in peace. That's what I remember most about Phyllis: she's always sparkling brightly, radiating peace wherever she goes.