Superior celebrates local peacemaker

Sep. 25—SUPERIOR — While the world was observing International Day of Peace on Thursday, Sept. 21, Superior celebrated Jan Provost World Peace Day.

Provost founded

Northland Grandmothers for Peace

in 1983. People she inspired, mentored and encouraged gathered in Superior-Ami Friendship Garden to share stories of the Superior woman and her fierce campaign for peace.

"Jan was an extraordinary person with a gift for bringing out the best in everyone. She was wholly committed to the mission of Grandmothers for Peace, a gentle but irresistible force working to end war, promote social justice and, most of all, to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons," said Dorothy Wolden, president of the group.

Forty years after its founding, the group continues to march in local parades, hold an annual peaceful toy drive and award scholarships. Being a grandmother isn't a membership requirement. Wolden joined when her son was 10.

"I said, 'I'm not a granny.' (Provost) said, 'You don't have to be a granny. You just have to be for peace. Are you for peace?'" Wolden said.

The group is very positive and inclusive, said member Christine Olson, of Superior.

"It's a very worthy group. They do a lot of good work," said fellow member Bethjean DeMars, of Solon Springs.

Superior City Council President Nick Ledin read a proclamation declaring Sept. 21, 2023, to be Jan Provost World Peace Day.

The Superior woman,

who died in 2020

, was also designated as Wisconsin Peacemaker of the Year by the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice in 2000 and received the 2007 Citizen of the Year Award in Superior. She is listed as a peacemaker on the United States Peace Memorial Foundation registry.

She left big footsteps to follow, Wolden said, but she "blazed a trail for us."

"She was a gentle spirit, but she was a fierce spirit and she never gave up," said Penny Cragun, of Duluth, a member of Grandmothers for Peace since 1985. "She could get up and approach politicians who might turn us away and with a big smile she would be so gentle and she would get them to listen to her."

Wolden told the story of an action they held when General Wesley Clark came to Superior hoping to secure the Democratic presidential nomination. Wolden lost track of Provost as the group was being ushered out. Determined not to leave her friend behind, Wolden turned back in time to see her walking with Clark.

"And here's this lovely little lady with her arm hooked around General Clark's arm, explaining why we were there and pressing a little Grandmothers for Peace button into his hand," Wolden said. "Very much in her style. Honey, not vinegar. Just believing in everybody's potential to be a good person and an advocate for peace."

Provost's daughters Jane Rapaich and Clarice Peterson attended the event.

"I just want to say a huge thank-you to all of you for being here today to honor my mother, our mother. She would have been absolutely over the moon about this," Rapaich said. "She would have loved this. She would have been so humbled and so grateful, but mostly so very happy that her legacy of fighting for peace and social justice is still going strong."

As they honored Provost, group members talked about their renewed focus on nuclear disarmament.

"We're kind of going back to our roots. Ukraine has raised the issue of nuclear war. For a long time, no one talked about nuclear weapons, nuclear war possibility," Cragun said.

A coalition including Grandmothers for Peace and the local Veterans for Peace chapter has launched the

Twin Ports Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

.

"What we're trying to do is to get the local city councils to pass a resolution supporting the United Nations treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons," said Philip Anderson, Veterans for Peace president.

The group is seeking signatures on a petition declaring support for abolishing nuclear weapons worldwide as well as support for House Resolution 77. Area residents are encouraged to send a letter to local leaders expressing their concerns about nuclear weapons.

Grandmothers for Peace will hold a free screening of "Barefoot Gen" at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26, at Zinema Theater, 222 E. Superior St., Duluth. The animated film was created by an artist who survived the bombing of Hiroshima when he was 6 years old.

"I will say that it is a very intense film. So if you plan on attending, be prepared to see what that experience was like through the eyes of a 6-year-old boy," Wolden said.

In October, the group will bring in activist John LaForge to speak at the College of St. Scholastica.

Visit the

Grandmothers for Peace-Northland

Facebook page, V

eterans for Peace-Chapter 80

Facebook page or

Twin Ports Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

website for more information.