"Wally Nelson" (7-3-1909-May 23, 2002)

Raised in Little Rock Arkansas,he was the son of Lydia (Durand)and Duncan Nelson.During his youth,Wally and his family were sharecroppers,which was an experience that shaped some of his values.He was a regional Church youth director and he attended Ohio Wesleyan University.As he committed advocate of active nonviolence,he refused to bear arms during World War II and served in a Civilian Public Serve camp,followed by three and a half years in federal prison.While locked up,he played a major role in ending racial segregation as the authorized policy of the federal prison system.In 1947,he participated in the first interracial "Freedom Ride,"traveling by bus though the Southern states to test the U.S. Supreme Court's decision banning racial segregation in interstate transportation.One year later,he co-founded Peacemakers, a national organization dedicated to active nonviolence as a way of life and he and his wife Juanita,began their lifelong practice of refusing to pay taxes used for armaments and killing.During the 1950's,as the first national field organizer for the Congress of Racial Equality (Core),he directed numerous workshops on nonviolent direct action in Washington,D.C. in 1968,he fasted for 21 days in support of the United Farmer Workers'campaign for wages and working conditions for farm laborers.In 1974,Wally moved to Deerfield (Massachusetts) where he started an organic vegetables farm.During this time,he and his family were among the founders of the Valley Community Land Trust,Pioneer Valley War Tax Resisters,and the Greenfield Farmers'Market.He was a regular participant in the annual war-tax protest in front of the Greenfield Post Office on Tax Day.He died in Greenfield Massachusetts.