Who We Are

I have experience in: Nonprofit Management, Computer Support, Aviation, Nuclear Waste Disposal, Christian Theology and History, Mindfulness Meditation.
I am one of a dozen persons in the world with a detailed knowledge of Shaker Theology and History. I previously served on the board of directors of the Peace Resource Center of San Diego during a challenging transition to a new building. Also was a judge for the peace writing contest. My goal is to find meaningful Work that will make the world compassionate and peaceful. 

(Peace Resource Center) I was born in Oak Ridge Tennessee where my parents were working to help build the atomic bomb before the Nazis could do it, and my one sister was born almost two years later.  One of my early memories is of me as a little tyke running from our family car into the open arms of my grandfather when we arrived at his home for a visit.  My loving mother and devoted but judgmental father were the most significant persons for me in my childhood, and among many in my teenage years it was my English teacher Mrs. Stecchini who shared her deep appreciation of life and for every one of us in our class, and who one day took an opportunity to show me a “conservative” aspect of my father that had not occurred to me.  An important choice I made back then was to follow my own heart in quitting my high school band much to the regret of my fine band teacher in order to sing in the choir after having been invited to join “whenever you want” by our outstanding choirmaster. I got initiated into peacemaking in 7th and 8th grade through serving as the president of our grade school Safety Council helping fellow students resolve conflicts with each other and with themselves, and then at 18 after graduating from high school in 1963 I got my first experience of peacemaking on a national scale when I joined a busload of others in Princeton New Jersey to go down to Washington DC to join in the March for Jobs and Freedom led by Martin Luther King, and gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial we all heard him cry out “I have a dream today” again and again, and then heard many others including Mahalia Jackson and Bob Dylan speak and sing of their dreams too of equality and freedom in America.

Earlier in my youth, I had taken up my own quest for freedom by studying first the teachings of Jesus and then the teachings of the founders of all the “great” religions of the world as taught in the Unitarian Church. In college, I studied more religion and philosophy, and then after graduating, serving in the Peace Corps, getting happily married and having wonderful children but then years later getting divorced and separated from my family, I took up the quest in earnest through studying and practicing the core teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism under the guidance of a few wonderful teachers.  I also learned how to work well with others through studying and practicing conscious communication in a series of seminars with a fine local psychotherapist, and then through studying and practicing mediation as well. I put all this learning to good use in serving on the board of directors of my local Buddhist community and then as the president for many years, taking on the responsibility for organizing and facilitating our meetings using our consensus decision-making process, and in serving as a founding member of our local peace center, participating in many demonstrations for peace including doing years of weekly vigils against the US Contra War against Nicaragua, putting on annual memorials of our dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and busing with Grandmothers For Peace to the Nuclear Test Site in Nevada to protest and get arrested for trespassing (just for crossing the line). 

I also served as a founding member and organizer of our new local chapter of the Green Party. After moving to San Diego in December 2009 to look after my old father I joined and worked for justice and peace in several organizations including SanDiego350, Activist San Diego, and the Green Party, and later on the San Diego Progressive Alliance, Jewish Voice for Peace, the Climate Mobilization Coalition, Nancy Casady For Congress, Citizens Franchise Alliance, and Public Power San Diego, participating all along in Peace Resource Center activities and finally joining the PRC board in 2017 in order to try to help the members work through a serious and challenging interpersonal conflict.  In 2021, after our vice president LaVern had served as our president for a few months and after our former president had had to resign, I encouraged her to run for a full term, assuring her that I would do everything I could to support her, and thankfully (and surely not just because I asked!) she agreed.  I was then elected vice president, have gladly worked closely with her ever since, and have been instrumental in encouraging others to join us on the board. Finally, ever since the war in Ukraine broke out, it has been my passion to discover what it’s all about and to share my understanding of this with the rest of us so that together we can look even more deeply into this crisis, help bring it to an end, and thereby help free ourselves to address the existential issues of war itself, nuclear war, and climate catastrophe with all we’ve got.

(Veterans For Peace – San Diego Chapter) I was born in Oklahoma City where my grandfather at the time was the Episcopal Bishop of Oklahoma and the namesake for the Bishop’s high school which is called Casady school in his honor. I am the oldest of the five sons of a newspaper owner and publisher.  I began as a reporter for my dad’s newspaper, the El Cajon Valley News in 1955.  I attended the University of Arizona, San Diego State University and graduated from Stanford University in 1957. I obtained an officer’s commission at Officer Candidate School in 1959 and served 31/2 years in the Navy until 1963.  I am an atomic veteran having served aboard ship in a hydrogen bomb test at Christmas Island 3000 miles south of Hawaii. After that I was an editor at the L.A. Times and Psychology Today magazine, served as an assistant for 10 years to San Diego State Senator Jim Mills, President ProTempore of the Senate and owned and operated health food stores. Nancy and I were married in 1972 and have 5 children and 4 grandchildren.  The high point of my life was marrying Nancy. My passion is for a world that works for everyone and my efforts in this regard, besides loving my wife, family and friends,  are to address the existential issues of our time: climate change and nuclear war. I believe we must have peace at all levels of society to realize our full human potential.

I was raised in Alhambra California, schooled through a Master’s Degree in Communication from Thomas More University in the Bay Area. Lobbyist in the California State Legislature 1975-84. Owned and operated health food store in Encinitas, Ca 1988-95. General Manager, Ocean Beach People’s Co-op 1996-201 Governor-appointed Member, State Board of Food and Agriculture 2012-2022.  Married to Derek Casady 1972 to present, five children, four grandchildren. My passion is for a world that works for everyone and my efforts in this regard, besides loving my family and friends, are to address the existential issues of our time: climate change and nuclear war. I believe we must have peace at all levels of society to realize our full human potential.

(Oasis for Peace: San Diego First Church of the Brethren) I am a mid-western girl born in South Dakota. I did my undergraduate work from Dakota Wesleyan University where I received a double major in Religion and Communications. For me these 2 majors went together, because as a youth I was very active at my church, and especially in creative drama for worship. What stuck in my heart was something my youth pastor told me early on, “Remember, women can also be pastors”. That encouragement motivated me to get my preaching license in high school and start doing pulpit supply throughout my years in college. When I graduated from DWU I felt I needed to expand my horizons and see what life was like in a completely different part of the US. I had grown up in a rural city and wanted to see what life in urban America was like. So, I started my graduate studies in Dallas at SMU’s Theology School called Perkins. After a year in Dallas, I transferred; even though I met my future husband there. I discovered I could get better financial aid in the school where I ended up getting my Masters of Divinity; from Denver University’s, “Iliff School of Theology“.  However, I got another chance to see what ministry was like in an urban setting by doing a summer internship program in Chicago with a woman pastor, which was a rarity at that time. I then finished my year of internship in Wichita KS. As I started serving churches in Kansas, my friend from seminary and I decided to get married. At that time he was working for a hunger agency in Mexico, and I had longed to see what that kind of life would be like and went to join him. We worked for Heifer International for almost 2 decades and raised our 2 children abroad, until we came back to the US in 2004. Our children were able to finish school here and my husband and I started our careers over. We looked for work in bilingual jobs and got experience in Denver Public Schools, in a child protection agency in Phoenix and with the Church of the Brethren in CA and AZ, starting up Hispanic ministries to help them with church growth. After the economic crisis of 2009, we found work in Methodist churches in Long Beach, Maywood, Garden Grove, Riverside and Victorville; all with a similar goal of helping develop new outreach ministries with Hispanic families. Besides worship and bible study we helped churches reach out to their neighborhoods through community development projects meeting sports, education and immigration needs. My husband and I helped churches to design and start after-school programs, church soccer camps, immigration clinics, internships where college age students helped grade schoolers improve their grades in a fun summer program and many other community activities from coffee shops to craft groups and youth camps for cross cultural understanding. I am currently the new pastor at the San Diego First Church of the Brethren, just joining you all here on this campus since October 2022. My passion is to uphold diversity and justice for all people of all genders, all races, religions and economic statuses. I believe working together in peace and simplicity, across all these differences is the only way we can make real change. I strive every day to strengthen my Christian values with innovation, and in as inclusive ways as possible. 

(Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom) During her 25-career as a Research Psychologist with the Federal Government, Anne Hoiberg published two books and more than 130 scientific articles, book chapters, reports, and presentations. She currently serves as the President of the International Museum of Human Rights at San Diego, Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition, and La Jolla Pen Women as well as Secretary of the Peace Resource Center. She is a past president of the League of Women Voters of San Diego, Women’s Museum of California, United Nations Association of San Diego, and National Women’s Political Caucus. Anne volunteered as an election supervisor in “emerging” countries (eight missions) and has organized conferences, published articles, and given presentations on world peace, women’s rights, and history at local, national, and international conferences (e.g., Cuba, Greece, Portugal, Uganda, South Africa). She was inducted into the San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame in 2012.  In December 2022, her book Tears of War–Stories of Refugee Women, was published by Montezuma Publishing.

Since receiving her PhD in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1994, Mary M. McKenzie has taught regularly in the Political Science Department.  She also has taught at California State University, San Marcos and at Grossmont College.  At USD, Dr. McKenzie teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in international relations, including International Organizations, American Foreign Policy, Politics and the Environment, International Human Rights, and Model UN.

Dr. McKenzie’s doctoral research focused on the internal and external influences on German foreign policy. Currently, her research interests are centered on American foreign policy, the influence of international organizations on state action, and issues of global justice. Dr. McKenzie has published in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, German Politics and Society, and Debatte. Her work also appears in Germany at Fifty-five, edited by James Sperling; The United Nations, Human Security, and Conflict Settlement: A Crisis of Credibility?, edited by Oliver and Edward Newman; and The Promise and Reality of European Security Cooperation: States, Interests and Institutions, which she co-edited with Peter H. Loedel. She speaks frequently throughout San Diego on the United Nations and on U.S.-Cuban relations.

I was proud to grow up as a farm girl on a tractor in northwest Iowa. I also loved tending the animals, especially the pigs, and really liked riding motorcycles. I graduated at 17 from a small high school that had 44 students. (10 were my classmates.) I joined the Clinton Iowa Franciscans in 1961. I was an undergraduate Chemistry and Math major. I also have a Master’s in Science and another in Religious Education. I taught in grade and high schools, was a Campus Minister and a Director of Faith Formation, and the Operations Coordinator for the oldest solid surface company in southern CA.I am the co-founder of the Franciscan Peace Connection and the president of the PRC-SD. My passions are to be an instrument of active listening, collaboration, harmony in diversity and justice for ALL.

Ilka Weston, a long time activist and homeless advocate in East County who’s a dedicated progressive and has been active in local politics for over 9 years.