This year we took a different approach to our Annual Membership Meeting. On April 23, 2026, instead of a serious speech or panel discussion, we had some fun at the expense of the military industrial complex and big corporations. After all, “war is a racket.” Massachusetts-based troubadour Tom Neilson's songs called out genocide, racism, inequality and injustice. “Best annual meeting ever!”, some people said.

It was the perfect platform from which to honor the decades of activism embodied by Cleveland’s own Women Speak Out for Peace and Justice. By chance we found a box in our Pilgrim Church office: leftover vintage items from WSO’s much-loved Holiday Bazaar. We gave most of these away at the meeting. But more importantly, finding that old stuff triggered the idea of paying tribute to this venerable group. From the Vietnam era to the pandemic, there was hardly a cause they didn’t take up. WSO’s energies and range were carefully archived in many looseleaf binders, full of posters, photos, news articles and more, which were on display at the meeting. For decades, dozens of dedicated and passionate activists at any given time, mostly women, were working to right the wrongs and speak truth to power.

Founded in 1968, Women Speak Out for Peace and Justice was a local chapter of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. WILPF was established in 1915, with Jane Addams as its first president. Addams was the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Initially, protesting World War I was the focus. Over the years WILPF came to embrace opposition to violence and inequality of all kinds, universal human rights, economic justice, transfer of world resources from military to human needs, and world disarmament. In Ohio, Women Speak Out’s work reflected the breadth and passion of WILPF’s vision.

Cleveland Peace Action and Women Speak Out are deeply connected. In the early 1980’s, our prior incarnation, the Greater Cleveland Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, was seeded, supported, powered, and mentored by many of the women of WSO. It’s fair to say that without them, the Freeze Campaign would not have thrived as it did.

Senator Nickie J. Antonio, the current Minority Leader of the Ohio Senate, herself mentored by these very women, paid tribute to Women Speak Out and to its leader over the last few years, Linda Park. Linda was the keeper of the aforementioned archival materials, which now reside in Cleveland Peace Action’s office, ready to inspire anyone who’d like to have a look. 

Here’s the full text of the commendation presented to Linda Park:

The Honorable Nickie J. Antonio, State Senator from Ohio’s 23rd District, is pleased to extend a special commendation to you, Linda Park, celebrating your decades of dedication to social justice at home and around the world. Your leadership with Greater Cleveland’s affiliate of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Women Speak Out for Peace and Justice organization, is exemplary. This accomplishment is a well-founded source of pride for you, and our community.

 I am pleased to recognize such an outstanding and inspiring individual. As a longtime advocate for peace, equity, and human rights, your hard work has helped shape many of today’s social justice movements. By co-founding the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network in 2004, you have directly contributed to our region’s success by supporting and empowering our immigrant neighbors. As the lead activist for decades, you amplified the voices of Arab, Muslim, South Asian, and Latinx individuals, not only in Northeast Ohio, but also across the globe.

The State of Ohio thanks you for your exceptional devotion to bettering our world and region. I am proud to note that it is through the profound commitment of remarkable people like you that our state continues to grow and prosper. Greater Cleveland is a brighter place thanks to you and all you have done.  

Thus, it is with sincere pleasure that I commend you on your years of service to social justice, and I extend my best wishes for continued success.

In honor of the people of Women Speak Out for Peace and Justice, we offer the names below to express our gratitude for their collective work. Many have left this world but not our memory. We have undoubtedly missed some names, but we present this list as the best information we have this time.

In their honor

Nickie Antonio

Wynn Antonio

Victoria Carter

Anne Caruso

Chantal Dothey

Mike Fagan

Wanda Finley

Debra Hirshberg

Evelyn Hunt

June Johnson

Nellie Johnson

Peggy Kacerek

Joanne Klunder

Jean Kosmac

Sharon Habat Kotrba

Janet Loehr

Hanan Mahmoud

Barbara Megary

Paula Miller

Linda Maxwell

Joy Marshall

Rosemary Mantey

Linda Park

Ann Pallotta Nagin

Valerie & Stewart Robinson

Susan Schnur

Maria Smith

Kathy Soltis

Gloria Still 

Sherri Tolliver

Deborah Van Kleef

Jean Visher

Claudette Woodard  

In memoriam

Sofie Bartell

Ione Biggs

Judy Botwin

Dorothy Caruso

Fran & Ted Dostal

Lois & Tony Edgerton

Musie Eisenberg

Rae & Jake Epstein

Ruth & Jack Emmer

Roma Foldy

Daisy Ford

Freida Franyin

Judy Gallo

Kathleen Geathers

Marge Grevatt

Marty Grey

Vera Hall

Yoshiko Ikuta

Bernadette Janes

June Johnson

Vicki Knight

Rosie Kuerti

Louise Lawler

Lillian Levine

Blanche Livingstone

Betty Long

Katie Marshall

Joan O’Brien

Madeline & Jim O’Brien

Shirley Pasholk

Caroline Peery

Tony Peralta

Ethel Robbins

Pearl Simon

Ellie Shombreck

Ida Slutzker

Dorothy Spiker

George Solmonoff

Jean Sommer

Bea Silverberg

Julia Starr

Margaret Sullens

Carolyn Sugiuchi

Bertha Tannenbaum

Stephanie Tolliver

Marge Townsend

Judy Van Kleef

Musi Wagner

Mariel Wallace

Our Mission: Working to end militarism in US foreign policy, reduce the threat of nuclear annihilation, and promote justice and human rights in Palestine and globally. We highlight the connections between militarism, colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy, racism, misogyny, and xenophobia.