Marin political organizer and anti-pesticide advocate, Julia Kendall, passed away on July 12 of complications from leukemia.
She came to Marin in 1971 from Texas and Louisiana, where she was active in the Republican Party and was honored in 1963 as the Outstanding Young Republican Woman in the Nation. Inspired by Robert Kennedy she became a Democrat in the late sixties. She was a member of the California Democratic Central Committee in 1984, and an active member of the Hazardous Waste Sub-committee of the California State Air Resources Board.
She worked for many liberal causes in Marin, including the Rainbow Coalition, the Nuclear Free Zone campaigns and Central American refugee sponsorship programs. As a resident of San Anselmo, she led a successful drive to save the Robson-Harrington estate from development, which resulted in its becoming a popular park and conference center.
Injured by the pesticide, malathion, during the 1990 Medfly eradication program, she refocused her activism on the effects of toxic chemicals on human health. She was the chair of Citizens for a Toxic Free Marin and one of the founders of the Chemical Injury Litigation Project. She was committed to combining litigation and publicity to change public policy on issues that affect health and the environment.
In 1994 she led a campaign against American Airlines to halt the unannounced spraying of pesticides on passengers, which generated international publicity and led to the end of the practice in several countries. She organized demonstrations, phone-in campaigns, publicity and lawsuits against corporate manufacturers of toxic products. She firmly believed that those industries are vulnerable; that if the public stops buying their products and stocks, they will clean up their products or go out of business.
Her spirited and optimistic activism will be missed by people all over the country who turned to her for help with issues surrounding toxic exposure and environmental illness. She was a tireless researcher in the field of chemical injury litigation and shared her wealth of knowledge and extensive database with anyone who asked. She will be remembered for her compassionate and generous nature, as much as for her uncompromising activism for a safer environment.
The funeral and burial will be in Overton, Texas. In the Bay Area, a memorial celebrating her life and work will be held at Point Reyes' North Beach on July 20 at 1pm. Donations may be sent to Health and Habitat, a nonprofit organization to promote healthy housing. (Sandy Ross, Director, 383-5343)
She is survived by her son, Spencer Kendall Lynn, her sister, Cynthia Kendall, her mother, May Kendall, and her life partner, Rudi Zubere.
Memorial donations are requested to be directed to:
Health and Habitat
President Sandy Ross
76 Lee Street
Mill Valley, CA 94941
Office phone: 415-383-6130, 10-4 PT, M-F
OR healthhab@igc.apc.org
(501c3 nonprofit organization, donations deductible, and a committee is being formed to decide what Julia would have wanted to do with the donations)
Julia's family will be having a memorial service at her favorite beach in Point Reyes, CA. The beach is called North Beach and they will post signs leading the way. (the beach is to the left after Inverness drive. Watch for the signs) Also, anyone wishing to say a few words is welcome.
(The following is a reprint of a memorial article published in the "ECHO Newsletter" - used by permission.)
We considered Julia Kendall a friend. We admired her organizing ability, her activism and her dedication to helping everyone with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity gain access through that activism. Julia passed away on July 12, 1997 of complications from leukemia.
You may know Julia's name through the organization she founded "Citizens for a Toxic Free Marin." ECHO's articles and handouts on perfume and fragrance-free accommodations were developed from materials compliled by Julia. She was gracious in sharing the information she gathered allowing others disabled with MCS to benefit from her hard work and research. Included in this issue is a handout compliled by Julia's "Twenty Most Common Chemicals Found in Thirty-One Fragrance Products."
Julia was a political organizer and anti-pesticides advocate who also co-founded the Chemical Injury Litigation Project. In January, 1997 Julia wrote, "I am committed to combining litigation and publicity to change public policy on issues that affect health and the environment. Removing chemical barriers in institutions covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act was a concept I publicized by demanding fragrance free access in Marin County with signs, demonstrations, and media coverage. I sued American Airlines for spraying pesticides on me during a flight to St. Marten, Dutch West Indies."
Near the end of March of this year, Julia wrote this personal message to Carolyn Wysocki: "I always enjoy receiving the ECHO newsletter. The fragrance free seminars, meetings, etc. you've encouraged and influenced are impressive....I don't know any place else in the country that has managed so much in that area".
It is both sad and ironic that Julia, who sued Neiman Marcus "for continuing to pollute my mail with fragrance strips" was exposed to scented health care workers in the hospital before she died.
Julia will be missed by all who knew her personally and by everyone who knew her work for the MCS community. It is only fitting that we at ECHO continue Julia's work by fighting for safer hospitals and for access to fragrance-free public places.
Our condolences to Julia's family - her son Spencer Kendall Lynn, her sister, Cynthia Kendall, her mother May Kendall, and her life partner Rudi Zubere.
About Our Purpose Here:
To live in this world you must be able to do 3 things:
to love what is mortalto hold it knowing your life depends on it
and to let it go when the time comes.
We are here to hold Julia in our hearts even while we also let her go...
(Imagine if you will a candle next to you right now...look at the holder,
imagine the heft, decide the color of the wax,
.....now light it in your mind....)
In our time of grief we light our candles of sharing,
the flame of ongoing life.
In this time when we search for understanding and serenity in the face of loss,
we light our candles in our quest for truth and meaning and community.
Please join me in the following responsive reading.
Your response is:
"LOVE IS A MIRACLE EACH AND EVERY TIME IT OCCURS"
You may think it, say it out loud or type it in after I have.
Ecclesiastes 3:
Everything on earth has its own time and its own season,
There is even a time to ponder that:
LOVE IS A MIRACLE EACH AND EVERY TIME IT OCCURS
There is a time for birth and for death, for planting and for reaping,
and always:
LOVE IS A MIRACLE EACH AND EVERY TIME IT OCCURS
There is a time for crying and for laughing, for weeping and for dancing,
because:
LOVE IS A MIRACLE EACH AND EVERY TIME IT OCCURS
There is a time for embracing and for parting, for finding and for losing,
while this remains true:
LOVE IS A MIRACLE EACH AND EVERY TIME IT OCCURS
Because that is true, there is also a time for listening and for speaking....
(Feel free to think about Julia and your own feelings about her here)
Because support is what the EI/MCS community does:
In the rising of the sun and in its going down
we depend on what gets us through our worst days.
(feel free to think about that here)
In the opening of buds and in the rebirth of Spring
we depend on what gives us hope.
(feel free to think about that here)
In the blueness of the sky and the warm of approaching Summer
Julia's family can depend on our good wishes.
(Feel free to think those good wishes for her family here)
(Now move that imaginary flame to your heart.
Feel it's warmth and light within your chest as we share the following)
In closing:
Hold on to what is good
even if it is a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe
even if you are a tree which stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do
even if it doesn't seem possible now.
Hold on to each other's hands
even when one has gone away from us.
So May It Be/Amen
RevRus
uudre@aol.com