I recently came across an article in Friends Journal, October 1, 1966, written by my uncle Bernard Standing. It was interesting to see how many similarities there were with Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) today.
That was the year I first attended Scattergood Friends School. The Vietnam War was a major factor in the lives of the boys there, since we were required to register for the draft on our eighteenth birthday. Like many Iowa Quakers, I eventually decided to become a draft resister. Cecil Hinshaw of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) who spoke at the 1966 Yearly Meeting sessions, also spoke at a draft conference held at the school that fall.
Draft conference, Scattergood 1969
There were visitors from the Quaker settlement in Monteverde, Costa Rica. My parents, sister and her family, and I visited Monteverde in 2010.
“Other concerns were Indian welfare and race relations” which continue to be concerns today.
Finally, there was discussion related to the Meskwaki Native American settlement near Tama, Iowa. Last summer Donnielle Wanatee from that settlement spoke to us at the Yearly Meeting sessions about building bridges with Native Americans, and invited us to their annual powwow, (the same powwow referenced below) which my father and I did attend last fall.
Then in February of this year, Donnielle was in a van of water protectors I went with to Minneapolis to demonstrate in front of the US Bank headquarters because of their funding of fossil fuel projects.
Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) Reported by BERNARD A. STANDING
IOWA Yearly Meeting of Friends (Conservative) held its sessions August 16-21 in the rural community of Mapleside near Paullina, Iowa. A family atmosphere prevailed, as evidenced by the parent-children groups arriving by car or seated in the meeting house, by the many young people at play on the volleyball court, and by the little children at the sand-pile and the swings. The mingling of Friends from urban communities with those from rural areas was a truly growing experience. Lincoln Meeting in eastern Nebraska has been added to this group within the past year. Visiting Friends were welcomed from Monteverde (Costa Rica), Concord (New Hampshire), and Media (Pennsylvania).
A dominant concern was the war in Vietnam. E. Raymond Wilson of the Friends Committee on National Legislation spoke on this topic to different age-groups at several sessions. Various approaches to a peaceful settlement of the conflict were presented. T he meeting gave its approval to the statement issued recently by Friends United Meeting, “An Appeal to End the War in Vietnam Now,” which calls for cessation of hostilities, negotiations, free elections, economic development of the land, and the help of all nations of the world to accomplish these results.
Boyd Trescott of the Friends World Committee for Consultation explained the function of that committee, placing special emphasis on the Friends World Conference to be held at Guilford College in North Carolina in 1967. Plans are being made to send seven delegates from Iowa Yearly Meeting.
Marian Baker, a young Friend from New Hampshire, told of the Young Friends’ plans for that conference and for subsequent visitation throughout the United States.
Other concerns were Indian welfare and race relations.
Projects of the North Central Region of the American Friends Service Committee were reported. The summer workshop in which several young people joined with the Musquakie Indians in preparing for the annual powwow at Tama, Iowa, was successful in fostering understanding and friendship between the two groups.
James Thomas, director of the Iowa Rights Commission, spoke one evening about the efforts of his group to achieve equal opportunities in housing and employment for minorities.
The annual report of Scattergood School at West Branch, Iowa, the Yearly Meeting’s major educational project, showed progress in the building program, including the construction of· a new science building. The purpose of the school is reflected in the lives of returning alumni.
At the last evening gathering, Cecil Hinshaw described possible vast changes in our material world in the near future. He challenged Friends to cope with these new situations by imaginative training of personnel in the fields of industry and education. Though change is inevitable, the eternal values of truth and love remain.
October I, 1966 FRIENDS JOURNAL
Quakers, social justice and revolution 