Her memorial service will be held Sunday, April 27 at 5 p.m. at St. Stephen Presbyterian Church on Lake Underhill Drive.

Mentor and Friend

by Jean Malloy

Dr. Hazel McKinley is a peace warrior. She has been since World War II, when she lost a job because of her friendship with a conscientious objector. Now 92, Hazel is a wise and valued member of the Peace with Justice Subcommittee.

I first met Hazel in the early nineteen-eighties when she almost single-handedly organized a major ecumenical and interfaith peace rally in Orlando. Its featured speaker was none other than the brilliant peace advocate, Dr. William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (1924-2006). It was a huge success – well-attended and powerful in its peaceful statement against the weapons buildup of the early Reagan years. The police did what they could to mute its effect, but all they would accomplish was to watch as candle-carrying peace people encircled downtown Orlando’s iconic Lake Eola.

During roughly the same time period, Hazel and I were both members of a nuclear freeze group that met at Rollins College. Our purpose was to counter the administration’s strident rhetoric and Cold War posturing and advocate for a nuclear freeze. During this time we learned of an undercover sheriff’s employee who was a mole – spying on our peaceful little group. Hazel and one or two others underwrote our judicial protest in the federal courts, which succeeded. This same group eventually grew into the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice.

A little later, Hazel chaired the state United Church of Christ peace committee. Now a member of St. Stephen Presbyterian Church in east Orlando and suffering from several challenging diseases, Hazel is still a member of our active and (we hope) effective Peace with Justice group.

In recent years she has inspired us to reach out and sponsor or attend several joint events with our Muslim friends from the Center for Peace at the Islamic Society of Central Florida.

We work for justice and equality for all—for all races, genders, and economic conditions. Individually we lobby for these and related issues if moved to do so. We work to alleviate serious conditions, like poverty and hunger, which create breeding grounds for violence and injustice. In 2007, for example, we promoted and assisted ECHO in Fort Myers, which combats world hunger with its seed program, global village, and agricultural training.

We work against domestic violence and nuclear proliferation.

We contribute to feeding and educational programs in Kenyan schools. We contribute to landmine removal and retraining for survivors. We bring international visitors from South Africa, Indonesia, and Zimbabwe to help local church people understand other peoples, cultures, and faiths.

We hold memberships in six state and national peace groups.