Remembering Peggy Mariner and Eunice Royal
ATD Fourth World Movement said goodbye to two strong activists and long-time friends this past spring. Peggy Mariner from Dickenson County, VA and Eunice Royal from Covington, LA near New Orleans were two women who throughout their lives worked so that those around them facing the hardships of deep poverty would have opportunities to reach their fullest potential and be recognized and respected for the contributions they make in their communities. Read here memories ATD Fourth World members who knew Peggy and Eunice shared in their honor.
Eunice C. Royal: A legacy of a life’s commitment with families living in extreme poverty in Covington and Abita Springs, LA.
Eunice C. Royal departed from this life on Friday May 10, 2019 at the age of 86. ATD Fourth World lost a great friend, a woman of deep faith and commitment to Caritas. Caritas was founded by Dr. Bertha Mugrauer in 1950 in response to an invitation by Pope Pius XII to form groups of lay-persons who take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and live among people in poverty as neighbors. It was not easy in early 1956, in the time of segregation for a young rural African American woman to join Caritas, which is what Eunice did.
Many Volunteer Corps Members of ATD Fourth World who had the opportunity to meet Eunice, have a lot to say about her endeavor.
Jean-Claude and Maryvonne Caillaux were Volunteer Corps members in New Orleans in the 1990s. They wrote recently: “Eunice remains in our memory, especially, her laugh and her discretion, and her volubility … Indeed, one must not minimize what was the stigmatization of one's life. She talked about that sometimes, by telling a few anecdotes … She told us one day, ‘I was traveling by car with Barbara and we were stopped by the police. Barbara had to say that I was her maid to be able to pass the bridge.’ It was prophetic … it is silent acts, which have much more weight for the future of the world and a country, than long statements.”
Edmée, a former ATD Fourth World Volunteer Corps member from France, remembered: “I was at Caritas in 1985. We went nearly every day to visit families in Covington. Eunice had introduced us to the work with very young children, a pre-school, Caritas called "Homestart." We also had summer weeks with Eunice and the children. I learned a lot in this year.”
Eunice joined the international delegation of ATD Fourth World that met with Pope John Paul II in 1989 in Rome. “Eunice! We could write a book about her life and commitment. Whenever we visited the Caritas women, we would bring guitars and sing, “We’ve Come This Far by Faith,” Eunice’s favorite song,” said Maria Victoire and Dee Mauss, ATD Fourth World Volunteer Corps members in New Orleans.
Eunice was recognized by the NAACP last year for her work in the Civil Rights struggles. It was a well-deserved award!
Gwen Smalley a member of ATD Fourth World and a good friend of Eunice, remembers: “It was in 1957, I was 14 years old, when I went to live with Caritas for the summer. Eunice was in charge of me and taught me well. She took us boys and girls, black and white, to sit-ins at Woolworth (in New Orleans) at the counter, some people got arrested. ... We’d go to the movie theaters and would sit-in in the balcony. Black people were not supposed to sit in the balcony, but they were with us. That was my first introduction to segregation.”
ATD Fourth World is grateful to Eunice Royal for her vision and strength, for her generosity in taking some of our volunteers under her wing and training them to understand and love the children and families with whom she shared her life.
Honoring local activist, Peggy Mariner, who passed away on April 24, 2019
Appalachia and the ATD Fourth World Movement have lost Peggy Mariner, a woman who never spared her energy and resources to support her extended family and for the people struggling in the communities around her.
ATD Fourth World and Peggy’s paths crossed in 2004 when she and other activists, WC and Jane Philipps were working to revive a community center in the small coal town of Trammel, VA. They succeeded in finding the means to renovate the center, to run a program for children and even to get an after school program going in the nearby elementary school. Connecting with ATD Fourth World volunteer Jason French, also active in Trammel, Peggy brought her voice to the United Nations in New York. She accompanied her granddaughter Samantha Hiebler to an ATD Fourth World gathering in Washington, DC. of children from different countries and social backgrounds who worked together on how they, as children, can make a more just world by living out friendship and inclusion of all people. Samantha described Peggy as “A woman with a heart of gold. She never knew a stranger and was loved by everyone she met. She truly lived to make a difference in the world, and she was beyond successful.”
As she came to know ATD Fourth World Volunteer Corps members Vincent and Fanchette Fanelli at the Learning Co-op on Reedy Ridge in Dickenson County, Peggy always brought new people to the meetings and she chaired several commemorations of the International Day for Overcoming Poverty (October 17) over the years. More recently she even took a robotics class at the Learning Co-op herself. The Fanellis recalled Peggy as “Appalachia ATD Fourth World Movement’s strongest activist.” ATD Fourth World friend Jay Venger from Maine, who knew Peggy in Dickenson County called her “a quiet warrior.” From New Mexico Laura Jijon, who met Peggy at one of ATD Fourth World’s planning sessions in 2013 wrote: “I just finished a small appreciation/farewell ceremony for Peggy Mariner in our house including: photos, a letter she had sent to me recently, and a wooden bowl hand crafted at her community center that she had sent me a few years ago. And, I will always remember her fondly as a great storyteller.”
Peggy’s last energies went to sustaining the family she loved and to living her dream of starting a community center in a small annex to her house on Hazel Mountain. Thank you Peggy for your quiet, thoughtful and loving persistence in trying to make a good life for the next generation. We miss you!