Hazel Wolf died in Port Angeles, Wash., on Jan. 24 at
the age of 101. Wolf, a lifelong activist for social justice and
the environment (HCN, 11/9/98: Wise words from a veteran activist),
once told author Studs Terkel that she wanted to live to see the
year 2000. “Then I’m going,” she said.
Wolf, a
native of British Columbia, moved to the United States in 1923. As
a member of the Communist Party during the Depression, she fought
for unemployment programs and social security.
In
later years, she was a civil rights activist, a strong advocate of
immigrants’ rights and an unstoppable organizer for the Audubon
Society, helping to establish 21 of the society’s 26 chapters in
Washington state. To her chagrin, a broken hip kept her from
joining the labor protests at the recent World Trade Organization
meeting in Seattle.
Until very recently, she was
a frequent public speaker, needling the powers-that-be with her
sharp wit. A timber industry official once wrote to her that “you
say the most offensive things in an inoffensive way.”
She had a look at three different centuries, but
was fond of saying that the biggest changes in her lifetime had
been in swimsuits.
Donations in Wolf’s memory can
be sent to the Kids for the Environment Fund, an Audubon Society
education project established on Wolf’s 100th birthday. Checks can
be mailed to: Seattle Audubon Society, 80560 35th Ave. N.E.,
Seattle, WA 98115.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Hazel Wolf: She made it.
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