~a column by Mary Weaver
This is a profile and story of soon to be 83-year-old Joyce Conklin VanKirk. Joyce lives nearby in Perry. She has been the force responsible for the RESISTOR group. The first rally was held Saturday, Feb. 8.
I was intrigued about her willingness to be out I 30 degree weather holding a
U. S. Flag. The following is what I learned.
Joyce has been observing now President Trump for the last nine years. His actions prior to becoming President 45 left her very concerned. Because she missed the rally for Democracy and the Constitution in Des Moines earlier in the week, that Friday afternoon, she determined that she should RESIST. “Even if I am standing by myself, I must show that I do not condone what is happening,” she said.
She called the Perry chief of police to obtain permission, and he replied if she stayed on the sidewalk, it would not be a problem. She called two friends who helped her inform others, primarily on Facebook. The RESIST/protest would be polite, with signs pro Democracy, not degrading Trump or the Republicans.
The editor of the Perry News, Jim Caulfied, offered to develop a Facebook poster. The word kept spreading and even though it was an extremely chilly day, 28 persons came to join her at the Big Bike in downtown Perry.
There is a stop sign near where the individuals were standing with their flags and signs, and many passing by honked or waved in salutation and support. There were two that rolled down their car windows and shouted TRUMP, but as Joyce proclaimed, “This is America. We can all express our views.”
Joyce describes herself as a RESISTOR, in that she always felt/ feels the responsibility for persons who are being taken advantage of. She had high school classmates and friends being killed in Vietnam and to her businessman father’s chagrin, she resisted the war. She has even gone as far as to have an electrical RESISTOR symbol chiseled into her headstone.
Being mindful of the Hispanics living in the Perry community, the Facebook poster was translated into Spanish by Mr. Caufiled
Joyce and others will be back at the Big Bike from 12-1 pm every Saturday. She expresses that she believes our country is at a real crossroads. When judges’ rules are not followed, she recognizes the pot is simmering and beginning to boil over. Ordinary people become the resistors and must “DO SOMETHING.”
She ended our interview with the phrase used by Benjamin Franklin, when following the 1787 Constitutional Convention he was asked, “Do we have a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin replied, “A Republic if you can keep it.” VIEW FROM MY WINDOW submitted by Mary Weaver of rural Rippey.
