She had a weekly show on WPFW and I was deeply saddened to learn of her passing. Here is a brief synopsis of her life and work. She truly made the world a better place while she was hereI will be coming from the Richmond area and hope to see you there.
The WPFW family is saddened at the passing of Dorothy Ray Healey. For 77 years Dorothy Healey was a fighter in the anti-war, anti-racist, and anti-imperialist struggles which unite people of goodwill all over the world. She was first arrested at age 14 when she demonstrated in behalf of workers’ rights in Oakland, California. In Los Angeles in 1959, she united in solidarity with Pacifica Radio where she hosted a talk show for more than 20 years. When she moved to Washington in 1983, she added her voice, her clear insights, and her unflappable advocacy to the airwaves of WPFW, hosting the Wednesday morning program, “Dialogue.”
During the McCarthy, Red-baiting era of the 1950s Dorothy was jailed under the Alien Registration Act, the so-called Smith Act. She was freed in 1957 after a series of Supreme Court decisions found a number of Smith Act prosecutions unconstitutional. After rising to become leader of the Southern California Chapter of the Communist Party USA, she authored the best-selling book “California Red,” about her life in, her leadership of, and her eventual disaffection with the authoritarian and anti-democratic policies of the Communist Party. She officially resigned from the Party in 1968 to protest the Soviet Union’s invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Dorothy Healey was 91. Her family and friends will celebrate her life and contributions at a memorial service, at 2:00 pm, Sunday, August 20th, at the Josephine Butler Center, 2437 15th Street, Northwest, on Meridian Hill. Her family requests, any contributions in her memory be made to WPFW.
http://web.mac.com/richardhealey/iWeb/Dorothy