Lasting Memories

Alice Richards
Jan. 2, 1915-June 20, 2011
Menlo Park, California

Alice Richards, 96, a long-time resident of the Menlo Park-Atherton area, died June. 20, 2011.

Born Alice Maxine Schoot Jan. 2, 1915, in Denver, Colo., she grew up in Santa Barbara and was a resident of the Menlo-Atherton area since 1951.

She received her bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley in psychology in 1949 and her master's degree in anthropology from Stanford University in 1965. She taught cultural anthropology at the College of San Mateo from 1965 to 1971 and at Little House as an Emeritus Teacher from 1975 to 1978.

She participated in anti-war movements beginning in the early 1950s, first against the Korean War and later in the 1960s against the Vietnam War. She continued to oppose the wars in Central America, Iraq and Afghanistan until her death. She was a lifelong member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and was also a member of the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, Women for Peace, the ACLU, the Sierra Club, and several other organizations. She attended the first UN Conference on Women held in Mexico City as a delegate of an NGO in 1975 Together with her husband, Harvey W. Richards, she traveled to the Soviet Union, central Asia, Mongolia, Cuba, and Africa. During the 1960s and 70s, she helped him produce documentary films about the peace movement, the civil rights movement, the environment and conditions of women and children.

She is survived by her sons, Jonathan Meigs of San Mateo, and David Meigs of Soquel; and by her two stepsons, Steffen Richards of Berkeley, and Paul Richards of Oakland.