Granny D

Over at Hudson’s Notebook there’s an excellent series of posts called Blue Highways (the last one is here).

His talk of travelling the highways reminded me of a heroine of mine, Doris Haddock, and I thought you might enjoy hearing about her:

Doris is a liberal political activist from New Hampshire, USA, who cares passionately about true democracy, which she believes is a rare animal in the US these days. (Ya think?) She considers campaign finance reform key to the restoration of democracy, and in 1999 she started on a walk through America to publicise the issue. But not just any old walk: she walked 3200 miles along the highways. It took her a year. Oh, and she celebrated her 90th birthday a month after she started walking! Here’s a description from her website:

…in 1995, Doris became interested in campaign reform and led a petition movement. On January 1, 1999–at the age of 89–she began a 3,200–mile walk across the country to demonstrate her concern for the issue, walking ten miles each day for fourteen months. Doris traveled as a pilgrim, walking until given shelter, fasting until given food. With the unflagging generosity of strangers she met along the way, Doris never went without a meal or a bed. She trekked through over 1,000 miles of desert, climbed the Appalachian Range in blizzard conditions and even skied 100 miles after a historic snowfall made roadside walking impossible. When she arrived in Washington D.C., Granny D was met by 2,200 supporters representing a wide variety of reform groups. Several dozen members of Congress walked the final miles with her.

Of course 90 is really quite young. A few years later, at 94, she ran for the Senate. Didn’t get in, but what an inspiration.

She’s now 98, still living in New Hampshire, and a shining example of how each of us can at least try to effect change.