There's never been a time over the past 29 years, and the entire history of the Brandywine Peace Community, that Bill wasn't here or, more often than not, there. There being General Electric or the Pentagon, or Lockheed Martin. But he isn't here nor there now, he's elsewhere with the cloud of witnesses that carry the names (some more widely known than others) of Berrigan, Day, Bob Simpson, Lynn Currey, Tom O'Rouke, Paul Washington.

Bill was there right at the beginning of the Brandywine Peace Community and the movement for peace that we have shared with Jonah House and the Atlantic Life Community (still going), Mobilization for Survival (long gone), the Peace Center of Delaware County, and so many others that have come and gone and a few,

like Brandywine, that keep going in no small measure due to the likes of Bill.

William Whistler was born 78 years ago. He died last Monday, November 8, 2004. In between, he lived a life of his and our times. In the 1940's, he served in the U.S. Navy and upon discharge became an electical engineer in the employ at General Electric in Syracuse, NY. The Cold War was underway in earnest - H-Bomb

testing, the Space Race and Missile Race ran rampant, and Bill was there. He actually witnessed an H-Bomb test and it seared his mind with the full weight of the nuclear age and end-of-the-world threatening weapons, nuclear weapons.

During the later 60's and early 70's, still at General Electric and living in Syracuse, Bill was active in protests of the Vietnam War. Working at GE on weapons of war and after work protesting the war in Vietnam.

In the early 70's, he was transferred to the GE Space Center in Valley Forge believing that he would be doing non-military work in the Space Program. More and more, nuclear weapons systems moved in and Bill was being pulled by conscience to something else. Bill came to early nuclear weapons protests, organized by the

fledgling Brandywine Peace Community, just after the end of the Vietnam War. While studying nuclear weapons development and the post-Vietnam "first-strike" nuclear posture. We learned of the Mark 12A, the initial "first-strike" multiple warhead for Minuteman III missiles. We learned that its producer was General Electric. Not really knowing what Bill actually did at GE, we asked Bill - Mark 12A?, GE?, Bill: do you know about this?, Bill?: where?. The wall between what he professed for peace and the nature and knowledge of the work he was doing came down. Bill opened up, telling us what we needed to know -  where the GE weapons plants

would be found in the area, what was happening there - to set us on a nonviolent campaign saga that would for nearly twenty years take us to GE plants in the area repeatedly - pouring blood and ashes, blocking entranceways, climbing atop test facilities, weekly vigils, public outreach, walks and fasts, themed series of actions. Our calendar of liturgy, education, action and resistance, repeated arrests and jailings was the discipline of the time and our community.

Bill was there throughout it all having (after 27 years of employment) tendered his resignation from GE  in the wake of the first actions at GE and just before the Plowshares 8, when, with hammers, eight friends (with, lets just say, Bill's knowledge and Brandywine's organizing support) entered a GE plant in King of Prussia and

actually "disarmed" Mark 12A warhead casings.

Bill would be arrested repeatedly and go to jail. Bill actually met his second wife, Scotty Stuart, at a demonstration at GE.  Direct action would lead to the GE Boycott and GE would eventually sell its Aerospace Division that would lead to Lockheed Martin. Those of us who go back to the early days of the GE resistance know that it all started with civil disobedience at the GE plant located at 32nd & Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, where the Mark 12A was developed. That huge plant devoted to nuclear weapons design is now the site of upscale restaurants and apartments. We remember Bill standing there at GE in Philadelphia - or related plants in King of Prussia, PA or Moorestown, NJ -  and speaking about his passion for disarmament and a nuclear-free future for our children. The GE

sites in Valley Forge/King of Prussia, PA and in Moorestown, NJ are now part of Lockheed Martin, the world's largest weapons corporation.

Our truest memorial to Bill Stuart-Whistler is to continue our campaign of nonviolent resistance to Lockheed Martin. On the ground where Bill once worked for war, and then resigned in order to speak and act with such passion for peace, we will continue to resist Lockheed Martin and its weapons for "endless war".

Scotty Stuart-Whistler, Bill's beloved wife, tells us that, waking from a long sleep and before slipping into death, Bill spoke his last words: "In a town far away, a crowd of holy people wait for me." Farewell, dear Bill - father and husband, veteran, engineer, GE employee, GE resister, war resister, friend, Brandywine inspiration, and now among the cloud of witnesses that have earned residency in that town of peace.

Bob/Robert M. Smith, Bill's friend, co-worker, prison cell mate, and staff person of the Brandywine Peace Community.

Join us in the continuing memorial to Bill for peace!

William T. Stuart-Whistler
STUART-WHISTLER WILLIAM T., Nov. 8, 2004, age 78, of Foulkeways, formerly of Media, PA, retired electrical engineer, was committed to working for nuclear free world, safe for his grandchildren and all children. Husband of Lillian "Scotty" Stuart-Whistler. Also survived by his children and grandchildren from his former wife, a daughter, Janice Beaucar and sons, William, Kenneth, Thomas, James and Michael Whistler, brothers, Jack and Leonard Whistler and sister, Jill Lowrie. Was preceded in death by his former wife, Gloria and daughter, Virginia Whistler. Memorial Service for relatives and friends Nov,. 27, 2004 at 1 P.M. in Gwynedd Friends Meeting, Sumneytown Pike and Route 202, Gwynedd. In lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory may be made to either the Peace Center of Delaware County, 1001-B Old Sproul (Old Marble) Road, Springfield, PA 19064 or the Interfaith Coalition of Food Centers, 700 Morton Ave., Chester, PA 19013. HUFF & LAKJER Published in the Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia Daily News on 11/14/2004.