Farewelling a peace warrior
MORE than 250 people attended a public memorial service last week for peace campaigner Stella Cornelius , who died in December, aged 91.
MORE than 250 people attended a public memorial service last week for peace campaigner Stella Cornelius , who died in December, aged 91.
During a lifetime of human rights activism, Dr Cornelius co-founded the Conflict Resolution Network, helped establish the Ministry for Peace, served as director of the United Nations International Year of Peace in 1986 and was presented with the International Peace Award from the United Nations Association of Australia in 2010.
Among the speakers at the memorial were Professor Stuart Rees, director of the Sydney Peace Foundation at the University of Sydney, Rabbi Zalman Kastel, founder of multifaith organisation Together for Humanity, and Professor Kevin Clements, professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago.
Dr Keith Suter, winner of the Australian Government Peace Medal in 1986, also spoke, alongside Dr Cornelius’s daughter Helena, women’s advocate Jane Sloane and storyteller Donna Jacobs Sife.
Jacobs Sife, who was a close friend of Dr Cornelius, said the memorial celebrated not just her achievements, but also the person she was.
“Most of the people who spoke were involved in her professional life, but really spoke about her personally because there was very little difference with Stella between her professional and personal self, she extended herself so much to people,” she said.
“What came through with us all I think was the warmth and the caring nature of Stella.
“Kevin Clements also talked about her achievements but couldn’t resist talking about Stella the character, because it was so extraordinary how cared for he felt, and how she made him feel that she always had time for him.”
She said Dr Cornelius always made people feel important.
“I didn’t just feel like I was a friend, I felt like I was her daughter,” she said. “Jane [Sloane] and I both felt very much like daughters and we certainly weren’t alone, she had many young women who were in the peace movement under her wing.”
Ultimately, Jacobs Sife said the memorial, which also featured a rendition of Sing a Song of Joy, was a fitting tribute to a wonderful human being. “We did come away just feeling the magnitude of her work and achievements,” she said.
GARETH NARUNSKY
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