Board Member Profile: Bette McDevitt
As interviewed by Marie Skoczylas

In the early 1980’s, when I was living in New Castle, I read in the Post Gazette about people in Pittsburgh who were acting up at Westinghouse and Rockwell, makers of nuclear weaponry. I read about these corpse-like figures slithering along the ground, toward the weapon makers, or hunkering down in Senator’s offices, and being hauled off in paddy wagons.

Those actions really caught my attention. Who were those courageous people? If they did those deeds, I could surely do something like…call my senators.

It became more than a phone call. Within a year, I was living in Pittsburgh, working at the Merton Center, for a short time, as a fundraiser. Through the Center I met activists, academics, priests, sisters, laborers, poets, and all the people involved in the struggle for justice and peace.

This amazing mix of people and myriad projects have held my interest and affection for the last twenty years. A group of us, who shared similar commitments, lived together behind the Merton Center, on Dearborn Street in Amos House, for six years. It was a good time in our lives.

Just when I thought I would relax with a good book, the Raging Grannies sprung onto the scene. I couldn’t pass that one up, a new way to carry the message, reaching a broader audience. Perhaps the best part has been finding a group of strong women, of one mind – well, mostly - who become a circle of friends. And then…there is the opportunity to be on stage, and I can check off yet one more of those things I want to do in life. I had in mind tap dancing, but this will do nicely.

So, here I am, still involved in a movement that grows stronger all the time, and serving on the Board at the Center and I am still meeting amazing people. I can’t imagine any other way.

Board Member Bette McDevitt (Photo by Marie Skoczylas)