By Rita McInerney

Wednesday, Jan. 16, was a night of mixed emotion for Lillian Corrigan, a woman long dedicated to working for peace in the community and world.

A member of Holy Family parish in Marietta, Mrs. Corrigan was among seven individuals presented with community service awards at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center that evening. The program is an annual event of King Week.

While Mrs. Corrigan expressed happiness at being recognized for her consistent efforts for peace and justice, she said she was stunned by the news that reached the people in Freedom Hall shortly after 7 p.m. The U.S. was attacking Iraq.

When she accepted the award from Mrs. Coretta Scott King, she said she felt compelled to “say something in view of what’s happening. Our foreign policy is neither moral nor ethical. We must take the high road (of nonviolence) that Martin Luther King wanted us to take.”

In the letter nominating her by the YWCA of Cobb County, she was saluted as a “senior citizen, community volunteer, and peace and justice advocate/activist.” Her life, the letter pointed out, is one of “ever increasing involvement in the work of peace and justice, leading in recent times to the ultimate act of conscience – non-violent civil disobedience.”

The civil disobedience took place on Good Friday, March 24, 1989, at the Kings Bay Naval submarine Base at St. Marys, Ga., home port for Trident nuclear submarines. She and he husband, Bill, were among eight people arrested for conducting a prayer vigil at the main gate of the base.

She was among organizers of the Cobb Interfaith Peace Study (CIPS), an ecumenical group which studied issues of peace and justice and worked to raise the consciousness of the community about such issues.

She has led vigils in Cobb County to protest U.S. policy in Central America, apartheid in South Africa and racial injustice in Cobb County. She was among concerned people trying to gain justice for the Cuban detainees at the federal prison in Atlanta.

Her interest in peace and justice led her to study economic issues and how government policies affect the poor both at home and in the Third World. She has visited El Salvador and prayed at the tomb of Archbishop Oscar Romero, and Nicaragua. Back home, she shared what she learned and observed in Central America with local activist groups. She supported the Sanctuary movement and has opened her home to people from Central America, Iran and Finland.

A longtime advocate for the poor in the U.S., she participated in the first Poor Peoples March in Washington, D.C., in 1968, and continues to serve the poor. She volunteers weekly at the MUST Center in Marietta where emergency food, shelter and other needed services are provided the poor and the homeless.

She joined the NAACP many years ago and has been outspoken against racial discrimination; she was involved in the effort to establish a human relations council in the county.

She terms her weekly volunteer work with physically and developmentally disabled children in the special aquatics program at the Cobb YWCA “my greatest relief. The children are so wonderful. We teach those we can teach. It gets your mind off the ugly things of life.”

Bill Corrigan is retired after working 32 years as an engineer with Lockheed. The couple met when both were serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. They have four adult children and several grandchildren.

Others honored for community service were; William “Bill” Edwards, who was recognized for his outstanding efforts with young boys through Boys RISE (Ready in Strengthening Ebony);

Mamie Randolph, who was honored for her work with senior citizens’ groups;

Judge Gail Tusan Joyner, who serves on the Atlanta traffic court, was honored for volunteer work with the Legal Aid Society and with the homeless.

Youth service awards went to three high school students. They are Chawndra Janean Goler, Lakeside High School, Antonio Williams, Douglas High School, and Tasha Nicole Ellis, Redan High School.