Peace activist Tom Lewis, 68
Posted: Monday, April 7th, 2008 11:17 amForty years ago next month, Tom Lewis and eight other Vietnam War protesters strode into the offices of U.S. Selective Service Board 33 in Catonsville and left a mark on history.
The “Catonsville Nine” emptied file cabinets, hauled 600 draft records into the parking lot and burned them with homemade napalm. Then they prayed and waited to be arrested.
That act of civil disobedience on May 17, 1968, inspired headlines — and more than 200 protests at draft board offices across the country. …
Mr. Lewis’ activism on behalf of peace continued through the rest of his life, ending only Friday, when he died in his sleep at his home in Worcester, Mass., at the age of 68. …
Tom Lewis was part of a famed group of Catholic anti-war activists led by Philip and Daniel Berrigan, both priests. The trial of the Catonsville Nine would land Mr. Lewis in prison for more than three years — and become the subject of a play and a movie. …
Mr. Lewis was also a member of the “Baltimore Four,” a group that poured blood on draft records at a city Selective Service office in October 1967. … Read full obituary
