Kris Cheatum
(1937 - 2010)
Lynn and Kris Cheatum at an antiwar rally in 2008.
(Photo by Bob Sommer)
If you’ve driven past Mill Creek Park in Kansas City on almost any Sunday afternoon since the Iraq War began, you’ve probably seen Kris Cheatum.
She was the petite, grandmotherly woman out along 47th Street protesting the war.
I met Kris and her husband Lynn in 2008, when I did an article for The Kansas City Star on the local peace movement. Her energy, enthusiasm, and good cheer were not only infectious but amazing. She was 71 at the time and had come out on that blustery afternoon to join the other activists, even though she was still recovering from a recent leg injury!
Kris passed away on Sunday, June 6th, at Research Medical Center.
Her activism began with the civil rights movement during the 1960s, when she marched for fair housing in Kansas City, sometimes carrying her infant son to rallies and protest events. She advocated for social justice throughout her life. She was a board member of PeaceWorks Kansas City and edited the newsletter that reliably appears in my mailbox every month.
Kansas City lost one of its great citizens this week, and the country lost one of its most energetic and inspirational peace activists.
Click here for Kris's obituary in The Kansas City Star.
