Remembering Minneapolis peace activist Erica Bouza

CATHY WURZER: The name Erica Bouza might sound familiar to some of you. Erica Bouza was the wife of former Minneapolis Police Chief, Tony Bouza, who died earlier this year. Erica Bouza has also died. She was 92 years old. Mrs. Bouza was a prominent Minnesota peace activist, and was a member of Women Against Military Madness.

Her commitment to the antinuclear movement led to, at least, two arrests at demonstrations against the Honeywell Corporation back in 1983. Honeywell, at the time, manufactured cluster bombs. And at the time, her husband, the chief, was leading the Minneapolis Police Department. MPR correspondent, Regina Medina, spoke to a friend of Erica Bouza's, and also a member of Women Against Military Madness, Mary Lou Ott. Regina started by asking her about memories of Erica Bouza.

MARY LOU OTT: She was very bright, number one. Very smart. Very well-read, very funny, and very creative. I mean, extremely creative. She made jewelry and sold it. She did lots of-- I mean, she was artistic. And she's just fun to be with. You always left feeling like you were better than when you came, if that makes any sense.

REGINA MEDINA: Well, how did you meet her?

MARY LOU OTT: Well, let me think. I believe that we met through Women Against Military Madness, WAMM is the acronym. I started out in the streets, so to speak. In 1979, probably, is when we started to gather, just about the time that WAMM was being formed. And we had a separate little group from there because WAMM was a 501(c)(3), so, of course, we couldn't do a lot of things that we wanted to do.

And so I met her through that, and then you know how women are, we just-- if you like each other and there's other people around, pretty soon you're meeting or planning. And our husbands got along well, and some of us would see them as a couple. So it just evolved like friendships do over the years.

REGINA MEDINA: Yeah. It is. Now, while you were in WAMM, were you in WAMM first, or do you know how she stumbled into WAMM, or was she--

MARY LOU OTT: Well, we were all there about the same time in the early days, very early days. I was not one of the starters of WAMM. I came in maybe a few weeks later through two of the women that started it, were good friends of mine. Her best friend was Karen Hansen, and Karen, I'm sure, brought her in.

And they also lived in the same neighborhood around Lake Harriet. And their kids went to the same high schools, so you know how things happen. You look back and you think, all of a sudden you're a part of a community of people who have a energy and a force and a belief, and we were good friends.

REGINA MEDINA: Now, back in 1983 when she was arrested along with 137 other people at the Honeywell offices in Minneapolis, were you there that day?

MARY LOU OTT: Oh, absolutely. I was arrested with her at that time. A lot of us were, as you say, 100-plus. So I think she came to the arrest part later. And rightly so because with her husband being chief of police, you don't just leave home and run down town and get arrested without some reflection and thinking and planning, whereas I didn't have that issue. I didn't have a policeman for a husband.

REGINA MEDINA: So wait, let me just understand something. Are you saying that she wasn't going to go to the protest, or she was going to go to the--

MARY LOU OTT: No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that some of us were there out in the streets arrested before she was. She would go to the protests, but she wasn't-- it took her a while to decide to become arrested.

REGINA MEDINA: OK. So basically on that day, she knew that that day that-- from what she was doing that she would probably get arrested.

MARY LOU OTT: Well, I don't remember the exact circumstances, Regina. But how it usually worked is once or twice a year, we had a very large demonstration. Now, there were those of us who went to Honeywell once a week, starting in 1979, and stall outside the door with our signs. And then the groups began-- the regulars every week began to grow, and then we had a major demonstration, and it might have been twice a year. I don't think it was any more often than that, but it was, at least, twice a year. And so that would account for the 180-some people who were arrested, it was a major demonstration.

REGINA MEDINA: Got it. Got it. And that was the first time she got arrested, and then, I believe, later that year she got arrested and then was jailed for 10 days?

MARY LOU OTT: Yes. She was jailed. We were all jailed, but I don't remember who got jailed when. I do know that I was in jail with her more than once, I believe. It's hard to be able to tell you or express to you or convey the feelings and the camaraderie, and the intention of the community in what we were doing. I don't even remember how many times I was arrested, had to be, at least, 20. And that's true for other people, too. Sometimes you went to court. Sometimes you were just sent home. Sometimes you went to jail.

REGINA MEDINA: Why do you think she was so committed to WAMM, and antiwar, antinuclear? What was driving her?

MARY LOU OTT: Well, in the first place, she was raised as a Jew in England during the Second World War, and their family had to leave London during the bombing, so she had some pretty important personal experience. Most of us were in that era which does not exist anymore of being middle-class wives and mothers who were raising children. And I know for me, personally, my husband and I had seven sons, and there was no earthly reason why any of those boys were going to go to war to join the service. But we could make that decision.

And Erica and I used to talk about, you look around and see all the people who were poor, and that's how their kids kind of-- the only way poor kids sometimes made it out is to join the service. And if you didn't want it for your own child, you didn't want it for anybody else's child either. And that was the escalation of the nuclear time. It was frightening.

Someone had to do something. People had to stand up and say, no. And although we certainly didn't change the world, I do believe that people out on the streets made a huge difference. If no one was out there, no one would know. Life would just go on. She was very strong about that. And it wasn't just how she felt about her own kids, she felt that way about every mother's kids.

REGINA MEDINA: And had you gone to visit her?

MARY LOU OTT: Oh, sure. I did see her when they lived downtown. And then once they were out, I did visit her once. But it's hard. I have another friend, her best friend, who cries every time we come, so we just don't go. Because I think it's hard on people that have that disease. And I did see her-- I had a son-in-law in the same building as Tony and Erica, so I did see them, yes.

REGINA MEDINA: And is there anything I didn't ask you that I should have?

MARY LOU OTT: Well, I don't know. It depends on what you want to know. Erica, as I said, was very creative. She had a very kind heart. I loved that about her is that she never said mean things about people. She always would look at someone and figure out why they did what they did. She was kind. She and her friend, who is also my friend, Karen Hansen, would go down to Saint Stephen's when they did it that way.

And you could-- I have done that same thing with them. And you go down to the shelter when they first opened it up, and they would go down and stay all night. I worked at Saint Joseph's House for the Homeless, and she-- one of the nuns there, she passed away quite some time ago, Rita Saint Hagen, but she opened up a store-- I forget the name of the store, but it was like a free store for clothes-- and Erica worked with her. She just had a lovely heart, just a lovely heart. She was always interested in what other people did.

And I moved from Saint Joseph's House to help open a start for Nonviolent Peaceforce, she was very interested in that. And she was very supportive, came to any fundraiser that we ever had. She was always there. She's the kind of friend you want to have through life, you know? I mean, it's wonderful to have a friend that you can laugh with.

And I'm not just talking about Erica, but this whole community of women where you could laugh with them, and believe a lot of the same things, and act on your belief, even if your neighbor thought you were crazy, there was a lot of that. The reality is, Regina, that so many of our dear friends have passed away. And old was Erica, 92, and I'm 90, so, I mean, we're all-- the ones that are left are-- we're far and few between.

CATHY WURZER: That was MPR correspondent Regina Medina talking to Mary Lou Ott about the life and legacy of peace activist Erica Bouza. She died last Thursday at a Bloomington memory care center at the age of 92. She had suffered from advanced Alzheimer's, and her son Dominic Bouza says she recently had fallen and broken her hip. A public memorial service is pending.