Elinor Heath had a joyful party on her 100th birthday, January 7th. About 60 of her friends and family celebrated with her at the Congregational Church in Palo Alto. She died on March 9th, her sense of purpose and command still fully intact. As a friend said, “She was born cheerful and optimistic.” Her early childhood was spent on her father’s ranch in Lipscomb Co. Texas. Just before World War I, her family moved to the small town of Anthony, Kansas. From her parents she learned very liberal and open-minded values, which she never lost. Throughout her life, she loved meeting new people from all backgrounds and cultures, and she always wanted “to hear their stories.” An early passion for debate prepared her for an activist life in the peace and civil rights movements, the League and Women Voters, school board politics, and the Congregational Church. She married Edwin Heath in 1933 and moved to Wichita, Kansas, where Ed was a power engineer with Kansas Gas and Electric. There she was involved in a petition drive to bring about the racial integration of commercial services in downtown Wichita. She became worried that this might cause Ed problems with his employer, but he said to her, “They don’t pay me enough to buy my wife’s mind.” This framed their love for 55 happy years of marriage. In 1936 she was voted to be the delegate from the state of Kansas to an International Women’s Peace conference in Washington DC, where “I shook the hand of Eleanor Roosevelt.” After World War II, Ed was recruited to be an executive with the public power utilities, first in Sacramento in 1947 and in Palo Alto in 1953. An active outdoors life got Elinor deeply involved with environmental action and conservation. Throughout her life, she never minded being in the minority, and her sense of joy never waned. She is survived by her sons, Alan and Eric, and by her grandchildren, Steven and Jennifer. A memorial service was held at the Congregational Church in Palo Alto on March 24th. Rather than flowers, Elinor would like contributions to be made to the Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto or to the Organ Fund of the First Congregational Church of Palo Alto.