Pittsfield — For the past 20 years, people close to Don and Marion Lathrop knew where to find the couple on Thursday evenings: the center circle of Park Square, off of Bank Row. And Thursday, May 25 was no exception.
The couple leads the Berkshire Citizens for Peace and Justice, a group aimed at promoting the word of goodwill and harmony among passersby. Since 2003, every Thursday, from 5 to 6 p.m., at least one group member has been at the heavily trafficked spot in the heart of the Berkshires, Don Lathrop said. The event includes signs placed conspicuously in the area to attract the attention of residents coming home from work or to one of the popular restaurants nearby for dinner. “We stand and have signs for one hour, even in the snow, wind, and rain,” Don Lathrop said. “Once the wind was so strong, we could hardly stand.”
He chose the spot out of convenience. Although the Lathrops live in Canaan, NY., Don was a beloved teacher at the Berkshire Community College for 40 years, with his tenure spanning the genres of physics, math, philosophy, and ethics.
According to the College, the Lathrops created a free tutoring program for local students; organized on-campus vigils relevant to peace and social justice issues as well as a bus trip to the First Special Session on Disarmament at the United Nations; co-organized a bus trip to the nation’s capital focused on ending the Vietnam War; joined the 1963 March on Washington; and brought volunteers from Japan to the U.S. to educate students about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Don, who is almost 90 years old, said that passersby on the Thursday sessions occasionally stop and chat with the group that has, at times, amassed about 32 protesters. They’ve made a point of attending to the spot on August 6 at 8 a.m., Hiroshima Day, to honor those lost in the atomic bombing of the Japanese cities during World War II.
Don’s inspiration stems from his and Marion’s attendance at Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream Speech” in 1963, an address that influenced the federal government to act on behalf of racial equality, he said. Following that speech, the couple joined the NAACP in their efforts to advance racial equity.
For Don and Marion, the group they founded has no plans to stop weekly protests or halt efforts “to spread the word of peace.”
Corrections: A previous version of this article stated that the Lathrops live in Connecticut. They live in New York. After this article was published, Don Lathrop wrote via email “I won’t be 90 until the end of January, if I am lucky enough to last that long. I am in my 90th year right now.”
