Augustine Grodson
In her 88th year, in 2005 Augie Grodson traveled from Tucson to Washington D. C. to participate in the pro-Choice rally the March for Women's Lives. This did not surprise any of her friends and family; nor her NOW colleagues in the Tucson branch of the National Organization for Women. Augie joined Tucson NOW in her forties after deciding first to go back to school at a Community college 50 miles from her home and to complete her degree at the University of Arizona in Women's Studies. (She finally completed her degree in 1990 at the age of 72.) Augie's lifetime of activism wasn't entirely unpredicted either. Augie's mother showed her the way. She brought the young girl to many political meetings in New York area festooned with banners calling for Black and White Unite. Then as now Augie was trying to find ways to eradicate racism. Then in her late teens Augie decided to put her idealism to work. She dropped out of high school and went on her own to an Israeli Kibbutz in Palestine then still under British mandate. Later she married a teacher who when he couldn't find work in New York City started a business. She lived with her husband and worked in his business for forty years as his bookkeeper all the while bringing up two children. She was in her forties when she decided to go back to school. At the time she and her husband had a son in Vietnam and a daughter in high school. The rest is history. Her work for NOW has been both on the Local and State levels. She has marched and picketed been at rallies staffed booths joined other organizations to bring the NOW message to a broader audience and so long as she can plans to continue to volunteer for the causes and people she believes in with hope for a better world.