Bringing Light Wherever She Went
This Harvey Richards photo of Linus Pauling and Alice Richards together at a dinner party in 1992 brings back fond memories of Alice and the wonderful years she shared with my father during the decades from the 1950’s to 2001 when Harvey passed away. Her friendship and long time association with Linus Pauling is one of the most remarkable parts of her legacy.
Linus Pauling
Linus Pauling won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1954 and was one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century. His work testing nutritional value of foods and minerals, especially the role of vitamin C, is one of his great contributions to the world and one of the interests he shared with Alice and our family over the years. He also won the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize for his activism against nuclear testing, thus becoming the only person to ever win two unshared Nobel prizes. He and Alice and Harvey were peace activists together during the 1950’s, organizing against nuclear testing and war. Harvey took the photo below in 1960 during a march and rally in San Francisco against nuclear testing. Linus Pauling’s great stature as a scientist is still influential today through the Linus Pauling Institute at the University of Oregon.
Alice created the home and the base for Harvey to do all the photography and film making that is now on the Harvey Richards Media Archive, and that is being used by media makers and educators around the country and the world. She encouraged Harvey in every way, brought considerable resources to him for acquiring the right equipment and helped in writing scripts for films.
Alice wrote the script and narrated the two films on the Soviet Union and was instrumental in arranging contacts with the Soviet Women’s Committee who opened all the doors for them. She and Frances Herring wrote the script for his film “Women for Peace.” Around her home, I met many wonderful people like Linus Pauling at parties and gatherings over the decades. She encouraged and supported Harvey’s sons and their children and even their children’s children in countless ways for over a half a century.
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