CELEBRATING Betsy Guercio Sawyer

The celebration of Betsy (Guercio) Sawyer’s life took place April 12th at The Bull Run Restaurant in Shirley, owned and operated the Guercio family. Just as Betsy had led her students for 10 years as members of the Bookmakers and Dreamers “Peace Club” in their quest to understand how to achieve peace, the students were honored to be part of a rotating group of friends and family who led the procession of her casket atop a rolling Caisson to her final resting place in the historic cemetery in Old Shirley Center.

The Caisson was brought to Shirley to honor Betsy by Lewis Randa of the Peace Abbey in Sherbourne. In 2010 Mr. Randa bestowed upon her and the Bookmakers and Dreamers the prestigious Courage of Conscience Award. The Peace Abbey caisson previously carried the granite memorial stone for Unknown Civilians Killed in War in 1999 to Arlington National Cemetery. It has been dispatched over the years to carry other memorial stones for civilian casualties in war throughout Europe and Japan. It was decommissioned in 2012 and re-purposed to honor peacemakers under the care of the Peace Abbey Foundation. Betsy Sawyer’s funeral was the first time it was employed for this requiem purpose.

Photo by Jennifer Petersen.