We here at NukeWatch will dearly miss Ken’s weekly presence at the corner vigil to protest Nuclear Weapons in Santa Fe.
Locally, Ken was co-founder of the Santa Fe Chapter of Veterans for Peace and an active member of Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine. Ken worked with the local chapter of US Combatants for Peace and the Justice Council of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Santa Fe where he was also an enthusiastic baritone and co-founder of the NM Peace Choir.
A Celebration of Ken’s life will be held Friday, April 4 beginning at 12 noon at the corner of Sandoval and West Alameda, (Santa Fe’s weekly vigil to protest Nuclear Weapons), followed by lunch and a hybrid service at the UU Congregation, 107 West Barcelona Street, Santa Fe, NM.
For those wanting to pay tribute to Ken, please consider planting a tree through A Living Tribute (https://shop.alivingtribute.org/) or make a donation in his memory to the Santa Fe Joan Duffy Chapter of Veterans for Peace https://www.vfp-santafe.org/
Ken was a lifelong, passionate defender of peace. Read more:
Kenneth Elsas Mayers was born February 5, 1937 in New York City and died peacefully on January 27, 2025 at his home in Santa Fe, NM. He was surrounded by his son and his wife, Bill Mayers and Diana Barnard; his daughter and her husband, Catherine and Ed Fenner; and his partner, Pam Gilchrist. He was predeceased by his wife Elizabeth K. Mayers, also of Santa Fe, and leaves behind three granddaughters, a brother and sister-in-law, and several nieces and nephews – all of whom he loved and by whom was loved in return.
After graduating from Princeton in 1958 with a degree in electrical engineering, Ken served in the Marine Corps, eventually obtaining the rank of Major. While serving with the Marines, Ken and his wife moved to Okinawa, Japan where they started their family. In response to the political strife of the mid-1960s, Ken chose to resign his commission and enlisted with the Reserves, after which he moved his family to Berkeley, CA so he could attend graduate school. Once he completed his dissertation on the economics and politics of Black small business ownership, Ken moved his family to Vermont where he taught political science and economics at Bennington College. After several years of teaching, Ken left academia and went to work for Digital Equipment Corporation, and later for TAGLaw.
While Ken’s academic and professional chapters were varied, the common thread between them all was his deep commitment to serving others and to the ideals of peace and justice. Ken’s retirement was spent traveling throughout the United States, and the world, making the case for increased global understanding between people and nations and working to protect the planet for generations to come.
Ken was a former national Veterans For Peace Board member and active in the VFP Action Teams where he served on delegations to Palestine, Jeju Island Korea, Okinawa Japan, Ferguson Missouri, and Standing Rock, North Dakota. He has been arrested for civil resistance in Washington DC, Quantico VA, New York City, Las Vegas NV, Ireland and Alamogordo, NM.
For a moving account of Ken’s arrest and subsequent nine months in Ireland, see stopthesewars.org in which Ken and a colleague explain in passionate terms the struggle they entered into with the Irish people who value their beautiful country’s neutrality.
Locally, Ken was co-founder of the Santa Fe Chapter of Veterans for Peace and an active member of Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine. Ken worked with the local chapter of US Combatants for Peace and the Justice Council of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Santa Fe where he was also an enthusiastic baritone and co-founder of the NM Peace Choir.
A Celebration of Ken’s life will be held Friday, April 4 beginning at 12 noon at the corner of
Sandoval and West Alameda, (Santa Fe’s weekly vigil to protest Nuclear Weapons), followed by lunch and a hybrid service at the UU Congregation, 107 West Barcelona Street, Santa Fe, NM.
For those wanting to pay tribute to Ken, please consider planting a tree through A Living
Tribute (https://shop.alivingtribute.org/) or make a donation in his memory to the Santa Fe
Joan Duffy Chapter of Veterans for Peace https://www.vfp-santafe.org/