LaRue Spiker
LaRue Spiker (July 8, 1912-1995) was born in Bushnell, Illinois. She attended the University of Minnesota and obtained a Masters degree from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, planning on a career as a social worker. Stopped by the police for distributing brochures about world peace, she was fired from the Indiana Department of Welfare, for aiding and abetting a civil rights organization. She appears to have been blacklisted from government jobs, because she did not attempt social work again.
Moving to Louisville, she became partners with Louise Gilbert, whom she had met in college. Both women joined the Wade House Defense Committee to support an African American family who had moved into a formerly white neighborhood. When the Wade house was blown up with dynamite, they were arrested for sedition. Their case was eventually thrown out, and LaRue bought a travel trailer and began to spend summers in Maine. In the early 1960's, she moved to Southwest Harbor, Maine, and built a house there. After the bombing, she had become a professional writer, publishing a number of freelance articles in the Bar Harbor Times. In 1962, she was appointed editor. After two years, she resigned over conflicts with the publisher. She continued to write articles for the paper and to do publicity for the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce, and she also became an accomplished photographer.
She was deeply involved in environmental activism on the island, and the organizations to which she belonged included the League of Women Voters, the Southwest Harbor Conservation Commission, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, the Audubon Society, and Downeast Animal Welfare. In her 70’s, she took to the road again, traveling around the country. She died at home in 1995, at the age of 83, one year after the death of her partner Louise. [from Chebacco: The Magazine of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society]
All of the photos of LaRue Spiker are from the Spiker collection at the Mt. Desert Island Historical Society.
Moving to Louisville, she became partners with Louise Gilbert, whom she had met in college. Both women joined the Wade House Defense Committee to support an African American family who had moved into a formerly white neighborhood. When the Wade house was blown up with dynamite, they were arrested for sedition. Their case was eventually thrown out, and LaRue bought a travel trailer and began to spend summers in Maine. In the early 1960's, she moved to Southwest Harbor, Maine, and built a house there. After the bombing, she had become a professional writer, publishing a number of freelance articles in the Bar Harbor Times. In 1962, she was appointed editor. After two years, she resigned over conflicts with the publisher. She continued to write articles for the paper and to do publicity for the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce, and she also became an accomplished photographer.
She was deeply involved in environmental activism on the island, and the organizations to which she belonged included the League of Women Voters, the Southwest Harbor Conservation Commission, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, the Audubon Society, and Downeast Animal Welfare. In her 70’s, she took to the road again, traveling around the country. She died at home in 1995, at the age of 83, one year after the death of her partner Louise. [from Chebacco: The Magazine of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society]
All of the photos of LaRue Spiker are from the Spiker collection at the Mt. Desert Island Historical Society.
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