Meet Roy, Your Fellow and Longtime Peacemaker

If anyone is a peacemaker, it is Roy Wolff.

Becoming one, though, he says, “was a long process.”

“I thought that Dorothy Day and others speaking up against the war weren’t in their right thinking,” he recounts of his formative years, largely shaped by World War II. In the 1950s, he joined the army and, following basic training, went to South Korea.

That experience and especially the advent of the Vietnam War some years later sparked a change in Roy. “I was married by that time,” he explains. “I had children. I was concerned about families, including my own.”

He got involved in Veterans for Peace and other peacemaking initiatives. In 1985, Roy also settled into a Peace Education Coordinator role, speaking and providing workshops, seminars, and retreats on peacemaking.

As part of this work, he developed a popular course on personal peacemaking. “People kept asking me, ‘When are you going to write the book, Roy?,’” he recalls with a laugh. Two years later, “Many Are Called, but Most are Frozen: The Six Stages of Personal Peacemaking” was published.

“I’ve been involved since the beginning,” Roy says of his connection to PeaceMaker Minnesota. Though he can’t be certain – it was a lot of years ago now – he likely crossed paths with Executive Director Dan McNeil during a local meet-up that hosted speakers on peace and related subjects. That was 1998. He’s been involved ever since.  

“One little thing can change a kid’s life,” he says. “I’m hoping that when PeaceMaker works through teachers, they get inspired and realize that these are lives that are being deeply affected.” Roy believes “good stuff” is already in kids, it sometimes just needs to be brought out.  

It’s that “one little thing,” it would seem, that’s paramount to Roy’s overall beliefs about peacemaking. In a world that can feel dark, “start with simple things,” he advises. “Be kind to other people, reach out to those you know, read a book on peace, don't read the bad stuff before bed, remember joy.” His biggest advice? “Get out there and just DO something – even if it looks like an impossible situation.”

Roy thinks a lot about the state of the world these days, peacemaking, and the people he’s connected with along the way. “That’s one thing about the peace movement, you meet the most unbelievable people,” he says. “I’m so glad there are places like PeaceMaker. And you can quote me on that.”