Eugene activist and author Peg Morton died Saturday. She was 85. Morton died on her own terms. She had been dealing with health issues for some time and felt it was her time to go. Morton spoke with KLCC’s Rachael McDonald two weeks before her passing.
Peg Morton is well known in the peace community. As an activist, she was arrested and jailed in the early 2000s for protesting the School of The Americas, a U.S. based institution, which trains Latin American soldiers. Morton, who was a Quaker, also practiced peace by refusing to pay taxes that support war. Morton said she wanted her death to also be an expression of her commitment to peace.
Morton: “I have been feeling and growing in a philosophy of dying that, I think it’s growing in our culture, but it’s different than the mainline culture.”
Morton said the medical system in the west has allowed people to extend their lives, sometimes so much that they’re miserable and suffering. She described a friend in a nursing home who is in her 90s.
Morton: “She wants to go to heaven. She’s being taken care of but she really wants to go to heaven, and she can’t. She can’t interact with other residents because she can’t hear and can’t turn her body. I just wish she could go. And here she is after 6 years.”
That’s not how Morton wanted her life to end. Morton didn’t have cancer or a terminal disease but she said her body was deteriorating. Around Thanksgiving, she was hospitalized with pneumonia. While in the hospital, Morton realized she was ready to move toward death. She refused a course of antibiotics that was prescribed.
Morton: “I was absolutely clear. It was like my spirit was opened up, that this was the time, and this was what I needed to do. So when they came in with the antibiotic bag, I said no, for a second time. And I told the staff, my nurses and all, that I was going on a dry fast.”
A dry fast means no food or water. Morton said the hardest part was telling her family and friends.
Morton: “You know, I can say rationally, I’m going to die sometime, it happens to be now. But, it’s hard to see that. It’s hard to feel, oh. It’s hard to brush it off. There is the suffering of my family and the response of my friends.”
Before beginning the fast, Morton spent time with her loved ones. Morton had fasted before to protest violence in Latin America.
Morton: “I think fasting is a very deep part, I come from a Christian heritage, and it’s a very deep part of Christian heritage. It’s a spiritual practice. You devote yourself to the fast.”
Morton said she made a choice. It’s not a choice everyone can make.
Morton: “I want people to know they have different options for dying that are non-violent options. And this is legal.”
Reporter: “As you move into this transition, do you feel fear?”
Morton: “No. I don’t feel any fear.”
Peg Morton passed away Saturday afternoon. Her daughter and other loved ones were with her.
Peg Morton's memoir "Feeling Light Within, I Walk: Tales, Advantures and Reflections of a Quaker Activist" is published by Cedar Brown Press.
