Founder of Seattle's Peace Park, Floyd Wilfred Schmoe (1895-2001), was a peace activist, author, teacher, and the first park naturalist at Mount Rainier National Park. For Schmoe, a commitment to nonviolence was deeply linked to his love of nature. A Quaker, Schmoe served as a stretcher bearer in World War I, and during World War II, he gave up a position as a forestry professor at the University of Washington to help incarcerated Japanese Americans. After WWII, Schmoe traveled several times to Hiroshima, Japan, to help rebuild houses that were destroyed by the atomic bomb. He was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Japan's highest civilian honor, and was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. The Floyd Schmoe Peace Scholarship is awarded annually to a Shorecrest High School senior involved in good works.
In this image Floyd Schmoe holds a photo of his taken in Hiroshima around 1950, depicting the destruction left after the bombing of the city by the U. S. military on August 6, 1945.
Caption information source: The Seattle Times, April 24, 2001, page B1 Caption information source: "Schmoe, Floyd W. (1895-2001)," by Kit Oldham, HistoryLink.org Essay 3876 Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.
