Dallas Peace Center

Meet the Board of the Dallas Peace Center

Ellen K. Danielson

Education - Her degrees include the following: B.A. with High Distinction and Honors in English, Phi Beta Kappa; M.A. in English, M.A. in Art with a concentration in Art History from the University of Iowa. Ellen also had done doctoral work in Italian Renaissance Art History at the University of Minnesota and in Humanities at the University of Texas.

Experience - Ellen's teaching experience includes teaching English and art history as a graduate assistant at the University of Iowa and the University of Minnesota. In addition she has taught at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas, art history at West Texas State University, Canyon, Texas, at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, and Humanities at Brookhaven College, Farmer's Branch, Texas.

For the past 20 years Ellen have been employed as a computer programmer/analyst with the City of Dallas, Dallas, Texas. She has taught the programming language Cobol, the text editor TSO, and the in-house timesheet system to other members of her department.

Volunteer Work - Ellen is a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers). She has served the Dallas Meeting as a long-time member of the Peace and Justice committee, as Clerk, and 2 terms on the Ministry and Oversight Committee, which oversees the spiritual life of the Meeting. She is also active in the regional Yearly Meeting, where she is on the Worship Oversight committee.

In the early 1980's Ellen was active in the Sanctuary movement in Dallas, which brought refugees from El Salvador to the United States and helped them get established. In the late 1980's she was active in the local chapter of Amnesty International and was the chairman of the Eastern European committee until the fall of the Berlin Wall. She is currently the chairman of the Center's Death Penalty Group.

Joy Flora

Joy is a member of Peace Mennonite Church, the founding organization of the Peace Center. She has a BS in accounting and management from McPherson College, McPherson Kansas, and an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas. Joy is a CPA and has worked in the Dallas business community for over 15 years. She is recognized as part of the lay leadership of Peace Mennonite Church and has often served on their council as the Church Chairperson. More recently Joy has been involved with Many People's Mennonite Fellowship, a new church plant that is seeking to be an anti-racist, multi-cultural, Mennonite Church. Joy serves the Dallas Peace Center as the Treasurer.

Cherry Overton Haymes

Cherry is a graduate of Texas Christian University in theater & speech education. She has taught in the Fort Worth and Dallas public schools. She has owned and operated her own bookstore and gift shop. She has performed book reviews of famous women (Golda Meir, Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Jackie Kennedy, Mother Teresa and Abigail Adams) in the metroplex for the last 20 years. Currently she is a certified coach helping individuals and businesses find their vision, values and goals.

Peace took root in Cherry's heart in 1970 when she sat in front of the TCU chapel protesting the Vietnam War. At the Women's World Peace Conference in 1988, she made a commitment to take a step for Peace each and every day. Cherry currently tutors for Youth Believing in Change. She has worked with Chairs Prison Ministry for years. This project goes into maximum-security prisons and reminds prisoners of God's love for them. She is part of a team that has built a medical center and 300 houses, replacing cardboard shacks with Constructores Para Cristo on the border at Piedras Negras, Mexico. These steps led her to the Dallas Peace Center where she now serves as the Board President.

Holsey O. Hickman

The Reverend Holsey O. Hickman is an ordained Baptist minister with a wide range of experience in community and institutional ministry. As Staff and Program Director with the Nineteenth Ward Community Association Youth Project in Rochester, New York, he designed and managed programs for a juvenile delinquency project. Holsey held a similar position as a Rehabilitation Coordinator with the New York State Division for Youth. He has served as Senior Chaplain in the Monroe County Jail, Rochester, NY; Director of the Office of Chaplains in the Dallas County Jail System and as an Associate Director of the Department of Justice and Reconciliation for the Greater Dallas Community of Churches. A recipient of the Dallas Peace Center Peacemaker Award 2000, Holsey has completed one year of service as a board member.

Charles A. Hunter

Dr. Charles A. Hunter is a native Texan, born in Longview to Wallace Alvin and Ivernia Fleming Hunter. He received his education in the public schools of Pleasant Hill and Longview, Texas. He studied at Bishop College, then in Marshall, Texas where he received the B.A. degree. He received his seminary education at the Divinity School of Howard University in Washington, D.C., receiving the Bachelor of Divinity degree. He received a Master of Theology and Doctor of Theology in the field of Old Testament Theology at the Divinity School of Philadelphia, then affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pa. He studied Old Testament languages and literature at the Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning in Philadelphia. In 1970 he received a Master of Science in Sociology at the University of North Texas in Denton.

His career has included a period at Florida A & M University in Tallahassee, Florida where he was Director of the Student Christian Association and pastor of the Trinity United Presbyterian Church. There he was involved in the civil rights movement, where he also advised members of the student movement in civil rights.

In 1961 he came to Dallas, Texas to head up the new Department of Sociology at Bishop College and taught Philosophy and the Social Sciences there for 27 years. He became the pastor of the Hope Presbyterian Church in South Dallas in 1962 and remained there until 1968. At that time he was a primary leader of the movement to racially integrate the Presbyterian Church in Dallas and surrounding areas. The Glendale Presbyterian Church in Dallas is a result of that effort and is still practicing its unity in Christ through the diversity of races and cultures in the city. In 1966 he was elected to be Moderator of the North Texas Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church, U.S. becoming the first African American to occupy that position. In 1985 he was elected Moderator of the Grace Presbytery covering the North Texas area. He also served as Moderator of the Synod of the Sun of the Presbyterian Church, USA, from 1991 to 1993. He has continued to work in both the Presbytery and the Synod. In 1968 he was the primary founder of The Amigos which consisted of a number of people from different races, nationalities, ethnic groups and ages who did things together across rac ial and cultural lines and promoted unity and justice in the society.

Besides his teaching at the University of Texas at Arlington's Institute of Urban Studies, Brite College of the Bible at T.C.U., S.M.U., Austin College in Sherman, Richland College and Bishop College, he has served a variety of roles in community and state. He served as Director of Church and Community for the Greater Dallas Community of Churches. That department was responsible for the Cross Roads project which matched churches of different races, theology and denominations for special relationships in their own setting, in worship, study and fellowship.

Dr. Hunter has been a liaison between the Moravian Church in Nicaragua and Grace Presbytery in Texas in a Mutual Mission Partnership and has traveled to Bluefields, Nicaragua several times, designing and implementing programs for both groups' participation. He is currently working as Moderator of a planning group for a major convocation promoting Unity Amid Diversity in the church which will be held in Houston, Texas, September 21-23 2001. He traveled to Jasper, Texas after the Byrd killing, presenting a Peace Panel to the City Council and the community of Jasper in behalf of the Presbytery of Grace. He has served on several boards and agencies in Dallas and for the state.

Syed Hadi Jawad

A native of Pakistan, Hadi has lived in the United States since 1972. He came to Texas in 1973 to pursue a degree in Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. Since 1976 Hadi has been employed in the Material Handling Industry in the Dallas area. He reads and writes poetry. Since the early nineties Hadi has facilitated "Men's Issues" Support Groups and Poetry Circles in the Metroplex.

Bill (John W.) Matthews

Bill volunteers and was elected President of the Board of the United Nations Association Dallas Chapter (2002-04). He also serves on Boards of the Dallas Peace Center, the Interfaith Council of ThanksGiving Square, and the Pastoral Counseling and Education Center, and is vice-president of the National Board and President of the Regional Board of the Disciplined Order of Christ.

Bill was inducted in the United Methodist Communicators Hall of Fame in January 2000 and received the Norvell Slater Award as Lifetime Communicator for 2000 in April 2001, presented by the Dallas chapter of the national Religion Communicators Council. Bill retired officially in 1997 as director of communications for Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas. He had previously worked 1990-93 as editor, audiovisuals coordinator, and for the Visionaries program of the North Texas Annual (regional) Conference.

Armando Pacheco

Armando's education includes studies at the Instituto de Oriente, San Miguel, El Salvador, High School, 1977 Instituto Gerardo Barrios, San Miguel, El Salvador, Accountant, 1980 Instituto Bautista de El Salvador, Bachelor in Theology, 1987 Seminario Biblico Latinoamericano, Licenciatura in Theology, and in 1990 at Perkins School of Theology, Course of Study, 1996.

Armando's work experience includes the Paul Esquivel Office, Legal Assistant, May 2000 to November 2001. Proyecto Adelante Community Organizer, July 1999 to April 2001. RMS Air Conditioning, Assemble, July 1998 to July1999. North Side United Methodist Church, Pastor, September 1997 to June 1998. He also is a volunteer with the Central American refugee community in Dallas, 1992 to the present.

Julie Ry a n

Julie Ryan is coordinator of the North Texas Coalition for a Just Peace. This organization seeks to stop terrorism through justice, not war; to defend against racist attacks, and to protect civil liberties. Julie earned a B.A. in Sociology from Carleton College, and a Master's degree in Education from the University of St. Thomas. She works part-time as a technical writer for KPMG Consulting.

Gail Berwick Smi t h

Born in Estevan Saskatchewan, Canada, Gail lived in Colorado for most of her undergraduate school years. She attended Wellesley College in Boston and earned her Bachelor's Degree from the University of Louisville and her Master's Degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of Texas at Arlington. Gail moved with her husband to Dallas in 1964 where she became active in the Women's Liberation movement through developing the Explore Course for Women and the founding of the Women's Center. She was employed as an evaluator of educational programs in the Dallas Public Schools for 22 years. In addition to work in her church, her more recent volunteer commitments have been in the areas of Peace and Justice focusing on providing legal services for Central American refugees through Proyecto Adelante and sustaining Sister-Church relationships between Northaven United Methodist Church and a church in El Slavador and South Africa. She has served several terms on the Peace Center Board.

R onald W. Wilhelm

Dr. Ron Wilhelm is an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Administration at the University of North Texas. He teaches undergraduate and master's level courses in multicultural education and doctoral level courses in curriculum innovation and evaluation and qualitative research methodology. He is completing his second year as president of the Texas Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education. Dr. Wilhelm also currently serves as president of the American Association for Teaching and Curriculum, an organization dedicated to the scholarly study of the discipline of curriculum and instruction. He was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholar Lecturer/Research grant to Chile in 1999-2000 and returned to Chile in 2001 as a Visiting Professor at the Universidad de Concepción in Concepción, Chile.

Dr. Wilhelm, serving his second term as secretary of the Board of Directors of the Dallas Peace Center, has been an activist in peace and justice issues since his undergraduate days in the '60s. He served as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War and completed his alternate service in a community development project in a rural area of the Dominican Republic. In 1982, he and two other Dallasites formed Proyecto Adelante, a legal and social service organization to aid Central American refugees in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. He served as co-director of Proyecto Adelante from 1982-1986. As a member of the Peace Center Board, he is concerned with the education and development of the next generation of peace and justice advocates.

Dallas Peace Center
4301 Bryan St, Ste 202
Dallas TX 75204
Tel 214-823-7793
Fax 214-823-8356
< admin@dallaspeacecenter.org >
www.dallaspeacecenter.org