Straley, 90, council member, activist

A man who left a lasting impression on both the town and the University passed away Wednesday.

Joe W. Straley, a peace and justice activist, former Chapel Hill Town Council member and University professor, died at approximately 2 p.m. Wednesday at UNC Hospitals. He was 90.

Straley is survived by his wife, Lucy, sons, David and Joe Jr., and daughter, Lesley. Also surviving are his sister, Miriam Smith, and his brother, Huston.

Straley, born in Paulding, Ohio in 1914, served one term on the council, from 1979 to 1982. He also taught physics at the University and was active in the civil rights movement.

He helped bolster various organizations working in Latin America as coordinator of the Carolina Interfaith Task Force on Central America.

Joe Straley Jr. said he has tremendous respect for his father's contributions to the town.

"I do think it's important that he was opposed to segregation in the '50s, that he opposed almost every war that occurred in his lifetime," Straley Jr. said. "He was in favor of economic justice, and he got to this from his own upbringing on a small farm during the Depression."

Mayor Kevin Foy said one of Straley's greatest gifts to Chapel Hill was his relentless political activism.

"Joe really held everyone's feet to the fire," he said. "He was extraordinarily persistent. He never changed or wavered."

Straley's was visible as well as persistent.

"The first time I ever saw Joe Straley, he was being carried bodily out of a lie-in on the corner of Franklin and Columbia streets," recalled friend Jerry Markatos of a protest against movie theater segregation in the mid-'60s. "He set a really lasting example."

N.C. Peace Action honored Straley with the Peacemaker Award in 2003 for his efforts in Chapel Hill and worldwide.

Straley also served several decades as Greenwould precicnt's chairman.

Tom Jensen, a UNC senior, worked with Straley on the precinct last year.

"I served as chair and he served under me as vice chair, which was a total joke because he had so much wisdom and knowledge," Jensen said. "He was a phenomenal man."

Even in retirement, Straley continued protesting war, going as far as to push the council in 2003 to adopt a resolution condemning the Iraq conflict.

But the younger Straley said his father's impact transcended the political realm.

"I'm also a physics professor, and one of the things I do is lecture demonstrations, and that was something he was really interested in," Straley Jr. said.

"He would show you the laws of physics at work, and some of my best presentations are ones that I stole from him."

A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Oct. 29 at the Community Church of Chapel Hill.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Straley's name to CITCA/Witness-for-Peace Youth Delegation Support Fund, care of CITCA, PO Box 1188, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.

 

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.