Gretchen Peed once described herself as a hippie, philosophically.
"What these young people stand for, love and compassion for one's brother, how can anyone argue with that?"
Nobody could argue with Peed's lifelong love and compassion for the people she served.
She died Monday, leaving a legacy of advocacy for responsible government, environmental stewardship and public activism.
The former chairwoman of the county Republican Women's Club and League of Women Voters was a Catawba County commissioner for 12 years.
She urged women to take a greater role in politics. She wanted residents to be informed about their governments and speak out on all issues.
She was opposed to saving a dollar today if spending a hundred was inevitable.
Peed wasn't a spendthrift, but she recognized that some things couldn't wait. Improving education, she said, requires financial investment. It wasn't something that could be put off for the sake of holding down tax rates.
Peed wanted the county to go green before environmental responsibility was fashionable.
Trash reduction, turning garbage into energy, recycling and prevention of hazardous waste were on her agenda.
Prevention, she said, is much less expensive than cleanup.
"Talk to me, criticize me," she told the public. "If people who are against something don't give you their reasons for being against it, you may not even think of some of the ideas that would make you a better commissioner."
"The school years should be a time when people are taught to think, to become aware of the world around them and themselves and their own capabilities. You can get facts anytime throughout your life. In the future, every home will have some sort of computer system in which you can put a question and out comes the answer, the facts."
She said that in 1969.
Think, act and care. Those are the traits she demanded for herself and advocated for others.
Peed served Catawba County well. She kept her promises.
She really wasn't a hippie. But she demonstrated compassion every day of her life.
She will be missed.
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