Adele Kushner, 96, passed away Oct. 18, 2021 in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Born in 1925, in Brooklyn, New York, she was the daughter of the late Louis and Anna (Evans) Albert. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her brother, Joseph Albert.
Adele and her family moved to South Georgia when she was 12.
She excelled scholastically and won a two-year scholarship to the University of Georgia. Her undergraduate degree in chemistry was from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed all the coursework towards an economics Ph.D. from Georgia State University. She credited a summer off from college spent at Black Mountain, North Carolina with opening her eyes to progressive thought and the arts.
Upon retiring from Fulton County, she became an ardent activist. In 1984-85, she walked across the United States, as well as from Western Europe to Eastern Europe, on the Walk for the People to promote peace and nuclear disarmament. Afterwards, she moved to the north Georgia mountains to continue her activism surrounded by nature. With her friend, Joanne Steele, she co-founded ACE: Action for a Clean Environment, which waged successful campaigns against landfills and a medical incinerator, as well as raising awareness on many other environmental issues. An active member and for several years co-convener of the NE Georgia Peace Council, as well as WAND (Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament), Nuclear Watch South, and the Workers Circle, Adele worked tirelessly for peace and justice. She was a frequent letter writer to local newspapers and participated in many demonstrations, some annually, such as the Kings Bay Trident Submarine Base and the School for the Americas. She was an insatiable reader, devout vegetarian, and possessed a quick wit and superb intellect.
An avid folk dancer, she credited dancing with preparing her well for her year and a half long Walk for the People. Having learned piano as a child, she maintained a love and practice of music, singing with the Atlanta Choral Guild under Robert Shaw and the Collegium Musicum Community Chorus at Emory University. In her 80s, she began painting in watercolors, writing poetry and her memoirs, and making spectacular mosaics. She loved gardening, foraging for wild edibles, and the companionship of cats. She had many close friends of all ages who appreciated her candor, wisdom, and big heart.
Adele is survived by her sister, Doris Koplin; daughters, Susan Kushner (Mark Czarnolewski), Deborah Kushner, and Sivia Harding; four grandchildren, Raphael (Annie) Rosenberg, Ari (Krissy) Rosenberg, Aaron Czarnolewski, and Danya Czarnolewski; and niece and nephews, Janis Zagoria, Kal Koplin, Aaron Albert, and Jacob Albert.
Donations can be made in her memory to Nuclear Watch South, PETA, Oxfam, Greenpeace, the Ocean Conservancy, Doctors Without Borders, or the SPCA.