Robin Francis Harper

Harper—Robin Francis Harper, 94, on December 4, 2023, at Crosslands, a Quaker lifecare community in Kennett Square, Pa., where he had lived since 2015. Robin was born on December 10, 1928, to Jean Sherwood Harper and Francis Harper in Boston, Mass. The family moved to Swarthmore, Pa., where Robin grew up with his two sisters and brother. In 1951, Robin received a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. He earned a master’s degree from Haverford College in Pennsylvania in 1954.

Robin became a regular attender of Southampton (Pa.) Meeting during the 1950s. He was drawn to the Quaker peace testimony, which inspired him to help organize and participate in hundreds of nonviolent undertakings during the course of his life.

During the Korean War, Robin was a conscientious objector assigned to teach homebuilding skills to heads of families in Indianapolis, Ind. He met and married Maria “Marlies” Luise Emma Wilhelmine Neuerburg, a German citizen volunteering in the program. Robin and Marlies raised three children and enjoyed 50 years together. They frequently traveled to Germany to maintain ties with family and friends until Marlies passed away in 2003.

In 1958, Robin helped organize the Walk for Peace to the United Nations urging global nuclear disarmament. That year he began his lifelong resistance to using Federal income taxes to pay for war. For 46 years, Robin redirected his refused taxes to constructive, peace-building programs.

In 1959, Robin and Marlies took part in a silent vigil at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., protesting biological weapons research and development. In 1960, they joined other Quakers to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Quaker peace testimony by surrounding the Pentagon in silent vigil. In 1963, Robin, Marlies, and their two older children took part in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. During the summer of 1965, Robin and Marlies served as workcamp leaders in Canton, Miss., joining Black cotton farmers to build a community center in a village where two churches had been burned by White supremacists. In 1986, they joined a German protest against the installation of U.S. missiles in Gorleben, West Germany. By chance, they were at the Berlin Wall on the night it came down in 1989.

Robin’s career generally involved building, and training others to build, single family homes. This included an intentionally integrated community in Trevose, Pa., where Robin and Marlies purchased a home in 1956 and remained until 1966. That summer they moved to Chester County, Pa., when Robin became project director for a program to assist mushroom workers build homes for their families.

In 1970, Robin and Marlies became members of Southampton (Pa.) Meeting. In 1976, they moved to Pendle Hill study center in Wallingford, Pa., where Robin served as maintenance manager. In 1985, he became planning and construction manager for Pendle Hill.

In 2005, Robin joined Providence Meeting in Media, Pa.

From 2009 to 2016, Robin participated in the Transition Town Media initiative, helping to build an ecologically friendly community. In 2011, he threw his energies and financial support into the work of Earth Quaker Action Team, a worldwide nonviolent group seeking a just and sustainable economy. He participated in their Walk for Green Jobs and Justice in 2017. In 2013, Robin took part in the rally in Washington, D.C., protesting the Keystone XL Pipeline, and that August he joined the fiftieth anniversary March on Washington.

Robin was predeceased by his wife, Marlies Neuerburg Harper; a sister, Molly Harper; and a brother, David Harper.

He is survived by three children, Heide Harper, Eric Harper (Melanie Studer), and Holly Harper (Richard Tuttle); one grandchild; one sister, Lucy Traber; nieces and nephews; and grandnieces and grandnephews.