Mann, Polly age 103, died peacefully at home in San Francisco on January 12, 2023. She was born November 19, 1919, in Lonoke and grew up in Hot Springs, Arkansas. After high school, she worked as a clerk at Camp Robinson in Little Rock where she began developing views on pacifism and met Walter H. Mann, then a draftee and law student. Polly and Walter were married in December 1942, in San Francisco, just before Walter shipped out to the Pacific Theater. Polly worked for the next 2 years in Ecuador and Peru for the U.S. Army's Cinchona Program that provided antimalarials for the military. In 1946 the couple moved to Windom where Walter practiced law and became County Attorney, and Polly wrote a column for the local paper and was active in the DFL party. When Walter was appointed State District Judge in 1961 the family moved to Marshall where Polly served on the Governor's Council on Aging, the library board, and a mental health council, and for several years she managed the Southwest Minnesota State University bookstore. Actively opposed to the Vietnam War, she lobbied Congress, gave speeches, marched in demonstrations, worked with Clergy and Laity Concerned, and organized for Eugene McCarthy's 1968 presidential campaign. In 1970 she went with a group of Americans to meet with the negotiators at the Paris Peace Talks. In 1980 Polly moved to Minneapolis where she co-founded Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), worked for the Nestle Boycott, served on the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union and Health Advisory Boards, and actively supported the Welfare Rights Committee. In 1988 she ran for the U.S. Senate as an independent with the motto "Speak Truth to Power." A voracious reader, Polly also wrote extensively, from columns, essays, and op-eds, to poetry, plays and short stories. She received the Vincent L. Hawkinson Foundation for Justice award (1989), the Headwaters Foundation award for lifetime commitment to social justice (2003), and the Minnesota Fellowship of Reconciliation Peacemaker of the Year award (2011). Pursuing her passion for peace and justice, Polly traveled to the Philippines, Palestine, Israel, Cuba and Libya. The following is a quote she liked from a favorite author, Thomas Merton, "only love -which means humility - can cast out fear, which is the root of all war." As a girl Polly liked fashion magazines; as an adult she was always stylish. When it was a fad in the early 1960s, she splatter painted furniture. Polly enjoyed cooking into her late 80s, when she was still driving a stick-shift car. If she invited you for a meal, she used her cloth napkins. Her southern origins were revealed when she pronounced window "winda." Her homes were filled with books and (sometimes quirky) art. In her later years she enjoyed living at Kenwood Isles in Uptown, where she tried not to smile too broadly when she won at Scrabble, which she usually did. Polly is preceded in death by beloved husband, Walter, to whom she was married for 61 years, daughter Melinda, and sister Barbara Whiteside. Polly is survived by daughters Barbara Franck, Constance John (Varghese), son Michael Mann (Jane), grandchildren Andrew John, Carmelinda Mann, Francis John, Heather Blonigen (Eric), Jack Cudd (Brenda), Joshua Mann, great-grandchildren Jackson Brewer and Xena John, and nephew Scott Whiteside (Julie). In lieu of flowers Polly requested donations to WAMM or a charity of your choice. A celebration of her life will be held at St. Joan of Arc Church, Minneapolis, Saturday, May 13th. Gathering time at 10 AM, memorial begins at 11 AM.

Published on January 22, 2023