Taken at Quaker meeting ca 1967

Neil Hendricks was a child of the Great Depression. He and his brother grew up in the tiny village of Kiowa, Oklahoma, where their parents ran a cotton gin. They managed to keep the wolf from the door, but that hungry wolf could be heard snuffling at the windows. Maybe it was those boyhood hard times that shaped Neil into a lifelong ascetic, denying himself luxuries while generously donating to worthy causes.

The Second World War found Neil serving in the Navy, as an Aviation Radio Technician's Mate stationed in Alaska. He came home from the War all in one piece, but if he’d had it to do over again he would have gone to prison as a conscientious objector rather than enlist. He spent the rest of his life decrying war in countless letters to newspaper editors, giving the doves a voice.

Someone found a photograph showing Neil’s gentle side. The photographer captured him listening intently to someone outside the frame. He’s holding his head slightly cocked, in that shy way that he had, and his face radiates warmth and benevolence. It’s comforting to remember him that way now.
                   
                                       ~ Tina Rae Hendricks Burnette

(more about his life below)

In Jimmy's Garden in Austin, 2016