Alison Acker: Oct. 8, 1928 - Nov. 17, 2024
Courtesy of Charlene Simon The Raging Grannies couldn’t believe their luck when USS Texas, a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser, docked at CFB Esquimalt in Greater Victoria for a public open house in July 1992. Pulling off comical protests to disrupt visits of American nuclear ships was something of a specialty for the colourful rabble-rousers, and this event was allowing them to walk right onto the ship, which was freshly back from the Persian Gulf and Operation Desert Storm. Plans for a surprise onboard tea party quickly took shape. Grannies newcomer Alison Acker set to work embroidering a tablecloth with the words “Tea Not Tomahawks.” She and the other Grannies boarded the ship in their usual gaudy finery that they wore to protests, then set up a tea service on deck and sent word to the captain that he was invited to tea. A furious captain and his officers in full dress uniform stormed down. Pointing at the tablecloth, the captain barked, “That is a political slogan!” Ms. A...