Claude Patterson (born July 8, 1941) is an American retired professional wrestler, ring name Thunderbolt Patterson. He began his career in 1964 and wrestled primarily in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. During the early 1970s, he was blacklisted by the National Wrestling Alliance for repeated appearances with independent promotions, complaints of institutional racism and attempts to form a wrestlers' labor union.
Albert Cecil Williams (born September 22, 1929) is an American pastor, community leader, and author who is the pastor emeritus of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco.
Jean-Louis Verger (20 August 1826 – 30 January 1857) was a French Catholic priest who assassinated Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour, the Archbishop of Paris, in January 1857, after the archbishop ordered him to desist from publishing pamphlets against clerical celibacy and the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Verger was an opponent of this newly defined doctrine as well as celibacy for the clergy. Verger was also a continuous troublemaker, frequently complaining about his assignments, most of which he was unable to accomplish due to his temper. The trial became, in his mind, a sounding board for his notions. He was found guilty on the day of the trial (17 January 1857) and sentenced to death. To the end, Verger had convinced himself that Emperor Napoleon III would pardon him. When he was executed by guillotine at La Roquette Prisons on 30 January 1857, he was in a state of panic and fear due to the failure of the pardon to come.
Abraham F. Arvizu, or Abe Arvizu Sr. (1928–1988), was a pioneering community activist and youth developer from Phoenix, Arizona, and is credited with being the "driving force" of the Southside Catholic Youth Center, the forerunner of the Barrio Youth Project. Barrio Youth Project and Chicanos Por La Causa organized the boycott against the Phoenix Union High School District from October 9 – November 2, 1970, which led to systematic wide changes to end the discrimination of Mexican-Americans within the local school system. Arvizu, a member of the parish council of the Historic Sacred Heart Church, advocated and voted in support of allowing young Chicano activists to use Santa Rita Hall for community engagement efforts, which led to the founding of Chicanos Por La Causa in 1969. For his efforts, Arvizu was subsequently elected to the Board of Directors of Chicanos Por La Causa, representing barrios east of Central Avenue, and many of the youth he developed went on to be political activists, elected officials, and contributing members to society.
He was married to Mariana Ochoa until his death. The couple had four children: Abraham J. Arvizu, Jr., Michael Arvizu, Cynthia "Cindi" Arvizu, and Linda Arvizu.
Rafael Arnáiz Barón, OCSO (9 April 1911 - 26 April 1938), also named María Rafael in religion, was a Spanish Trappist conventual oblate. He studied architecture in Madrid, but decided to cease his studies in favor of the religious life. This was often interrupted due to his struggle with type I diabetes and his being called for active service. But these never hindered his religious call and he did as best as he could to deal with his diabetes through his constant life of reflection and writing on spiritual subjects in his letters.He was beatified on 27 September 1992 by Pope John Paul II and was canonized a saint of the Catholic Church by Pope Benedict XVI on 11 October 2009.
Robert de Besange, SJ (15 March 1878 – 10 September 1946), also known as Jacquinot de Besange and in China as Rao Jia-ju (Chinese: 饶家驹), was a French Jesuit who set up a successful model of safety zones that saved over half-a-million Chinese people during the Second Sino-Japanese War.Jacquinot de Besange's family originates from aristocratic lineages in Lorraine, in northeastern France. He arrived in China in 1913 as a missionary and served the Portuguese congregation at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Hongkou. He also served as a chaplain to the Shanghai Volunteer Corps. He had lost his right arm in an explosion while conducting chemistry experiments in his youth, and was known as the "one-armed priest."
De Besange acted as president of the China International Famine Relief Commission during the 1932 Battle of Shanghai, where his relief work for refugees, including negotiating a four-hour truce between the Chinese and the Japanese armies to allow the evacuation of civilians and casualties from the war zone, made him a household name in Shanghai.
The "de Besange model" began with the Shanghai Safety Zone (南市难民区, "Nanshi Refugee Zone"), or "Jacquinot de Besange Safe Zone", in 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was a demilitarised zone for Chinese civilians located in a part of the Old City of Shanghai that was adjacent to the Shanghai French Concession. The demilitarised zone was respected by both sides of the war and by the concession authorities. It was administered by an international committee composed of representatives of the American, British, and French communities and policed by the Chinese police. The zone was credited with saving the lives of thousands of Chinese residents between 1937 and 1940, when it was abolished after de Besange left Shanghai. Aside from setting up the Safety Zone, de Besange was also responsible for arranging for refugee camps to be set up in the Tu-seh-weh Orphanage and the Fuh Tan College to shelter refugees fleeing the war zone.Following the example of de Besange in Shanghai, the foreigners in Nanjing created the Nanking Safety Zone (南京安全区), managed by the International Committee for the Nanjing Safety Zone and led by the German businessman John Rabe. The same model also inspired the Hankou Safety Zone, the Zhangzhou Safety Zone, and the Shenzhen Safety Zone.
His work is acknowledged in the Protocols and Commentaries to the 1949 Geneva Convention. A film of his life and work, Jacquinot: A Forgotten Hero directed by Krzysztof Zanussi, was featured in the 2009 Shanghai International Film Festival.On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the events, a memorial stone was unveiled in the Shanghai City God Temple in December 2017.
Broer Doekele Dykstra (November 21, 1871 - March 29, 1955), usually cited as B. D. Dykstra, was a Dutch American pastor, educator, and poet who wrote several books, served as editor of the Volksvriend Dutch-language newspaper, and was a visible member of the Reformed Church in America. Known in the RCA as "the man on the bicycle," he operated a small publishing house with his sons and traveled door-to-door to sell his books.
Dykstra was born "Broer Dijkstra" in Pingjum, Friesland in 1871, son of Doekele Dijkstra and Beitske van der Schaaf. The family emigrated to the United States in 1882. He became an avid pacifist. He was a student at Orange City Academy, now Northwestern College in the late 19th century; today, the school offers the Dykstra-Muste-Nelson Peace Scholarship in his, A.J. Muste's, and Ronald R. Nelson's honor. He died in Orange City, Iowa, United States, in 1955.
Several of his sons became prominent educators and theologians. D. Ivan Dykstra was a professor of philosophy at Hope College, Wesley C. Dykstra held the same position at Alma College, and Vergil Dykstra served as president of George Mason University.
Antonia Brenner, better known as Mother Antonia (Spanish: Madre Antonia), (December 1, 1926 – October 17, 2013) was an American Catholic religious sister and activist who chose to reside and care for inmates at the notorious maximum-security La Mesa Prison in Tijuana, Mexico. As a result of her work, she founded a new religious institute called the Eudist Servants of the 11th Hour.
Arturo Lona Reyes (1 November 1925 – 31 October 2020) was a Mexican bishop who served as the Catholic bishop from Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. He served in his position for 30 years before resigning from his diocese in 2001.
