We will miss Diane Whato, writer, peace activist and feminist

By SJ Otto

Diane Wahto was a good friend of mine (Steve Otto) and my wife’s (Cam Gentry). We were all involved in the politics of both the pro-choice forces, she was a peace activists and she was a Democrat. Wahto died September 16, 2020, at the age of 80 of complications following a recent stroke.

The three of us met after the Summer of Mercy. Wahto, me and my wife, were involved in the pro-choice group called Freedom of Choice Action League, (FOCAL). This group was tired of the docile actions of the other pro-choice action group then called Pro-choice Action League, (PCAL). PCAL used very timid actions to protect the three abortion clinics that were in service during the so called Summer of Mercy.  That Summer anti-abortion groups, from all over the country flooded into the town of Wichita, to try and close down all three of the city’s abortion clinics.

While I, along with my wife, were not a part of the Summer of Mercy, Wahto was. My wife and I were not living in Wichita at the time. We moved here about one year after the Summer of Mercy.

My wife and I wasted no time in joining up with FOCAL. We all wanted to defend the abortion clinics. We mostly worked at a clinic at 700 North Market. Occasionally we worked at a clinic at East Central Street.

A few years later FOCAL changed and most of us broke off to form the pro-choice action group ZAP. The letters stood for nothing. It just sounded like what we did to the antis (anti-abortionist).

Wahto had told me that she went through rehab for alcoholism years earlier.

“I used to get drunk and watch Johnny Carson,” she said. “The drunker I got, the funnier he got.”

She quit drinking for a while, but went back to drinking later. She was able to control her drinking, she did not have problems after that. We all went out to the bars and pubs and she drank martinis but I never saw her drunk. One thing I learned from Wahto is that the gin in the martini flavors the olives, not the other way around. I have learned to drink martinis thanks to Wahto.

I always felt we were similar in our experiences. She was older than me. But we had a lot in common. We are both writers. We both took an interest in poetry and politics. We both belonged to the local peace group, The Peace and Social Justice Center of South Central Kansas.  Her passing leaves me a lot to think about. I will miss her. 

Pix by Blue Cedar Pres.