FAN Bulletin 801

April 30, 2007

Dear All,

One week ago I circulated a bulletin which carried the sad news that one of our great fluoridation fighters – Martha Bevis – passed away at age 80. While I was away in DC we have received many tributes to Martha and an obituary from her son Cameron. Several of these are printed below.

For those who would like a copy of Martha’s photo (from younger days) please email Carol Kopf at NYSCOF@aol.com. As Eleanor Krinsky says so beautifully below, “She was a very attractive woman, as lovely on the inside as the outside.”

I used to phone her up fairly regularly to keep her up to date with some of the goings on with our fluoride battles around the country and around the world. She was thrilled with what Michael was able to do with our website. She was so kind to FAN and to so many others who fought this very long battle. We will all miss her so much. But as Ailsa Boyden says in her letter: she will be helping us now from above. I certainly felt her presence walking down the corridors of power last week, but I will miss telling her about it.

Paul Connett
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This was sent by Martha’s son Cameron cambevis@nsinet.com

Martha Bevis, 80, passed away April 22nd, 2007. She was born to Maurice and Hazel Lackey of Hiddennite, N.C..

Martha had a broad array of interests including political and environmental concerns. In the 1960’s she was an assistant to Lyndon Baines Johnson during the time he was Majority Leader and Vice President. Martha was a founding member of Lamaze Houston and the Houston Organization for Parental Education (HOPE); organizations that promoted the performance of natural childbirth in Houston hospitals. She was a founding member of La Leche League of Houston, which sought to educate about the benefits of breast feeding. Starting in the 70’s and continuing to the present she founded and ran The Safe Water foundation of Texas, an organization that sought to prevent the fluoridation of public water supplies throughout the nation.

In addition to the above, she was a devoted wife; raised 4 boys and had them involved in baseball, football, tennis, karate, judo, piano and other interests too numerous to mention. She was an original “Soccer Mom” well before the term existed.

The loss of Martha’s sweet spirit is grieved by her husband of 59 years, Richard, siblings Buster , Lorene and Nancy of North Carolina, children Blair, Cameron, Richard and Daryl, and grandchildren Allison, Mark, Promise, and Ana.

Visitation will be held from 6-8 pm. on Friday April 27th at Waltrip Funeral Home, 1415 Campbell Rd., Houston, TX. A celebration of Martha’s life will be held on at 11:00 am Saturday, April 28th at Terrace United Methodist Church, burial to follow at Memorial Oaks Cemetery.
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From Eleanor Krinsky,
NYSCOF

Dear Paul:

When I turned on the computer this afternoon, among the group of messages I noted your subject matter so I clicked on that message right away,. apprehensive at what I was about to find out. Needless to say, this came as quite a jolt to learn of our dear Martha’s passing, especially since we did not hear of any health warnings.

You asked about any remembrances people had of Martha. Yes, I have a great many since we were both in this frustrating fluoridation battle for many years. This goes back to when there was no Internet, we had no computers, etc., and our main source of communication was the telephone. She used to spend the better part of most days working on the fluoridation issue, helping people who were fighting fluoridation, giving support to so many so often. She learned about us at NYSCOF over 30 years ago when she read about us in an article. She immediately got in touch with us, and we became long time friends and allies ever since. We would exchange information and ideas and “burn up the wires” discussing all the things that would came up or need attention. She would also mail us pre-printed labels with her name and address so we would have it ready at a moment’s notice to mail her fluoride news/events/happenings, etc.

She was so considerate that when I would phone her, she would immediately say, “hang up and I will call you right back” to spare me heavy telephone bills. If an immediate message was called for among our fluoridation fighters, she would be the first to man the telephone and send the word out. Emergencies and priorities would come up so often, that many times she would still be in her night clothes as she did the fluoridation phoning, research, pouring over studies, etc.

It was not unusual that many times at all hours, she would be preparing an overnight package of literature for a place targeted for fluoridation, rushing to deliver it to the overnight place to get it on its way so that not one moment would be lost or delayed.

I had the privilege of meeting Martha in person when we went to Washington, D.C. with a group under Dr. Yiamouyiannis’ leadership. She was a very attractive woman, as lovely on the inside as the outside. She was delightful to talk to and be with.

She was always ready to give a helping hand to people she never knew in person who were fighting the fluoridation odds, to pay for printing they needed, or some of the expenses it was hard to keep up with. We volunteers at the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation (NYSCOF) know first hand how readily she would assist us at special times over the years.

She was a smoker and I would lovingly tell her how wonderful it would be if she stopped. She used to answer that when we win the fluoridation battle, she would be able to give up smoking.

Did her son give an e-mail number, because I would like to let him know how fond we were of his mother, and how much we appreciate everything she did for such an important cause for years on end?

It sounds like she died of a heart attack, doesn’t it? I’m glad she did not suffer.

She meant a lot to all of us. We mourn her loss.

Sadly,

Eleanor
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From Carol Patton,
Jupiter, Florida

Dear Paul,

My friendship with Martha goes back to the late 70’s. We began as telephone buddies keeping each other abreast of all- things- fluoride with multiple phone calls almost daily. Eventually we took “our show” on the road and spent time together in D.C., lobbying, attending meetings at the EPA and storming the EPA Document Room in 1985 looking for archival treasures.

I vividly remember using a copy machine in the EPA’s windowless “dungeon” when one of the desk clerks looked at me (furtively) and whispered, “I think I have something you would be interested in” and handed me 2 letters that were written by Dr. Phillipe Grandjean to EPA’s Joseph Cotruvo, one in which Dr. Grandjean wrote about a WHO study on fluoride stating: “…information which could cast any doubt on the advantage of fluoride supplements was left out of the Task Group. Unless I had been present myself, I would have found it hard to believe.” I excitedly made a copy and ran back to tell Martha what happened, and we danced a jig around the dusty file cabinets. As you know, Bette Hileman reported on that letter in her 17-page report in Chemical & Engineering News ( August 1, 1988). During this time, Martha and I met Bob Carton for the first time and another friendship was cemented. Fluoride friends are truly priceless. They make this seemingly endless fluoridation fight–worth the anguish.

Throughout the many years I’ve known Martha, she was always at the ready, day or night. Her files reached from floor to ceiling and she could quickly locate a requested study or article, get it copied, highlighted (with her signature comments in the margins) and mailed faster than the fluoride pushers could say “safe and effective!” She was just as quick with her checkbook when anyone in our nationwide network needed those extra dollars to get out the word.

Martha’s indomitable spirit, spunk, determination, her devotion to her family, her endearing southern manners, her laugh, and her beauty– all are etched in my memory forever.

Carol Patton

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From Dr. Albert Burgstahler,
Editor Fluoride

Thank you for all this important information about Martha Bevis. She was a tremendous help and benefactor to all of us. I met Martha a number of times and was once a guest at her home on Shadow Way in Houston many years ago. She was all (and more) that you and others describe about her.

Like all of you, I, too, benefited from her many copious mailings of important news and scientific information. In particular, I remember her constant questioning, beginning over 25 years ago, of the figures given by Harold Hodge for the amount of daily F intake required to produce various stages of skeletal fluorosis based on Kaj Roholm’s findings with Danish cryolite workers. In addition, she was one of the first to insist that there was no solid scientific evidence showing that water fluoridation and fluoride dentifrices per se have any real anti-caries effect.

She was also very supportive of the ISFR and provided complimentary subscriptions for those who were skeptical of the value and potential of the journal Fluoride.

I think it would be appropriate for Fluoride to publish an appropriate In Memoriam to her–perhaps in the form of short statements and excerpts of what you are receiving. Do you agree?

Albert
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>From Jack Graham (to Martha’s Son Cameron)

Dear Cam,

I remember you while we were putting in the evidence during the famous case of Safe Water Foundation v. City of Houston, No. 80-52271 on the docket of the Texas District Court in Harris County, 151st Judicial District. At the time, we did not fully realize the full impact it would have on legal history. But Judge Anthony Farris entered formal findings of fact on May 24, 1982, which said, on the basis of the preponderance of the evidence, that artificial fluoridation of public water supplies — and here I quote from the record “may cause or contribute to the cause of cancer, genetic damage, intolerant reactions, and chronic toxity, including dental mottling, in man; that said artificial fluoridation may aggravate malnutrition and existing illnesses in man,” etc. That was the third case in which judicial findings of that kind were entered. The Texas Court of Appeals specifically sustained those findings as based on sufficient evidence on the record, although we have gone through a significant turmoil on what those findings mean in the eyes of the law. The law as settled in New York would have given us an injunction. In any event, the professional union at the national headquarters of the United States Environmental Protection Agency informed a subcommittee of the United States Senate on June 29, 2000, that the three American judges, including those of Judge Farris in Houston, were scientifically correct. As things are now moving, it appears that this huge and tragic scientific boondoggle is being exposed and will be overturned permanently across the United States and Canada within the foreseeable future.

Your mother played a key role in making such judicial findings possible, paving the way to ultimate victory, and humanity owes her a great debt of gratitude. I appreciate having been given the opportunity of trying that historic case. As for the delays and frustrations caused by the law’s delay, I recall the statement of a famous Dutch philosopher, Baruch Spinoza, who concluded his greatest work with the apt comment, “All things noble are as difficult as they are rare.” Dr. Pierre Morin, at the time of the case in Houston, was director of medical research at Laval University, and acted as my scientific advisor as I conducted direct and cross-examination of the witnesses. He joins me in sending our good wishes to you and your father. Your mother’s life is to be celebrated, not mourned. She did well, and we should rejoice over her spirited and successful fight. She lived a fine life.

John Remington Graham

of the Minnesota Bar (#3664X)
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>From Dr. Stephen Dean,
President, Mass. Communities For Pure Water, Inc.
www.saveourwater.org

Dear Paul:

Our condolences to her son and family on the passing of Martha.

I too, Paul, did not know Martha personally but we also had phone conversations for more than 25 years. During the fluoride battle in Springfield in 1983 Martha would send documents in the mail supporting our efforts to inform the public regarding the dangers of water fluoridation. Susan Pare, President of the Save Our Water Committee in Springfield did have a close relationship with Martha and in fact, they spoke often of starting a national anti-fluoride movement similar to FAN.

Martha will always be associated with health freedom and her legacy will continue by men and women who have heard her message.

Paul, it would be nice if we could get Martha’s mailing address so we may forward cards to her son and family.

Steve
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Dear Cam Bevis,

Thank you for “lending” your mother to the world to fight the evil of water fluoridation.

It is sad to hear of her passing and to know that her considerable input to the cause has come to an end.

Or has it? Perhaps she is already helping that unseen hand orchestrate things from higher realms.

It is more than likely that the work Mavis has done has shone a light into many otherwise corners of ignorance where some of it will still be having a ripple effect.

It is good to know that your mother died at the helm and not in a sick bed.

On behalf of all members of the Australian Fluoridation Information Network, I send you our sympathy and hope that many happy memories of your mother are yours to comfort you through the years.

Ailsa Boyden
Spokesperson
AFIN