Quakers To Know

by George Rubin
Medford Meeting, PhYM

Here are a few of the Quakers, some famous, some lesser known, that I feel Friends ought to know about.

Buried in the Friends cemetery in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, is the actor Montgomery Clift. Both his parents were well known Quakers. Also buried there is the Quaker novelist and mystery story writer Stanley Ellin. Some of Ellin’s books were also made into movies; The House of Cards was one of them. Then there is Nancy Sorel, the writer and at one time active NYYM Friend with her husband the New Yorker illustrator Edward Sorel. They met at Morningside Friends Meeting. Then there is the Quaker novelist Robert Morse, whose book The Iron Bridge, the story of the Quaker Darby family, is both about history and a bit of science fiction. Also, I would add F. Murray Abraham, actor and Academy Award winner who came with his wife a number of times to NYYM. Not to be forgotten is Jan De Hartog, the Quaker writer and his wife Marjorie who was active in FWCC. His books The Peaceable Kingdom and The Lamb's War were nominated for the Nobel prize. I know Friends will have others like Bonnie Raitt and the astrophysicist Jocelyn Burnell. Our Quaker legacy in science and the arts is well grounded in our spiritual life.