William J. Bichsel

William Jerome Bichsel, S.J. (May 26, 1928 – February 28, 2015), nicknamed "Bix", was a

Fr. Bill Bichsel (Bix) was born in Tacoma in 1928[3] and ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1959. Bix's parents were George and Sarah Bichsel, and he had 6 siblings, including Tom Bichsel of Alaska. He was assigned to St. Leo Parish in Tacoma, Washington. After completing his assignment there, Bichsel hitchhiked around the nation for 6 months and then worked as a community organizer in Seattle. In 1979, he returned to Tacoma where remained until his death. Bix lived a life of community building, civil resistance, and peacemaking. His "parish" was the streets of the Hilltop neighborhood in Tacoma.

Civil resistance and peacemaking

Bichsel was a non-violent activist who served prison time for his actions of criminal trespassing, destruction of government property, and criminal resistance. He was arrested more than 40 times and spent nearly two and a half years in prison. He was arrested for an action at the

Bix, Susan Crane, Lynne Greenwald, Steve Kelly, S.J., and Anne Montgomery RSCJ, were arrested on Naval Base Kitsap- Bangor at the largest nuclear weapon storage area in the US.

He was sentenced, along with four other protesters, to two months in federal prison for breaking through two levels of security at the

Bix and Kevin Glackin-Coley established The Tacoma Catholic Worker community ^[1] at Guadalupe House in 1990.

External links

• Interview discussing Nov. 2, 2009, Bangor action.[2]

References