Gustav A. Nystrom - 1948-2022
.jpeg)
Gustav Adolph Nystrom
Resident of Dublin, California
May 10, 1948 – April 2, 2022
Gustav passed away peacefully after a short battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 73 years old.
Gustav was raised in Camaguey, Cuba. At the age of 12, after witnessing Fidel Castro’s Revolution, he and his brother fled to Chicago, Illinois, and later their parents were able to join them. During this time, he admirably took over the responsibility for his younger brother, shepherding him into a country where he didn’t speak the language or understand the culture. He received a BS degree in Astronautical and Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Illinois and MS and PhD degrees in Applied Mechanics from Stanford University. His professional career included tire research and design at Uniroyal, soil mechanics and foundational engineering at Exxon, and reconstruction of vehicular and industrial accidents using math and physics for his own company, Amador Newtonian Engineering, which he operated for 25 years.
Though he had many academic and professional accomplishments, these were not what defined him. He was passionate about social justice, nonviolence, helping the less fortunate, devotion to equality for all, true enjoyment of learning about and respecting other cultures, commitment to religious understanding and appreciation, and genuine fidelity to peace and justice.
His experiences shaped who he was – and he took action to affect change. In Cuba his parents were of two different religions. His mother’s family was Catholic and in those days, many good Catholics believed that non-Catholics were headed for Hell. Gustav knew his father and his relatives, and could not imagine their everlasting punishment for joining a different denomination. Because of this he took trips to Palestine and Israel, brought interfaith programming to the Tri-Valley, prayed with Muslims and Hindus in India, and regularly prayed with several faiths – sharing new perspectives and learnings with all he encountered. He believed all religion is based on the same premise – treat each other well. To further this, he served as a volunteer pastor at Santa Rita County Jail for over 20 years, providing a religious service, and also talking to the inmates about their story, and their future.
During the Castro revolution he witnessed the torture, horror, and destruction of war. He became a refugee when his parents sent him and his brother to the United States. Because of this he demonstrated against nuclear weapons development, personally helped Afghan refugees relocate to our country, rallied against capital punishment, refused to work on war-related projects while at Lockheed Missiles and Space, visited Nicaragua during the Contra War to deliver aid and support, and traveled to El Salvador to pay tribute to four nuns that were abused and murdered there.
He loved deeply, though not always successfully, and was an enthusiastic teller of jokes, many of them bad. He loved to watch sports games and go on hikes with his son, and play chess, study maps, go to parks, and be silly with his grandkids. He truly believed that in death, he would “go to his reward.”
Gustav is survived by his children, G. David Nystrom of Davis, and Christina Nystrom of Pleasanton, and his grandchildren Ashley and Thomas Mantha of Pleasanton, and his host son Patrick Gerigk of Germany. He is also survived by his mother, Gloria Nystrom of San Jose, brother Halvard Nystrom (Linda) of Sunnyvale, and nieces Joy Goor (Jared) of Sunnyvale, and Michelle Nystrom (Max) of Redwood City, and their children.
*****
Gustav A. Nystrom (1948-2022)
Favorite Organizations and Some of His Heroes
Gus passionately supported several organizations that he really believed in. And he had several heroes that he regularly talked about. I know that he would want you to know about them also, in case they spark an interest in your heart and mind. (As you can imagine knowing him, this is not a complete list)
Organizations
· Pax Christi International: Pax Christi (Latin for Peace of Christ) was founded in Europe in 1945 as a reconciliation movement bringing together French and Germans after World War II. Today, the movement is active in more than 50 countries worldwide. Within Pax Christi laypeople, bishops, and other religious members work as equals in pursuit of peace and reconciliation. As a faith-based Catholic movement, Pax Christi‘s efforts to resolve conflicts are informed by a deep understanding of both the positive and negative impact of religion. Pax Christi is grounded in the belief that peace is possible and that vicious cycles of violence and injustice can be broken.
· Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment): Tri-Valley CAREs was founded in 1983 in Livermore, California by concerned neighbors living around the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, one of two locations where all US nuclear weapons are designed. Tri-Valley CAREs monitors nuclear weapons and environmental clean-up activities throughout the US nuclear weapons complex, with a special focus on Livermore Lab and the surrounding communities. Tri-Valley CAREs' overarching mission is to promote peace, justice and a healthy environment by pursuing the some of the following goals: 1) Convert Livermore Lab from nuclear weapons development and testing to socially beneficial, environmentally sound research, 2) End all nuclear weapons development and testing in the United States, 3) Promote forthright communication and democratic decision-making in public policy on nuclear weapons and related environmental issues, 4) Clean up the radioactive and toxic pollution emanating from the Livermore Lab and reduce the Lab's environmental and health hazards.
· CAIR (The Council on American-Islamic Relations): CAIR’s mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims. Some of the core principles include: 1) support free enterprise, freedom of religion and freedom of expression, 2) protect the civil rights of all Americans, regardless of faith, 3) support domestic policies that promote civil rights, diversity and freedom of religion, 4) oppose domestic policies that limit civil rights, permit racial, ethnic or religious profiling, infringe on due process, or that prevent Muslims and others from participating fully in American civic life, 5) condemns all acts of violence against civilians by any individual, group or state, and 6) the active practice of Islam strengthens the social and religious fabric of our nation.
· American Friends Service Committee (AFSC): AFSC promotes a world free of violence, inequality, and oppression. Guided by the Quaker belief in the divine light within each person, AFSC nurtures the seeds of change and the respect for human life to fundamentally transform our societies and institutions. They work with people and partners worldwide, of all faiths and backgrounds, to meet urgent community needs, challenge injustice, and build peace. Some of the AFSC include: 1) respect the equality, worth, and dignity of all people and regard no one as our enemy, 2) accept that our understanding of truth is incomplete and seek ever deeper insights from lived experience, 3) assert the transforming power of love and active nonviolence as a force for justice and reconciliation.
· American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): In the years following World War I, America was gripped by the fear that the Communist Revolution that had taken place in Russia would spread to the United States. As is often the case when fear outweighs rational debate, civil liberties paid the price. In November 1919 and January 1920, in what notoriously became known as the “Palmer Raids,” Attorney General Mitchell Palmer began rounding up and deporting so-called radicals. Thousands of people were arrested without warrants and without regard to constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure. Those arrested were brutally treated and held in horrible conditions. In the face of these egregious civil liberties abuses, a small group of people decided to take a stand, and thus was born the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union — beyond one person, party, or side. So all can realize this promise of the United States Constitution.
Heroes
· Dorothy Day: Dorothy Day lived from 1897 to 1980 and was an American journalist and Roman Catholic reformer. She was the co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, aimed to unite workers and intellectuals in joint activities ranging from farming to educational discussions, and the Catholic Worker, a monthly newspaper, to carry the ideas to a wider audience. Day, a professed anarchist, took radical positions on many issues and became widely regarded as one of the great Catholic lay leaders of the 20th century. A staunch adherent to the church’s “preferential option for the poor,” she advocated and practiced a Catholic socioeconomic teaching known as distributism, which she saw as a third option between socialism and capitalism. During World War II the Catholic Worker was an organ for pacifism and supported Catholic conscientious objectors. Day protested the Vietnam War and was arrested in 1973 while demonstrating in California in support of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers.
· Franz Jägerstätter: Franz was Born in St. Radegund in Upper Austria and lived from 1907 to 1943. In 1938, he publicly opposed the German Anschluss--annexation--of Austria. In 1943 he was called up to the Austrian army for a 3rd time. When he refused to take the oath of loyalty to Hitler, he was imprisoned in Linz. The father of 3 young children wrote, “I can only act on my own conscience. I do not judge anyone. I can only judge myself.” He continued, “I have considered my family. I have prayed and put myself and my family in God’s hands. I know that, if I do what I think God wants me to do, he will take care of my family.” In August 1943 Franz was beheaded.
· St. Francis of Assisi: St. Francis was an Italian Saint who lived from 1891 to 1226 and was canonized in 1228. As a child he lived a luxurious lifestyle as his father was a wealthy cloth merchant. While spending one year as a prisoner of war he heard the voice of Christ, who told him to repair the Christian Church and live a life of poverty. Consequently, he abandoned his life of luxury and became a devotee of the faith. At one point, in order to raise money to rebuild the Christian church, he sold a bolt of cloth from his father's shop, along with his horse. His father became furious upon learning of his son's actions and subsequently dragged Francis before the local bishop. The bishop told Francis to return his father's money, to which his reaction was extraordinary: He stripped off his clothes, and along with them, returned the money back to his father, declaring that God was now the only father he recognized. The bishop gave Francis a rough tunic, and dressed in these new humble clothes, Francis left Assisi. He is known as one of the greatest examples of how to live the Christian ideal since Jesus Christ himself.
· Mahatma Gandhi: Mahatma (meaning “great soul”) Gandhi lived from 1869 to 1948 and was an Indian lawyer, politician, social activist, and writer. Mahatma Gandhi was the primary leader of India’s independence movement and also the architect of a form of non-violent civil disobedience that would influence the world. His first act of civil disobedience occurred in 1893 while in South Africa. When he boarded a train, railroad officials ordered him to move to the third-class car. Gandhi, holding first-class tickets, refused. A policeman threw him off the train. Gandhi famously said “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members." Until Gandhi was assassinated in 1948, his life and teachings inspired activists including Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.
· Mother Teresa: Mother Teresa lived from 1910-1997 and was the founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic congregation of women dedicated to helping the poor. In 1946, while riding in a train from Calcutta to the Himalayan foothills for a retreat she said Christ spoke to her and told her to abandon teaching to work in the slums of Calcutta aiding the city's poorest and sickest people. In 1948 she voyaged for the first time into Calcutta's slums with no more specific a goal than to aid "the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for." She began an open-air school and established a home for the dying destitute in a dilapidated building she convinced the city government to donate to her cause. Over the course of the 1950s and 1960s, she established a leper colony, an orphanage, a nursing home, a family clinic and a string of mobile health clinics. In 1971, Mother Teresa traveled to New York City to open her first American-based house of charity, and in the summer of 1982, she secretly went to Beirut, Lebanon, where she crossed between Christian East Beirut and Muslim West Beirut to aid children of both faiths. Mother Teresa was canonized as a saint in 2016. She is known as one of the greatest humanitarians of the 20th century. Summing up her life in characteristically self-effacing fashion, Mother Teresa said, "By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus."
Comments
Post a Comment