UNIONTOWN HERALD-STANDARD
A3 L O C A L / N A T I O N
FRDAY, AUGUST 14, 1998
BY FRANCES BORSODI ZAJAC
Herald-Standard Staff Writer
Rudy Stolfer, 49, of Washington, Pa., has, during the past year and a half, completed almost a full figure 8 across the country and back on his feet. If he stays on schedule, his journey will come to close in Washington, D.C., on Labor Day weekend. He is shown with one of his "critters" that he finds along the way. The rabbit has accompanied him since he left Arkansas.
He's says he's a peace walker. Washington, Pa., native Rudy Stolfer, 48, has been walking around the country since July 1996, calling attention to the nation's ills and directing those he can to the power of God.
"Being a peace walker -everything I used to think I needed, I found I could live very well without," he said. "It's a matter of conditioning. We need to tune into that. A lot of people from all walks of life are already saying it, but not many people are paying attention."
Stolfer spoke Thursday while sitting on his sleeping bag, resting under a pavilion behind Sansom Chapel United Methodist Church, located along Route 40 in Farmington.
Stolfer had been here since about noon Monday, when he stopped to rest because he wasn't feeling well.
"I've been over higher hills and in more intense humidity, but I never got zapped like I did walking from Washington to here," he said.
Church members have permitted Stolfer to stay here, and he's been given food and drinks by the Sansom congregation and Marker Road residents.
Stolfer has slept under the pavilion, where he has parked his two-wheeled cart on which he pulls a small, homemade, cardboard "coffin' that carries his gear as well as souvenirs (discarded shoes, keychains and toys) that's he's picked up on the way
Why a coffin? Stolfer responded: "Jesus was the first peace pilgrim of merit 2,000 years ago. On the cross, he said, 'It is finished.' To me that's a mandate that the last war was fought with three nails and a spirit."
The gray coffin is decorated with a tattered American flag with a peace sign instead of stars (a gift from some Georgia teen-agers), and a black-and-white POW-MIA flag, which he picked up in the West Virginia Jamboree in the Hills.
The coffin bears the logo WALT ROOT, which is an acronymn for We Are Living The Results Of Our Thoughts. Stolfer calls this walk "Walt's quest for the people."
A thin but muscular man dressed in a white T-shirt and army green shorts, Stolfer has matted blond hair in dreadlocks under a worn white cap. He has a beard and glasses, and wears jewelry includes the Christian cross and WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?) bracelets.
Stolfer has opinions which he'll share if you ask. His only goal now is to make it to Washington, D.C., by Labor Day. Afterward...
"I have no idea what's going to happen," said Stolfer. "I've just been on a really long walk, and I just know that when I get to Washington, I don't have to walk anymore."
While he hoped to restart his walk on Route 40 east Thursday, Stolfer made no guarantees and had to sit and even lie down during the interview as he tired. Landis Livingood, who has checked on Stolfer, suggested the peace walker might have the flu. But Stolfer said he had to keep to his schedule.
"I've got to finish this walk," he said. "I'm going to do this."
Stolfer grew up in Washington, Pa., where his parents, Trudy and Rudy Stolfer Sr., still live. He said he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1969, served stateside and was discharged in 1973.
After working for CSX railroad for 16 years, Stolfer met a woman who designed educational wooden puzzles. He quit his job and worked on the project with her for four years until financial problems forced them out of the business.
In September 1993, Stolfer said he answered an ad for Green Peace and worked at the organization's offices in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Ann Arbor, Mich. After both offices closed, Stolfer became unemployed in February 1996. By that July, Stolfer had started walking.
He began with a group called Uniting Spirits. Stolfer's first walk was from Missouri to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention. After a few months break, Stolfer joined another Uniting Spirits walk from New York City to Washington, D.C., which was completed in December 1996.
Almost immediately, Stolfer and some friends started another walk— this time around the country. Since that time, his walking buddies have come and gone. One was badly injured, hit by a car in Alabama. In Oregon Stolfer and friends acqulred a bus and 18 youths joined them until the bus crashed. The troupe was then cut back to five.
"In New Mexico, I walked with two kids from Moscow. She spoke English. He didn't. They were way younger than me and they couldn't keep up with me. They had to leave to get money"
Stolfer made it to Los Angeles by December 1997—a year after he left Washington, D.C.
"We walked on Highway 1 down the coast. It was incredible, either big trees or beach," Stolfer said.
He then started his return trip east, hoping to make it back to Washington, D.C., by Sept. 6. He is now alone, but a group is waiting for him in Washington called Proposition 1, which Stolfer said has maintained a peace vigil outside the White House since 1981.
And after that?
While Stolfer said he might spend more time with his family and write a book after he completes his walk, he noted, "To set goals would shortchange any thing that happens between now and then."
While he said he fears for the nation's future and its youths, Stolfer noted, "Maybe that's part of God's plan. Maybe everything's hunky dory and I'm just out for A walk."