“Grace was in all her steps, heav’n in her eye, in every gesture dignity and love” — John Milton
June 28, 2009
SYLVIA LEVIN AT WORK Ken Hively/LAT
If this isn’t a record, it might as well be.
Sylvia Levin of Santa Monica, Calif., registered approximately 47,000 men and women to vote. It can’t be established formally, but authorities on the subject say that total exceeds anything accomplished by an individual in the state.
Sylvia didn’t achieve this distinction overnight. She did it by setting up her rickety card table six days a week for 36 years and calling out to passers-by: “Are you registered to vote?”
Sylvia Levin died Thursday — the same day as Michael Jackson — at the age of 91. Her son, Chuck Levin, who has his own history of registering voters, told the Los Angeles Times that his mother “lived a long and full life of adventure and grace, simplicity and openness, of love and hope — no regrets or fear.”
“Grace, simplicity and openness” — a nice epitaph for a woman whose death attracted no crowds of voyeurs, no lurid headlines, no morbid speculation, just the appreciation of the relatively few who know what she contributed to the well-being of us all.
The full story about Sylvia Levin appears here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-sylvia-levin28-2009jun28,o,1025723.story
CharlesPaolino's Blog 
June 28, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Thanks for highlighting a TERRIFIC story.
Now, that’s a life that should be celebrated in a supposed democratic republic….getting citizens registered to vote so they can act, well, like citizens.
Many thanks!
June 28, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Yes. We’ve become very spoiled people. What does it say about us that only 61 percent of eligible voters participated in the most pivotal national election in more than 40 years?
July 9, 2009 at 7:00 pm
A lovely story about a remarkable and inspiring woman. May she rest in peace and her family in the
knowledge of a life well-lived.