Quakers and the Elderly Alan Walker (bio) Introduction True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavours to mend it.1 For almost 350 years Friends have sought to “mend the world” in peaceful, non-coercive ways and to help their fellow human beings. They have been pioneers in attending to victims of famine, war, and poverty, and in addressing civil rights, social and spiritual equality, prison reform, mental health, opposition to slavery, aid to minorities, and conflict resolution. Many of these contributions of Quakers have been documented by early Friends’ records and later writings by both Quaker and non-Quaker historians. Information about Quaker treatment of the elderly is limited, however, perhaps because actions were undertaken simply because they seemed necessary and self-evident and “social service followed automatically on spiritual awakening.”2 Careful records were often made of early Friends’ births, marriages, deaths, and “sufferings on behalf of Truth” but less attention was paid to reports of charitable activities. In addition, the dearth of information about elderly people in previous centuries probably reflected an indifference to age grouping at that time, in contrast to our current awareness of the distinctiveness of older people. Interest in aging has recently been growing, sparked by the realization that, if present trends continue, one in four U.S. citizens will be 65 or older within 50 years. This essay portrays how Quakers have viewed the elderly, recognized and responded to their needs, and manifested basic Friends’ principles in actions on their behalf. Early Quakerism and the Elderly Old age has been a topic of interest from the earliest times, reflecting its universality as a part of the human condition. Early Chinese and Israeli cultures placed great emphasis on respect for the elderly, as they represented continuity of family and nation, as well as sources of wisdom from years of right living. Early Christians followed the lead of Jesus in showing charity for those unable to provide for themselves due to poverty, disease, loss of family, and aging. However, [End Page 1] as Christianity became the dominant religion in the western world, it became increasingly institutionalized. Establishments designed to aid the destitute led to a weakening of the local sense of responsibility for that service. The Middle Ages saw a further diminishment of social structures that left the elderly and poor to the mercies of the church.3 By the Reformation of the 16th century, a renewed emphasis on brotherly love and charitable aid, coupled with recognition that poverty was a product of unemployment, led to the gradual acceptance of a centralized aid system and the attitude that care for the needy was the duty of the state itself. Aid for the elderly was eventually recognized as an important component of a just social order.4 During Queen Elizabeth’s reign in England, for example, London established St. Thomas’s, an institution for the aged, sick, and infirm (Table 1, following the Notes). In 1569, Ipswich established an asylum for the elderly, and many other towns in England and on the European continent expanded a centuries-old tradition of almshouses for the elderly. However, religious attitudes toward the elderly were also evolving, and Anglicans, Catholics, and Puritans all provided for the elderly by bequests in their wills. Puritans believed that old age was a “tangible expression of God’s benevolent order,” in which the old held the highest rank.5 George Fox, the founder of the Religious Society of Friends, was born in 1624 into a Puritan family. Early in his life he was troubled by the sufferings of the poor. He wondered how self-professed Christians could focus so much on the accumulation of power and material goods and so little on the “grief of many sober people.”6 With Fox’s conviction—that any human being could access an inner guide that could help him understand and live in accord with divine will—came a deep sense of the infinite worth and preciousness of each person, whether old or young, high or low, male or female. Any injustice, brutality, stupidity, greed, or carelessness that contracted the full human...