![\"Daniel](\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2014\/01\/Rhiels-1_web.jpg\")
<\/a>But this couple, both in their early 80s, are peace activists utterly committed to nonviolence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat can I do to stop our wars?\u201d says Daniel, a retired physician. He has hope, though: \u201cIf people get information, they might do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the late 1950s, at what was then Eastern Mennonite College, Marie Keener studied elementary education<\/a> before graduating with a nursing degree<\/a>; E. (for Evan) Daniel Riehl was a chemistry<\/a> major. Raised in opposite corners of Lancaster County, Pa., they re-settled in southeastern Pennsylvania as a married couple. He worked with the state public health department for many years, then as a medical consultant for DuPont<\/a>. She mainly focused on their home and raising their three children, Jan Marcia Orndorf\u00a0 \u201985 (now a teacher and pastor), Eric (computer professional) and Carl (lawyer). The Riehls have two grandchildren.<\/p>\n In recent years Daniel and Marie spend much of their time as enthusiastically engaged activists, going to places near and far from home to communicate their anti-war messages. \u201cI\u2019ve spent hundreds of hours on street corners protesting wars,\u201d Daniel says.<\/p>\n Among other activities, they frequently borrow the model drone from its owners, the Wilmington, Del., chapter of Pacem in Terris, and haul it around in an effort to inform folks. It\u2019s a 1:5 scale model of a Reaper\u2014an unmanned, remote-controlled aircraft that the U.S. Air Force and CIA use for reconnaissance and for launching missile strikes in places like Yemen and Pakistan.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first time we hauled the drone,\u201d Daniel recounts, \u201cwe had it in the wrong way, with the back end in front. I could hardly see over the top.\u201d<\/p>\n The duo has since learned that the drone fits into their car better with the front end facing towards the windshield. And it still only just fits. When in place, the fuselage protrudes through the gap between the front seats of their 2006 Toyota Prius Hybrid, occupying the space between the driver\u2019s and passenger\u2019s heads.<\/p>\n For International Education Week at EMU<\/a> in November 2013, the Riehls transported the drone nearly three hours from its storage place in Delaware to Harrisonburg, where it was positioned by the main-floor picture windows in the Campus Center. The exhibit was organized after a mutual acquaintance put the Riehls in touch with campus pastor Brian Martin Burkholder<\/a>, who helped round up students to hand out flyers about the child victims of drone attacks.<\/p>\n The Riehls also do street vigils, screen films, join demonstrations, and write articles and letters to the editor. Daniel is the author of a piece in Mennonite World Review, <\/em> \u201cKnown by our drones<\/a>,\u201d and one on the web site of The Mennonite, <\/em>\u201cWhy I became a peace activist<\/a>.” The pair\u2019s annual calendar includes a trip to Georgia to join the School of the Americas Watch protest<\/a>. They are also involved with various organizations and groups near their residence in the Landis Homes retirement community<\/a> in Lititz, Pa.<\/p>\n For the last three years, the Riehls have played leadership roles in a small group called 1040 for Peace, which aims to create a national movement of taxpayers who withhold $10.40 each year from their federal tax payments as a symbolic gesture against military spending. The pair first used the drone replica as part of their work with 1040, taking it on a tour of six venues in Pennsylvania. The model drone also makes frequent appearances at monthly protests in Horsham, Pa., where a command center for drone operations is planned.<\/p>\n \u201cThe purpose of our wars is to make the rich people richer. And the rich people \u2013 the defense companies \u2013 put the people in Congress who they want,\u201d Daniel says. \u201cThe military-industrial complex rules our nation for the good of the very wealthy at the expense of the poor.<\/p>\n \u201cKilling civilians in Muslim countries like Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen is savagery,\u201d he continues. \u201cThe war in Waziristan, the drones are flying 24\/7. One person said he saw nine drones at once flying around. And they are very scary because you don\u2019t know when they\u2019re going to shoot you.\u201d<\/p>\n Daniel is the more vocal of the pair, a fount of ideas and energy. Marie seems to provide the moral and grounded direction for the pair. \u201dMy wife got me started. She advised that I take a course on Latin American cultures,\u201d Daniel says. \u201dIt made me realize what was really going on.\u201d<\/p>\n The Riehls seem determined to continue to educate themselves so they can continue to educate others. \u201dI don\u2019t think any of the churches are doing their jobs,\u201d says Daniel. \u201cThe churches, including the Mennonite church, facilitate the crimes of our government. I think we should talk about these things a little bit more.\u201d The Riehls offer their criticisms as devoted Mennonites \u2013 they are active members of Pilgrim’s Mennonite Church<\/a> in Akron, Pa.<\/p>\n During their times of relaxation, Daniel and Marie enjoy exercising and taking in the tranquil views of farmland surrounding their community of retirees.<\/p>\n Asked about possible downsides of the couple\u2019s golden-years activism, Daniel offers two responses. \u201dMarie gets tired of driving,\u201d and \u201cwe used to go on vacations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of hours protesting wars<\/h3>\n
<\/a>‘Killing Muslim civilians is savagery’<\/h3>\n
<\/a>