Episode 7: Barbara's Request

August 7, 2025

Loie recalls the turbulent years when her family moved from Valparaiso to Chicago, the founding of the Prince of Peace Volunteers, and the beginnings of Project Neighbors. She shares vivid memories of Camp Concordia’s experiments with interracial staffing and family camping, the chaos following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, and the moment Barbara Cotton challenged Walt with the question that changed their lives: why her children couldn’t have the same safe future as his. From Chicago’s protests to “Barbara’s Boulevard” in Valpo, Loie traces how faith, activism, and community converged in the work that defined her family’s legacy.