Advocate for War Victims Is Mourned

Friends from around the world joined townspeople here Saturday to mourn the loss of a young California woman whose campaign to document civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan helped spur Congress to provide millions of dollars in relief for victims of American military actions.

“Marla Ruzicka demonstrated that an individual can make a profound difference in the world,” said Bobby Muller, chairman of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation.

He was one of a parade of speakers that included U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), actor Sean Penn, war correspondents and childhood friends who praised the irrepressible humanitarian activist who grew up in this Northern California town about 90 miles north of San Francisco.

“She was a force of nature somewhere between lightning and gravity,” recalled tearful BBC reporter Quill Lawrence, a friend from Iraq. “Between Mother Teresa and Buffy the Vampire Killer.”

Twenty-eight-year-old Ruzicka -- a hyperkinetic, Valley-talking, 5-foot-3 former high school basketball star with a lifelong compassion for the downtrodden -- was killed along with an Iraqi co-worker April 16 when a suicide bomber struck their unprotected car on the dangerous road to the Baghdad airport.

A longtime activist, Ruzicka two years ago founded the nonprofit Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict. Much of her work required traveling unarmed to dangerous areas of Iraq to interview bereaved families.

Sometimes in-line skating between appointments in Washington, Ruzicka charmed crusty politicians, diplomats and even senior military officers with her energy, blithe spirit and compassion for the victims of war. Her efforts, carried in Congress by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), resulted in an unprecedented $30 million in aid to victims.

This week, the Senate voted to name the program the “Marla Ruzicka Iraq War Victims’ Fund.” Speaking from the altar Saturday, Boxer vowed: “This program will never die. It will live on in Marla’s name.”

As much as Ruzicka’s death meant to the international community and in the corridors of power in Washington, the impact was pronounced here in this town of about 5,000 that is the seat of Lake County.

More than 800 mourners gathered under misty skies at the small St. Mary Immaculate Church, on the west shore of Clear Lake, for a funeral Mass said by parish priest Father Ted Oswald.

Oswald, a military veteran and former police officer who joked about Ruzicka’s sometimes confrontational tactics, said, “There is no doubt in my mind that the good Lord has his hands full now. Not only does he have his hands full, but heaven will never be the same again.”

The comment brought smiles to the faces of mourners.

Fear in the small community that the funeral would be turned into a political event did not materialize. Penn, noted for his opposition to the war, spoke only briefly, saying that Ruzicka’s life would serve as a model for his own children.

In the days before the funeral, the slain activist’s father, Clifford Ruzicka, was fighting off waves of rage over his daughter’s death.

“What a beautiful daughter she was,” he said, supervising painters and workers who were preparing the family’s lakeside home for the post-funeral reception. “What a beautiful person. I’m trying not to be angry. But those who snuffed out the life of a very beautiful person, may they burn in hell.”

Ruzicka, who owns an engineering firm, and his wife, Nancy, are staunch Republicans who voted for President Bush. But they supported their daughter in all of her humanitarian efforts, even paying for her trips to Cuba.

The program they designed for the funeral featured a quotation from Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara: “The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love.”

In lieu of flowers, the Ruzicka family has urged that donations be sent to Marla Ruzicka’s nonprofit organization, Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, at www.civicworldwide.com.