Lykken,
Harriet Harriet Lykken, a leading activist in Minne- sota's
environmental and antiwar movements, died peacefully on November 8.
Named a Minnesota Environmental Hero, she will be remembered, among
other things, as the greatest local advocate for the protection of
Minnesota timber wolves. Born in Minneapolis on March 19, 1924, to
parents Howard and Gladys Betts, she was the oldest of three including
brother Herbert and sister Diane. Her love and appreciation of animals
began in childhood, growing up in a house full of cats, and visiting her
grandmother who kept - in addition to dogs - a raccoon, a turtle, and a
crow. Harriet had deep roots in Minneapolis; her grandmother Julia's
father, Ebenezer Hodsdon, had a pioneering farmstead on the shores of
Lake Nokomis. Her family history is told in the book The Restless Ones,
written by her aunt Beatrice Morosco. Harriet graduated from Southwest
High School, and in 1946 earned a Bachelor's degree in social work from
the University of Minnesota. She spent 5 years as a city and county
social worker, specializing in assistance to unwed mothers. As a young
woman, Harriet was renowned for her beauty and graceful character. Her
wide social circle included the then captain of the Gopher football
team, as well as jazz musicians Ira and Oscar Pettiford. She had a
brief, unlikely friendship with the notorious mobster Kid Cann, the
reputed godfather of the local underworld, whom she knew by his nickname
"Fergie". In 1952 Harriet married David Lykken, soon to become a
professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Minnesota,
and an internationally famous scientist and author. When he was awarded
a postdoctoral fellowship in 1954, David and Harriet moved for a year to
London, England. Their first son Jesse was born there, and they had him
christened in Westminster Abbey. After 4 years back in Minneapolis and
the birth of two more sons, they spent the academic year 1959-60 in Palo
Alto California. Following a decade devoted exclusively to raising her
children, Harriet became active in local DFL politics, spurred by
intense opposition to the war in Vietnam. She was a member of the
original Steering Committee of the Minnesota Conference of Concerned
Democrats. In October 1967 the urgings of this group precipitated
Senator Eugene McCarthy's decision to run for the presidency, as an
antiwar alternative to incumbent president Lyndon Johnson. As DFL
chairwoman of the 13th Ward in Minneapolis, she oversaw a record turnout
for the March 1968 ward caucus, and the election of a unified slate of
antiwar delegates to the state DFL convention, herself among them.
Harriet's antiwar activism made headlines after the events of May 9,
1970. On this evening Harriet and David hosted a fund-raising party at
their home, aimed at assisting protests of a proposed missile site in
North Dakota. The party was raided by a joint force of the Minneapolis
Police morals and tactical squads, who arrested 19 attendees, including
the president of the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union. David Lykken was
cited with operating a "disorderly house", a charge normally reserved
for proprietors of brothels and speakeasies. At the time, Harriet was a
coordinator of the MCLU's court watching project. The police confiscated
her records of that project, as well as David's personal and
professional papers. After the charges against them were dismissed, the
"Minneapolis 19" sued the arresting police officers in federal court.
The court awarded punitive damages that were paid by the city of
Minneapolis. Harriet joined the North Star chapter of the Sierra Club in
1967, and by the early 1970s was working full time as an environmental
activist. In 1974 she founded the chapter's Wildlife Task Force, serving
also as Legislative Chair, Conservation Chair, and as a member of the
Executive Committee. She also worked professionally for 4 years as field
representative for the national organization Defenders of Wildlife.
Harriet's first victory for wildlife was a bill passed in 1975
protecting the lynx in Minnesota. Her efforts in subsequent years led to
legislation protecting bobcats, eagles, badgers, and bears. Over two
decades, Harriet was a leading activist helping to protect Minnesota's
timber wolves. During this time she led the coalition Help Our Wolves
Live. She helped initiate the 1978 court action against the U.S. Fish
And Wildlife Service, forcing them to comply with their own rules for
wolf management. She worked tirelessly to demythologize the wolf,
answering hundreds of letters written to HOWL by schoolchildren. Harriet
was a legend in the local environmental community for her efforts on
wildlife issues, as well as towards protecting Minnesota wetlands and
the Boundary Waters Wilderness. The Minnesota Wilderness and Parks
Coalition named her a Minnesota Environmental Hero in 1996. In 1984 she
received the Sigurd Olson Award, naming her as Environmentalist of the
Year by the Sierra Club North Star Chapter. Chapter chair Judy Bellairs
paid tribute to Harriet in the December 2003 issue of the North Star
Journal. Bellairs wrote: "I had the greatest mentor in the world –
Harriet Lykken – who showed me that, working in the Sierra Club, one
person can make a phenomenal difference." Harriet is survived by her
husband of 53 years, Prof. David T. Lykken; her sister Diane Erickson;
her sons Jesse, Joseph and Matthew; daughters-in-law Veneta, Amy and
Suzanne; and grandchildren Laura, Zeke, Jake, Roxanna, Ezra, Adin,
Oliver, Erik, Sara and Karl. There will be no public services. It is
suggested that memorials be contributed to the Last Hope animal shelter
of Farmington: www.last-hope.org Published in the Star Tribune on 11/13/2005.