Nina Huizinga, 73, community activist

Nina Huizinga, 73, of West Philadelphia, a peace and community activist who was arrested for defiant trespass during a 2006 attempt to enlist, died Thursday, March 21, of heart failure at home.

Five days before her death, Mrs. Huizinga had been honored with an award from the West Philadelphia Neighborhood Elders for "making a difference in our neighborhood," her family said.

"She had lots of energy, and she had no intention of dying any time soon," said her daughter, Miriam Faruqi.

The former Nina Long was born on Rittenhouse Square, the only daughter of Julian Rosine Horn and Fred Long.

She graduated from Haverford High School and received a bachelor's degree in history from Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa.

After working in San Francisco and New York City, she traveled to Paris, where she met Rijka Huizinga, a psychology graduate student from the Netherlands. They married and lived for 10 years in the north of Holland.

In 1972, when the marriage ended, Mrs. Huizinga and her three children returned to West Philadelphia, where she joined the Life Center and the Movement for a New Society.

She became involved in door-to-door tenant organizing and antiwar demonstrating.

Along with neighbors, she created a Town Watch program that soon became a model for other cities. "My mother had an adventurous spirit and would try anything new," her daughter said.

Mrs. Huizinga attended Bryn Mawr College, where she received master's degrees in social work and public policy. She worked for 15 years, until 2004, at the Department of Environmental Protection in Harrisburg.

That year, she helped found the neighborhood synagogue Kol Tzedek and served as its membership chair. She also taught Hebrew, one of three languages she could speak.

Returning to activism in the spring of 2006, Mrs. Huizinga played a leadership role with the Granny Peace Brigade Philadelphia, the local branch of a national antiwar group.

Mrs. Huizinga was "the heart and soul of our peace granny group," said its treasurer, Joan Lukas.

In June 2006, Mrs. Huizinga, then 66, was one of 11 grandmothers arrested for trespassing after she refused to leave the Army recruiting building in Philadelphia while trying to enlist.

The charge was dismissed that December.

"Instead of sending our children and grandchildren to war, send us," the Daily Pennsylvanian quoted Mrs. Huizinga as saying in a 2007 account of a speech describing the arrest. "We've lived our long and happy lives. Let them live theirs."

Surviving, in addition to her daughter, are sons Peter and Jan, and a grandson.

A memorial service will be at 4 p.m. Friday, March 29, at the Kol Tzedek Synagogue at the Calvary Community Center, 48th Street and Baltimore Avenue. Burial is private.

Donations may be sent to Granny Peace Brigade Philadelphia, 2019 Brandywine St., Philadelphia 19130.

Condolences to the family may be offered at www.fertigfuneralhome.com.