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"I've been poor and neglected, in the middle and cherished, then rich and miserable and back to the middle and now happy. I've lived it all." - Pat Montandon
Pat Montandon's had one hell of a life
Cited as one of the top hostesses in the nation by Esquire magazine she went on to a successful career as a popular host on KGO television, an ABC affiliate, and CBS radio.
Her first book, How To Be A Party Girl, was published by McGraw Hill. Her second book, The Intruders, by Coward McCann and Geoghegan, Making Friends, her third book, was the first Soviet/American co-publication, Raduga press in St. Petersburg and Henry Holt in the United States. Her next book Celebrities and Their Angels was published by Renaissance Media and was the outgrowth of a fundraising event for Peace To The Planet. A book about how a calling led her to 37 trips around the world with young children in order to give them a voice in their own future free from the threat of nuclear war. The fascinating story is recounted in Oh The Hell Of It All (hardback) and Whispers from God; A Life Beyond Imaginings (paperback). Peeing On Hot Coals, a childhood memoir was published September 25, 2014, to terrific reviews. Her next work is titled Recipes For Conversation, Roundtable Luncheons and Sunday Suppers — A Salon.
A feminist, Pat founded The Name Choice Center to inform women of the right to keep their own name after marriage. She published a brochure signed by the California legislature and the Attorney General. The brochure was sent to people from across the state asking for information about keeping one's name. The work of the center and its growth is cited in "The Right of Women to Name Their Children," published in Law & Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice.
For three years Pat wrote a daily column under her name for the San Francisco Examiner, a column that proved to be very popular. In 1982 she resigned to fulfill on her vision of creating Children As The Peacemakers, a nonprofit international foundation.
In the mid-70s Pat began giving Roundtable luncheons where the focus was honest conversation. Folks as diverse as Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver, singer/songwriter Joan Baez, Margo St James who was a former prostitute, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the state of California, and Senator Dianne Feinstein, and many others, broke bread together at Montandon's famous Roundtable and opened their hearts and minds with raw, real conversation. The luncheons continue to this day.
Since 1982 Pat has made 37 trips around the world with children. Her foundation, Children as the Peacemakers (recently renamed and reincorporated as Peace to the Planet), has been honored with the United Nations Peace Messenger award and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. An hour-long documentary about her work, Peace Kids: The China Trip, aired on PBS.
In 1986, Pat created The Banner of Hope, a mile-long-red-silk memorial inscribed with the names and ages of children killed in war from across the planet. Featured on the Dan Rather Evening News, and in People Magazine, The Banner of Hope has been unfurled in 30 countries. It was also featured at opening ceremonies of the United Nations. First presented in the Kremlin to an International Women’s Congress, it brought Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to tears. The Banner was unfurled on The Great Wall of China in 1999. Pat and volunteers also wrapped the bullet-riddled school, a la Christo, in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia, where terrorists murdered 350 children and teachers in 2004. On the anniversary of the massacre in 2006, Pat flew back to Beslan to help volunteers wrap the school in the Banner of Hope once again, in remembrance and honor, and as a declaration against violence against children.
During the 80s, Pat also founded the International Children’s Peace Prize, bringing children from 45 countries to the United States for award ceremonies. Initially held in San Francisco’s City Hall, the event was later hosted at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
In 1993 Pat's focus shifted to gun violence in the United States, specifically in California. The California Banner of Hope is a half-mile of white silk inscribed with the names of 8,000 children murdered in the Golden State. It was first presented in a ceremony at St Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco and it hung for a month in San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral as well as in the Rotunda of Oakland’s Federal Building. The banner has been displayed in Washington, DC, at a conference on gang violence, in marches against gun violence, and has been used for ceremonies across America.
At age 90 Pat Montandon is planning a museum presentation of the artifacts she accumulated from her Cold War Peace activities. See more of Pat Montandon throughout the years.
She is the mother of Sean Patrick Wilsey, a writer who lives in Manhattan, and two grandchildren Mira Annapurna Wilsey and Owen Taylor Wilsey.
Her first book, How To Be A Party Girl, was published by McGraw Hill. Her second book, The Intruders, by Coward McCann and Geoghegan, Making Friends, her third book, was the first Soviet/American co-publication, Raduga press in St. Petersburg and Henry Holt in the United States. Her next book Celebrities and Their Angels was published by Renaissance Media and was the outgrowth of a fundraising event for Peace To The Planet. A book about how a calling led her to 37 trips around the world with young children in order to give them a voice in their own future free from the threat of nuclear war. The fascinating story is recounted in Oh The Hell Of It All (hardback) and Whispers from God; A Life Beyond Imaginings (paperback). Peeing On Hot Coals, a childhood memoir was published September 25, 2014, to terrific reviews. Her next work is titled Recipes For Conversation, Roundtable Luncheons and Sunday Suppers — A Salon.
A feminist, Pat founded The Name Choice Center to inform women of the right to keep their own name after marriage. She published a brochure signed by the California legislature and the Attorney General. The brochure was sent to people from across the state asking for information about keeping one's name. The work of the center and its growth is cited in "The Right of Women to Name Their Children," published in Law & Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice.
For three years Pat wrote a daily column under her name for the San Francisco Examiner, a column that proved to be very popular. In 1982 she resigned to fulfill on her vision of creating Children As The Peacemakers, a nonprofit international foundation.
In the mid-70s Pat began giving Roundtable luncheons where the focus was honest conversation. Folks as diverse as Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver, singer/songwriter Joan Baez, Margo St James who was a former prostitute, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the state of California, and Senator Dianne Feinstein, and many others, broke bread together at Montandon's famous Roundtable and opened their hearts and minds with raw, real conversation. The luncheons continue to this day.
Since 1982 Pat has made 37 trips around the world with children. Her foundation, Children as the Peacemakers (recently renamed and reincorporated as Peace to the Planet), has been honored with the United Nations Peace Messenger award and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. An hour-long documentary about her work, Peace Kids: The China Trip, aired on PBS.
In 1986, Pat created The Banner of Hope, a mile-long-red-silk memorial inscribed with the names and ages of children killed in war from across the planet. Featured on the Dan Rather Evening News, and in People Magazine, The Banner of Hope has been unfurled in 30 countries. It was also featured at opening ceremonies of the United Nations. First presented in the Kremlin to an International Women’s Congress, it brought Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to tears. The Banner was unfurled on The Great Wall of China in 1999. Pat and volunteers also wrapped the bullet-riddled school, a la Christo, in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia, where terrorists murdered 350 children and teachers in 2004. On the anniversary of the massacre in 2006, Pat flew back to Beslan to help volunteers wrap the school in the Banner of Hope once again, in remembrance and honor, and as a declaration against violence against children.
During the 80s, Pat also founded the International Children’s Peace Prize, bringing children from 45 countries to the United States for award ceremonies. Initially held in San Francisco’s City Hall, the event was later hosted at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
In 1993 Pat's focus shifted to gun violence in the United States, specifically in California. The California Banner of Hope is a half-mile of white silk inscribed with the names of 8,000 children murdered in the Golden State. It was first presented in a ceremony at St Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco and it hung for a month in San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral as well as in the Rotunda of Oakland’s Federal Building. The banner has been displayed in Washington, DC, at a conference on gang violence, in marches against gun violence, and has been used for ceremonies across America.
At age 90 Pat Montandon is planning a museum presentation of the artifacts she accumulated from her Cold War Peace activities. See more of Pat Montandon throughout the years.
She is the mother of Sean Patrick Wilsey, a writer who lives in Manhattan, and two grandchildren Mira Annapurna Wilsey and Owen Taylor Wilsey.