An Ongoing Journey

Item sets: The Sphex Club Papers; Jones Memorial Library Manuscripts Collection

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Identifier: JML.SphexClub_Tiller_20250925
Title: An Ongoing Journey
Description: Text of a lecture delivered to the Sphex Club of Lynchburg on September 25, 2025. In this autobiographical and historical talk, Thomas C. Tiller, Jr. recounts his long engagement with the history and moral implications of nuclear weapons through the life of Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima who attended University of Lynchburg in 1954–55. Tiller traces Setsuko’s journey from wartime Hiroshima, through the devastation and trauma of the atomic bomb, to her education in Lynchburg and later career in Canada as a social worker and leading advocate for nuclear disarmament. The talk highlights influential figures in her life, including Kiyoshi Tanimoto and Joseph Boone Hunter, and examines broader issues of war memory, racism, reconciliation, and international nuclear policy. Tiller concludes by arguing for sustained global efforts toward gradual, verified nuclear disarmament.
Date: 25 September 2025
Creator: Tiller, Thomas C., Jr.
Subject: Nuclear weapons -- history
topic: "Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow, Hiroshima, Atomic bomb, Nuclear disarmament, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, University of Lynchburg, Hibakusha, Peace activism, Kiyoshi Tanimoto, Joseph Boone Hunter, Thomas W. Ferebee, Hiroshima, Nuclear weapons, Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, Nobel Peace Prize 2017, Japanese internment camps, Human rights, Peace Boat, Cold War arms race
Location: Lynchburg, Virginia
Digital Format: pdf
Language: English
Publisher: SPHEX Club (Lynchburg, Virginia)
Repository: George M. Jones Library Association
Rights: Tiller, Thomas C., Jr.; George M. Jones Library Association
Rights Holder: George M. Jones Library Association