Betty
Williams and Mairead Corrigan received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for founding
the Community of Peace People, an Irish organization dedicated to finding a peaceful
resolution to the troubles in Northern Ireland. Betty Williams' life was changed
when she witnessed the death of three Catholic girls who were caught in the middle
of a clash with British authorities and an IRA fugitive. Deeply moved, Betty Williams
gathered 6000 signatures for a petition for peace and organized a peace march
of 10,000 Catholic and Protestant women, and then another march of 35,000 people
a week later. These activities gained worldwide media attention. Together with
Mairead Corrigan, the aunt of the three children who had been killed, she started
Women For Peace, which eventually became The Community for Peace People to help
end the violence in Northern Ireland. Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Betty
Williams has continued to dedicate her life to making life better for the world's
children. She is a frequent lecturer for peace, and is President of the World
Centers of Compassion for Children International, and heads the Global Children's
Foundation.
