In 1945, when she was at home in New Orleans ironing a place mat, Frances Crowe was alarmed to hear on the radio that in its efforts to end World War II, the United States had dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The bomb instantly vaporized tens of thousands of people and ultimately killed as many as 135,000.

She immediately unplugged her iron and went looking for a gathering spot or peace center, to find like-minded people with whom she could share her distress. Unsuccessful, she went into a used-book store, where she searched for material on nonviolence. The bookstore owner suggested Tolstoy.

“So I started reading a collection of Tolstoy’s essays on war and violence,” she recalled years later, “and, you know, that kind of set my direction.”

She was 26 at the time. For the next three-quarters of a century, she would dedicate herself to trying to make the world a more peaceful place.