Background on Patricia Lee Lewis
Jade worker, Hunan Province, Mar. 1977
A co-founder of the Valley Women's Center and the Everywoman's Center at UMass Amherst, Patricia Lee Lewis (a.k.a. Pat Sackrey) has been an important part of the vibrant activist culture in the Pioneer Valley since her graduation from Smith College in 1970, advocating for women, civil rights, peace, the environment, for small farms and rural communities, and for art. Her varied career has included service as Supervisor of Community Development for the Massachusetts Office for Children (1974-1976), as Rural Development Specialist for the Massachusetts Cooperative Extension Service, and as County Commissioner for Hampshire County (1984-1988). After receiving an MFA from Vermont College, she founded Patchwork Farm Writing Retreat in Westhampton, Mass., in 1992, which offers workshops and retreats in creative writing and yoga.
In 1977, Lewis became part of a National Women's Delegation consisting of thirteen women (including six women of color) who were invited by the All China Women's Federation to visit the People's Republic of China and see the country's development in the immediate aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. Organized by the U.S.-China People's Friendship Association, the delegation toured the PRC in March and April, visiting farms and centers for agricultural production, factories, schools, cities (including Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Dazhai, Changsha, Shaoshan, Foshan, and Guangzhou), and touristic sites, from the Great Wall to Guilin. To fund her trip, Lewis gave slide show presentations with the support of future congressman John Olver and his wife Rose.
