The death of environmental activist Geraldine Mayho, pictured above holding megaphone at a Coalition Against Death Alley march last May, has brought environmental activists together to ‘Honor One of Their Own.’ Some at her funeral wore yellow t-shirts emblazoned with her image and the words, “A true warrior gone home.” Sharon Lavigne said, “Geraldine’s death won’t silence her … she was a fighter … we won’t let her death be in vain.” Geraldine Mayho lived in St. James, Louisiana, across the street from storage tanks. Her health was compromised by her sensitivity to chemicals, a medical issue one of her doctors noted two decades earlier. She knew storage tanks often leak the carcinogen benzene and other air pollutants, and with more petrochemical plants being built nearby (over 200 are in the region), she desperately wanted out of the neighborhood, but could not afford to move. On August 7, her body was laid to rest in the St. James Catholic Cemetery in southern Louisiana, across the street from a cluster of oil storage tanks. The tanks, like those that surround her neighborhood, are emblematic of the type of polluting industry she spent her last years rallying against. This information has been excerpted from photo journalist Julie Dermansky’s coverage at www.desmogblog.com/2019/08/10/death-louisiana-cancer-alley-st-james-mayho/
