Clyde Shideler 1935 - 2003

Advocate for disabled honored posthumously
OCEANSIDE The city's Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Award was presented posthumously yesterday to the late Rev. Clyde "Pete" Shideler, longtime advocatefor the disabled.
Mayor Terry Johnson announced the award yesterday at the annual Martin LutherKing Jr. celebration sponsored by the North County Branch of the NationalAssociation for the Advancement of Colored People
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By Lola Sherman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER January 18, 2004
OCEANSIDE The city's Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Award was presented posthumously yesterday to the late Rev. Clyde "Pete" Shideler, longtime advocate for the disabled. Mayor Terry Johnson announced the award yesterday at the annual Martin Luther King Jr.celebration sponsored by the North County Branch of the National Association forthe Advancement of Colored People. The city's Community Relations Commission designates the award recipients. Shideler, who died Aug. 7 at the age of 68, was cited for recognizing the challenges facing people with disabilities. His widow, Loretta, accepted the award. "We were astounded" to learn of the honor, she said Friday. "I did not realize the extent of all the outpouring" of good will from people Pete Shideler had touched. She said that her son, Jon, who nominated his father, had put on the application that "no one is really gone until thelast person he touched is gone." Pete Shideler, she said, was a believer inthe nonviolent approach advocated by the late Mahatma Gandhi and had inscribedthis motto on his stationery letterhead: "An eye for an eye makes the wholeworld blind." Legally blind, Shideler was chairman of the San Diego chapter ofADAPT, an advocacy group for the disabled, and director of CE Disabled Services.A 26-year resident of Oceanside, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2000,saying he wanted to champion individual residents over big business and politics.His successes over the years included installation of curb cuts at cityintersections to accommodate wheelchairs and talking stoplights to warn theblind.This is the 15th year of the award, given to a resident of Oceanside oradjacent Camp Pendleton, without regard to race or ethnicity, who exemplifiesthe philosophy and ideals of King, the late civil-rights leader. Photos of awardrecipients hang in the community rooms in the Civic Center. The local NAACP, inconjunction with the United Ministerial Coalition, also is sponsoring abreakfast tomorrow to commemorate King's birthday. City Attorney Anita Williswill be the keynote speaker at that event, to be held from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at theAmbassador Family Church, 4055 Oceanside Blvd.