September/October 2019

CAMPHILL CORRESPONDENCE

San Miguel Arcangelby Claude Tayag

Michaelmas (September 29-October 5)

 O Nature, your maternal life

I bear within the essence of my will.

And my will's fiery energy

Shall steel my spirit striving,

That sense of self springs forth from it

To hold me in myself.

Calendar of the Soul, Rudolf Steiner

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Contents

The Growing Circle Around Kaspar Hauser……..……………………………… 3

My Father, My Hero.………………….… 6

The House of Peace.………………….… 8

Letter from the

Bible Readings Group…..………..…….. 10

Bible Readings …………..………..…….. 12

In Memoriam…………….……………… 14

About the Cover Artist

Claudio (“Claude”) Suarez Tayag (August 7, 1956 - ) is a Filipino artist. He is best known for depicting scenes of impressionistic landscapes and scenes of Philippine folk festivals and religious imagery in his art.

Dear Friends of the Camphill  Movement,

The list of Bible Readings for the 2019-2020

year (page 12-13) is the second set of

readings that have been prepared by the

group from the North American region.  This

year we have devoted the entire year’s

readings to a theme: the refugee crisis in the

world today and the experience of

homelessness. Richard Neal, a member of

our group, suggested this theme.  He

explained to us that for him the plight of the

refugees in the world, who currently number

more than sixty million, weigh upon his

heart. He suggested that the Camphill

Movement could reach out to the world’s

population of refugees by recognizing that in

our Camphill Communities we have

cultivated the art of creating home.

(Continue reading on page 10.)

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The Growing Circle Around Kaspar Hauser – An InvitationThoughts Towards the Kaspar Hauser Festival, New York 2019

by Richard Steel

Following the founding of the Kaspar Hauser Research Circle within the Karl König Institute just two years ago, it seems a community is growing around the enigmatic being of the “Child of Europe”. Does this have something to do with Karl König’s “Christmas Story”? In it we hear the equally enigmatic words: “We are preparing the bond”, referring to a community of spirit around Kaspar Hauser. (Now don’t worry if you know a different translation! Previously this was translated from the German “Bund” as “Brotherhood” and later as “Ring”. Possibly “Bond” comes closer to what König meant, and both other words seem to prompt too strongly specific concepts). The Christmas Story, with Kaspar Hauser in the center, will soon be published within the context of other stories, poems and meditative verses that are mostly unknown to today’s Camphill population, some being made available for the first time. This will give a very new perspective of Karl König’s work and biography! Some contents – stories and poems – have been translated into English for the first time, so we have revised the translation of the Christmas Story a little too. I am sorry that you will have to wait until Spring before the book will be available, but many know the Christmas Story and how from 1943 onward Karl König became more and more aware of the connection between Camphill and Kaspar Hauser, indeed very much so the connection between people with special needs and the being of Kaspar Hauser. At the end of his very special essay from 1961 he expressed it in quite a profound way:

Kaspar Hauser was sacrificed on the altar of human development. It was the same altar at which the marriage of agnosticism and science were enacted. But Kaspar Hauser kept the true image of man [ = of the human being] alive for the future of mankind. He retained the immortal part of our spiritual existence and handed it over to us. We experience the wonder and dignity of our own childhood when we read of his life and

death, and we remember that we are not just a mortal piece of matter, but an immortal and essential element of the whole of creation. Children with handicaps move our hearts in a similar way. They too remind us of our higher and better self. Their patron saint is the Prince of Baden, the Child of Europe, the protector of the image of God. (In the volume “Kaspar Hauser and Karl König”, edited by Peter Selg and Richard Steel for the 200th birthday of Kaspar Hauser, 2012).

Kaspar Hauser. Pencil drawing by Heinrich Adam

“Protector of the image of man”  - that is a strong statement! Eckart Böhmer has taken this idea up and added: “The protector that needs protecting”. And this “protection” - the circle around Kaspar Hauser has been growing; the Festivals which are held in the town of Ansbach, Germany, where Kaspar Hauser spent the last few years of his short life, have gathered momentum and are now attracting over 4000 visitors each time for the

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week-long event.  And a circle of friends is forming internationally; not only to research into the historic questions that are still not completely solved, but particularly to find out what the task of this being was and how it can be taken up in today’s context.The Kaspar Hauser Research Circle that has formed within the Karl König Institute certainly has reason to believe that the work on these questions is of great relevance today – so much so that Eckart Böhmer and Richard Steel are invited West once more for a fourth Kaspar Hauser Festival in the United States, hosted by the Camphill Communities of New York with a theme that links exactly on to König’s statement, even if it is not immediately noticeable:

Kaspar Hauser and  Parzival

What could the 19th century enigma of Kaspar Hauser have to do with the Parzival legends of the Middle Ages? And could that possibly be of any importance to us today? This is what the conference will be exploring this year. In the three festivals in the United States so far the question has ripened as to the real identity and the real task of Kaspar Hauser. We can sense a duality in the riddle around the Child of Europe: An outer task as Prince of Baden in a time of development of the German State and its connections to a greater Europe – a task that was to be thwarted by removing him from this destiny; and a more “inner” task that has to do with the struggle to uphold and develop the spiritual reality of the human being. This “Battle for the Spirit” as Peter Tradowsky called it, seems to me to be a very modern, very pertinent question!

Both inner and outer questions seem to point to a connection with the Grail. A “coincidental” detail makes us aware of this: the German author of the epic poem Parzival is the knight and Minnesinger Wolfram von Eschenbach, whose birth-place is right next to Ansbach: Wolframseschenbach.  His Parzival is the innocent “traveler” and searcher, of high birth without knowing of it - a “Holy Fool”. Does this not resonate with the nature of Kaspar Hauser? The English painter Greg Tricker, who many readers will know, saw just this aspect and

called his series of deeply impressive paintings and sculptures about Kaspar Hauser “The Holy Fool and the Path of Sacrifice.”

“The Holy Fool” by Greg Tricker (right) 

Next to it is a copy done in art lessons  in the sheltered workshops,Kaspar Hauser  Stiftung, Berlin Exhibition at the Kaspar Hauser Festival, Ansbach, 2018

The Grail stream through history has striven to keep the knowledge of the true identity of the human being alive. This was also an important theme for Karl König. The lectures we have published in “The Grail and the Development of Conscience” explore just this. We know from Rudolf Steiner that this was the task that Kaspar Hauser also carried. It was Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, one of the pioneers of Anthroposophy in America, who asked Steiner the decisive question about Kaspar Hauser’s task and heard that “if Kaspar Hauser had not lived and died the way he did, the bond between the human being and the spiritual world would have been completely severed.” What an answer to get from Rudolf Steiner!

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Pfeiffer must have been shaken by that and the question must have come to him: Could there have been a higher task of any destiny than this?After Kaspar had been wrenched from his true destiny and “sent” in the wrong direction with the words “I want to be a horseman, like my father was”, the might of his being nevertheless found some of the most important Europeans of their time who began to “salvage” the thwarted destiny.He begins to remember his task and is led into a strong experience of Christianity, and it is just after Kaspar‘s confirmation in the chapel of the Swan Knights that he is murdered. Perhaps a thread of Grail experience is nevertheless kept alive and even today so many people can relate to his life...and death. Was this thread taken up? Surely it cannot be pure coincidence that 33 years after the appearance of the foundling in Nuremberg, 1828, Rudolf Steiner began his life on earth. It was 1861. As Karl König explains in the mentioned Grail lectures, Anthroposophy is the wisdom of the Grail – Rudolf Steiner even called it „science of the Grail.“  Was this taken up? This is a question we have to ask ourselves in all seriousness today, remembering that it is exactly100 years ago that the call of Rudolf Steiner to the threefold reality of social life went almost unheard – it was the attempt to carry spirit knowledge over into a modern setting, saving it after the “marriage of agnosticism and science” that König mentioned and after the silencing of Goethe and European idealism - to bring it into social reality.  And the course of history that works in these 33-year rhythms (33 and one third to be exact, meaning that 3 cycles of history come to a point of decision after 100 years) could not be fulfilled: 100 years after the murder of Kaspar Hauser (1833) the Anti-Grail arose (1933).

In his Grail lectures Karl König discusses the importance of the fact that there are actually three sources of the Grail legends around Parzival: one is French, one is German and one is British! He gives this as an indication of the spiritual reality bringing together a new entity of Europe. Perhaps this is especially pertinent right now during the Brexit process!

The Grail itself is portrayed always as a vessel to carry something over. In this case it was the blood of Christ from the cross – the completely transformed substance that could renew the life of the earth and guarantee the bond of mankind with the spirit. The reality of Kaspar Hauser “carrying something over”, protecting the image of God, can artistically certainly be seen in the image of the ark. This is one of the most impressive paintings by Greg Tricker.

“The Ark Bearer” by Greg Tricker

After many lone researchers, writers and artists have “held the thread” from Jakob Wassermann until today, now a bond is truly being formed, a community – a circle around what this child brought to earth and can still offer us.

One of the results of friends coming together is an ambitious project in the old town of Ansbach, in the house where Kaspar Hauser spent his last years – years of pain, but also years of inner triumph, even in the face of death. This house is

being transformed through the partnership of “Friends of Waldorf Education”, the “Parzival Center” for traumatized and refugee children and the Karl König Institute. It is a sign of destiny perhaps that our partners are both from Karlsruhe, where Kaspar Hauser was born as Prince of Baden! We will be reporting on the development of this “Kaspar Hauser Center for Healing Education” as it progresses. The next presentation will be in Camphill Ghent during the upcoming Festival.

That brings me to the main invitation, because we would like to not only deepen the thematic work this autumn, but particularly to give you the opportunity to help the circle around Kaspar Hauser to grow. So:

Join us for the fourth Kaspar Hauser Festival in the US!

Please visit the website for more details….and to register:  https://www.kasparhauserfestival.net/  The program has just been finalized and there will be plenty of highlights. For instance: the Kaspar Hauser Research Circle will have its first English publication ready for you:Kaspar Hauser – Child of Europe.An artistic and Contemplative Approach to an Enigma

And in the Festival artistic experience and practice will be very important, but there will of course be plenty of content to contemplate. The most important part will however be to be together in his name.Perhaps we are being called to become part of the continuing fulfillment of Kaspar’s destiny. See you there!

Written by Richard Steel, Karl König Institute.

A little bit about Peter Eagar:Peter Eagar is 69 years old and will celebrate his 70th b i r t h d a y i n November this year. Peter is one of our oldest residents at C a m p h i l l F a r m c o m m u n i t y Hermanus, he has been here for about

24 years, since 1995. Peter currently lives in

Raphael house which he proudly helped rename after it was rebuilt. Previously, Peter lived at Camphill West Coast and was there for a period of 22 years. Peter also spent time at a Camphill in Ireland for six months on an exchange program. The time he spent in Ireland is by far one of his fondest memories and he often still speaks about

My Father, My Heroby Peter Eagar

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his experience there. Peter is extremely optimistic and kind. He enjoys reading in his free time and goes for walks around the farm, every morning, with his best friend, Roy. Peter is an important member of the herb garden team and assist them with gardening. Peter is also a great help in the house and is always eager to lend a helping hand around the community, his surname is certainly most fitting. 

My experience writing this article with Peter:I’m quite new in my position as the social worker at Camphill Farm Community Hermanus.e fiatta I’ve been here for just over five months and writing this article with Peter was one of the first therapeutic tasks I was involved in. Peter approached me during one of my first days at Camphill and asked me to help him write this article because he felt he had so much to say about his father, Lawrence Eagar, and wanted others to be able to read about his incredible life. Going through the process of writing the article

Peter Eagar at Camphill West Coast in his late twenties.

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with Peter really emphasised how every individual d e s e r v e s t h e space to share their experiences a n d t h o s e experiences of the people that were significant to them. It was touching, to say the least. 

I not iced immediately how Peter beamed with pride when speaking about his father. He certainly has a deep admiration for his father’s achievements. Writing this article really gave Peter a chance to reflect on his life with his father and how significant the loss of his father has been for him. I was so intrigued to learn more about Lawrence’s exciting life, which took place during a time when major historical events occurred. I was also grateful to facilitate this exercise, which I hope contributed towards Peter’s journey of healing. - Brooke de Bruyn.

“I have great love for my father and great respect

for him. He was my hero and I want to publish an

article about him for others to read.” (Peter Eagar;

2019)

My father Lawrence Peter Tallis Eagar (Larry) was

born in Johannesburg and went to school at King

Edwards. I was also at King Edwards as a boarder

along with my older brother. Larry’s brother, Bill

also attended King Edwards School, as did two of

my uncles by marriage - You could say it was a

family tradition.

Larry eventually left school to join the South

African Air Force (SAAF) during the second world

war and went on to train as a fighter pilot in

England. Larry fought in the war and often flew

Spitfires in England but mainly the Hawker

Typhoon. When Larry was just 22 years of age he

was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by

King George V, for completing hazardous missions

showing piloting of high standard, careful planning

and daring leadership. This award was published

as an extract in the London Gazette in July 1945.

Larry also fought in the Korean War and gained a

great reputation as a fighter pilot. “Imagine having

guns facing you and needing to attack the enemy!”

“He didn’t show fear; he was fearless!”. He was

also awarded the American Distinguished Flying

Cross and The Air Medal no less than three times

and the Chungmu Decoration by the Korean

Government. One of very few South Africans to

receive that award.

Not only was Larry a great pilot, he was a man

with a good sense of humour. We enjoyed

watching movies together and playing golf in

Pretoria. I recall hitting the golf ball further than

my father, these are some of the fondest memories

I have with my father. Larry was a great handyman

too. He built both our ‘stoep’ (patio) and our roof. I

recall helping my father along with others build a

church hall in Pretoria, which was a n enjoyable

experience. My father was a strict man, but had

much compassion.

I much like my father, have an interest in planes. I

previously built a plastic model of a Spitfire which

was exhibited in the Air Force Museum in Pretoria.

Peter’s father Lawrence (Larry)

A Sabre jet flown by Larry

Peter with his father and brother John (right)at the beach.

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In 1990 the House of Peace opened its doors as

an intentional community serving victims of war

in companionship with adults with special needs

and gifts. Located on four acres of land in

Ipswich, Massachusetts, 30 miles north of

Boston, along the coast of Cape Ann, the House

of Peace has occupied the large and welcoming

“Rogers Manse”, one of the region’s most

remarkable historic houses .  In our thirty years

we have welcomed hundreds of guests in need

of the healing forces of community. As

uncounted and unknown civilians flee and die in

vast regions of abandonment, a constant stream

has sought here shelter and protection, strength

of community and warmth of love….sanctuary.

They are desperate parents, war-wounded

children, families and individuals seeking

political asylum, refugees coming through 

resettlement programs or city hospitals or

shelters. Some discover us through word of

mouth and a network of committed colleagues

aware of our quiet efforts to offer security and

protection.

This hospitality is possible only through the

heartening presence and unconditional

acceptance offered by our core of friends whose

own needs for special care would seem to equip

them with powerful capacities to give special

care. In fact it is our experience that such

companions have a right, a responsibility, and

truly a boundless enthusiasm and talent for this

task of welcoming those who have been

handicapped by war. Joining us faithfully are

coworkers, interns and volunteers, students and

elders, veterans of war and experienced

peacemakers. Generous donors from near and

far contribute to our non-profit endeavor which

somehow receives, often in miraculous ways,

what is needed, what must be shared. And

always surrounding us, vital to our inner and

outer life,  is the ever-widening circle of our

beloved community on the other side.

Our founding vision  was, and remains,

direct and challenging:

The House of Peace intends to confront the

suffering of the earth and its displaced people  

with a thought of the heart manifested in

community life. … We shall find our daily work

in     the full measure of sharing in the poverty

and gifts of those who seek this healing, be they 

refugee or soldier, intellectually able or disabled,

child or adult. … In this effort we turn to the

wisdom of anthroposophically oriented social

therapy and to the work of a leader in that field,

Dr. Karl Konig, whose mandate inspires us:

Healing community wants to become a

worldwide activity and helpfully confront the

threat to the individual person.

This attitude must express itself in every social

service:

in the care of souls ... in the guidance of refugees

and orphans …   

and in aid for the underdeveloped. … It is the

only answer we can offer today …

The House of PeaceCommunity Life  with Refugees, Companions with Special Abilities,

and the  Spirit of the Bible EveningBy Carrie Schuchardt

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inasmuch as we still want to be human beings to

mankind dancing at the abyss.     

                                                                  

(Extracts from the Principles  of the House of

Peace 1990)

Now we are in our 30th year, seeking in a

world of war-broken children and tragically

displaced refugees a renewal of the spirit of

Kaspar Hauser, a renewal of hearts devoted to

healing.

Sixty-six years ago in his reflections on the

“History of the Bible Evening”, Dr. Konig,

himself a refugee, described this pillar of  the

Camphill Community. In offering the Bible

Evening to the world he speaks of “a holy place

and holy space ...where every nation and people

could meet….The woman clothed with the Sun

and the Moon under her feet could be

experienced.” And yet, he cautions:

“The Bible Evening will have to wander into the

world through valleys and heights, through the

days and nights of human existence, through

loneliness and distress, through joy and sorrow.”

This is the refugee experience. This is the

call to a new consciousness: We are all refugees.

And this too is the call, the community mandate

at the core of the House of Peace. in grateful

solidarity with the spirit of Camphill,  to think in

new ways of what our responsibilities and

resources are “to stand up to the threat against

t h e i n n e r e x i s t e n c e o f t h e h u m a n

being.” (K.Konig)                                                  

                                                                            

              

 (More information on the House of Peace is

available at www.houseofpeaceinc.org. A

thorough account of the community’s founding

and growth is described there in the article from

Being Human.)

Editor’s Note:  

After 15 years in Camphill Village, Kimberton

Hills, during which time she became foster

mother to five Vietnamese boat refugees, Carrie

(Riley) Schuchardt founded the House of Peace

with her husband, John, a lawyer, peace activist

and former Marine Corps officer.

Summer time at the House of Peace

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...At last, when the Bible Evening was opened for

every person to attend, who wished to take part,

it became a place where every nation and people

could meet. No one was excluded and this was a

Michaelic deed. The Woman clothed with the Sun

and the moon under her feet could be

experienced…

From “The History of the Bible Evening”, a lecture

given by Karl König on August 30, 1953, referring

to Revelations 12, The Woman with Child.

Dear Friends of the Camphill  Movement,

The list of Bible Readings for the 2019-2020 year

is the second set of readings that have been

prepared by the group from the North American

region.  This year we have devoted the entire

year’s readings to a theme: the refugee crisis in

the world today and the experience of

homelessness. Richard Neal, a member of our

group, suggested this theme.  He explained to us

that for him the plight of the refugees in the

world, who currently number more than sixty

million, weigh upon his heart. He suggested that

the Camphill Movement could reach out to the

world’s population of refugees by recognizing that

in our Camphill Communities we have cultivated

the art of creating home.  He went on to say that

for him the Bible Evening is the place in our

community life where the essence of the creative

forces for homemaking live. He asked us in our

group if we should begin to share with the world

what we have learned about the process of

creating home. He then proposed that we

dedicate our entire year of Bible Readings to the

theme of the refugee, homelessness and the

finding of home.  By devoting a year of Bible

Evenings to this theme, perhaps, we can open a

Bible Readings, 2019-2020

door to the world and discover new ways to share

our Camphill community life with the world.  

The Camphill Community was founded by

refugees of Jewish descent having to flee from the

Nazi invasion of Austria.  Karl Konig, the central

founder of Camphill, was, himself, a refugee,

being of Jewish descent, and therefore having to

escape from Vienna, Austria, March 1938 when

the Germans invaded Austria. The fundamental

writings on Camphill describing the three pillars

and the three stars of Camphill are introduced to

us by Karl Konig recalling his first night in

London, alone, separated from his family,

homeless, and needing to create a new home for

himself in Great Britain.  With a candle burning in

front of him, the initial light of the vision of the

Camphill Community shines into his soul at this

moment. In imagining Karl Konig in this

situation, we can see that the refugee crisis in the

world today connects to the deepest roots of

Camphill’s guiding being.

This year we begin our new season of readings

with a reading that can be the guide for the entire

year:  Revelations 12, The Woman with Child.

This reading is for the opening of the new year of

readings on Saturday, September 28.  You will

notice that the reading will be repeated for the

week of the Ten Days in order to take in its

message for the whole year. 

Also, this year, we will not have alternate

readings for the Christmas and Easter festival

seasons.  We have chosen traditional seasonal

readings only as these readings carry the inner

path of the homeless.  We can recall from our

anthroposophical studies that part of the path of

inner development is the experience of being

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homeless and needing to establish a new home in

the spirit.  We can turn to this experience,

especially at these festival times.

Lastly, this year, the four Camphill Communities

in Northern New York (Copake, Triform, Hudson,

and Ghent) will be hosting in Fountain at

Camphill Village Copake a common Bible

Evening at Michaelmas along with our local

Branch of the Anthroposophical Society on the

theme of the refugee.  In this way, we will

inaugurate the year with the reading from

Revelations 12. Carrie Schuchardt, from the

House of Peace, a community near Boston,

Massachusetts, which has been serving refugees

for over three decades, who has been part of our

Bible Reading group this year, will be a speaker at

the Michaelmas Bible Evening in Copake.  An

article about the House of Peace is in this issue of

Camphill Correspondence. Carrie is a former

Camphill coworker. The House of Peace has

some of its roots in Camphill. Carrie is the one

who suggested the reading from Revelations to be

our guide for the year.

The members of the Bible Readings group are

Richard Neal, Carrie Schuchardt, Marc Blachere,

Tim Paholak, Onat Sanchez-Schwartz, David

Schwartz, Thomas De Leon, Rebecca Bissonnette,

Adam Hewitt, Doug Langstraat, Karen Arthur, and

Felicity Jeans.

From the Bible Readings Group, 

David Schwartz

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

– Hebrews 13:2

“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”

– Matthew 6: 46–47

“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born.”

- Leviticus 19: 33-34.

No stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveler.” (Job, discussing his devotion to God)

- Job 31:32

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Bible Readings, 2019-2020

1313

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supporting the construction of a 1 ½ acre solar field in the

community; construction of high quality housing for all

Triform residents; and the most recent project of a

connecting road between our two sites and a pedestrian

tunnel to keep our community members safer.  The

arrangements for this project were completed just days

before Kevin’s passing and it is under construction right now.

Kevin did all this and expected no acknowledgement;

watching the community grow and thrive, seeing the

networks and relationships that formed between people to

create potential for future good and healing was his reward. 

 

Through all his years of service on Triform’s board of

directors Kevin attended many of the international Camphill

Dialogue gatherings, dedicated to Camphill and representing

Triform everywhere he could.  He was fond of telling those

he met of Triform: “Triform has got to be one of the best one

or two communities in the world, and I don’t know who

number two is”. Through his example, Kevin’s children and

grandchildren have continued the legacy of his commitment

by volunteering for and supporting many Camphill

communities throughout the world.  

 

by Ben Davis 

For the Triform community

John Taylor29 July 1950  - 30 March 2019 

John very peacefully passed the threshold on Saturday 30th

March as the Earth Hour rolled around the globe and many of

us switched off our lights in solidarity for our planet. John’s

strong connection with the world of nature ran like a thread

through his life. When the mountains were out of reach as his

cancer progressed he almost daily spent time on St Cyrus

beach for as long as his legs would carry him. Any walk with

John became an adventure as he shared what he observed in

the landscape and the world of nature around him. Birds,

mammals, trees, flowers, nothing seemed to escape his

attention.

     John grew up in the Yorkshire Dales, the eldest of two

sons. As a child and teenager he spent a lot of time helping on

neighbouring farms picking up many skills that came in good

use during his adult life. Formal education, apart from a few

blissful years attending a small school in Malham Dale, was a

painful journey for John on account of his undiagnosed

dyslexia. Growing up in limestone country, John became

involved with caving and cave rescue as a teenager. A passion

Kevin Keane

On Whit Monday, the 10th of June 2019 Kevin Keane,

died after a short period of illness in his home town of

Buffalo, New York.  He is survived by his wife of 60 years

Betty Ann, and five children: Triform journeyman David,

sons Kevin, Robert, Daniel and daughter Patricia. 

 

Kevin’s relationship to Triform and Camphill began over

thirty years ago when his son David came as a young man

to live in a tiny community called Triform near Hudson,

New York.  From the very beginning, Kevin saw past the

simplicity and relative poverty of Triform at that time. He

understood the ideal out of which it was attempting to

work and set his eyes on that horizon, doing whatever was

necessary to bring it about.  This included many years of

service on Triform’s board as chairman, trustee of the

Camphill Association of North America, and eventually as

chairman of the Triform Camphill Community Foundation.

Kevin made himself available whenever it was needed to

provide insight, support, and guidance throughout the

highs and lows that Triform went through during those

years.   

 

Kevin and his family’s early commitment included working

together with the community and other parents to build

new homes and other structures around the community. 

This evolved into working with his own and a small group

of other committed families to create the Triform Camphill

Community Foundation, a body which through his

leadership has made important steps in Triform’s

development possible in every way:  from the acquisition

of the nearby 240 acre Stewardship property in 2009 to

In Memoriam

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that came to an end when a group of friends died in a

tragic caving expedition which he had been asked to join

but declined. This experience had a lasting impact and left

him with many questions.  

    After a brief spell of studying Civil Engineering in Leeds,

he decided to look for more fulfilling ways of living his life.

His journey led him to working at Malham Tarn Field

Centre, studying and working in Amsterdam, traveling and

working in Norway, being part of small alternative land

based community and then in the mid-seventies to Botton

Village where we met, married and started our family.

    Apart from being a house parent in Botton Village, John

worked on the land mainly gardening and forestry – which

he was passionate about - along with all the other

responsibilities that living in community requires. John, a

big tall figure, had his own and natural way of making

connections with the villagers, involving warmth, humour

and storytelling. 

   Seven years in Botton was followed by seven years in the

Croft Community, a more challenging time for John. Living

in an urban setting combined with increased family

commitments was sometimes a strain. After four years in

the Croft House we moved temporarily to a house in the

countryside with three villagers where John could expand

his beekeeping, which he was passionate about. 

   In the winter of 1989 we moved to Milltown Community,

children, beehives, dogs and all. After a challenging start,

Milltown Community became home and so did Scotland.

John loved the big landscape, the mountains, the woods,

the wild rivers and the cold sea. Days off were spent

walking in the mountains, kayaking, skiing and

snowshoeing often accompanied by friends and children.  

   John loved books, reading and studying, especially about

natural history. I never failed to be surprised by the detail

and wealth of knowledge he could readily share from. He

also loved stories; bedtime reading to the children and

storytelling at community events were popular times.

When he told stories, they came from his heart, unhurried,

leaving space for the imagination. During the last five years

of his life John periodically wrote poems which gave him a

way to express his innermost self, his connection with

landscape, nature and humanity. 

   Towards the end of his forties John trained as a

Craniosacral Therapist, it was a time of being hungry for

new knowledge, catching up with where society had

moved on to while he was busy with with work and  family

responsibilities. He had a remarkable aptitude for working

with the rhythms of the body but he lacked confidence as a

therapist. This, along with other circumstances like the

demise of the bees due to changes in agricultural practice,

was the start of a darker period in John’s life that finally lifted

again after about four years. John never shied away from

being open about suffering from depression, helping others to

share their stories. With his warmth, his big heart and honest

ways of expressing himself he made many lasting friends

amongst the people we lived with, villagers, tenants, and

coworkers. 

   One of John’s last deeds in Milltown was coordinating the

building of Peesie’s Knapp House, which became very much

a community project, involving tenants, parents, friends and

neighbours. As John’s health declined he enjoyed the

comfort of living in Peesie’s Knapp, watching the hills, the

weather and the birds from his chair in our living room,

having the space and time to welcome family and friends

and to share many stories. Visits from our two grandchildren

were always an adventure. 

    On the last Sunday afternoon that John was at home,

neighbours visited with their new born child and John

tenderly held the little boy in his big arms; it reminded me so

much of Rembrandts painting of  Simeon in the temple with

the Christ child. Later in the afternoon, while two friends

were visiting, I asked John what was on his mind and he read

out the poem ‘After Light’ which he had recently written,

confirming in his way that he was ready to die. 

    The last years have been rich with love and with grace in

spite of the grit.

     John, according to his wishes, was buried in a wild piece

of land on the hillside above Gourdon, a place close to the

sea and filled with the song of many birds. 

By Tineke Taylor

The Dove Logo of the Camphill movement is a symbol of the pure, spiritual principle which underlies the physical human form.

Uniting soon after conception with the hereditary body, it lives on unimpaired in each human individual.

It is the aim of the Camphill movement to stand for this ‘Image of the Human Being’ as expounded in Rudolf Steiner’s work, so that

contemporary knowledge of the human being may be enflamed by the power of love.

Camphill Correspondence tries to facilitate this work through free exchange within and beyond the Camphill movement. Therefore, the

Staff of Mercury, the sign of communication which binds the parts of the organism into the whole, is combined with the Dove in the

logo of Camphill Correspondence.

The Camphill Correspondence prints six issues per year. Please submit written contributions to editor.correspondence@camphill.org.

We accept written articles, announcements, photographs - or personal ads.

Deadline: Nov 25th, Jan 25th, Mar 25th, May 25th, July 25th, Sept 25th

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Design: Nathan McLaughlinSubscriptions: Onat Sanchez-Schwartz

Publisher: Nathan McLaughlinAdviser: David Andrew Schwartz

Lee GeorgeSeptember 29, 1952 - August 17, 2019

Lee George, one of the pioneer members of Camphill

Communities California, passed away in his home on

Saturday, August 17, 2019. Lee joined Camphill California

on July 2000.

Lee was born prematurely and suffered from brain damage,

which led to lifelong developmental challenges. Lee's

parents - Alexander and Julie George - were Lee's greatest

advocates. Together with others, they worked to help get

the Lanterman Act passed in 1969. The Lanterman Act is a

California law that mandates services and support for

people with developmental disabilities living in California.

Lee's parents learned of the Camphill Movement in 1960.

In the 1990s, they served on a task force that led to the

creation of Camphill Communities California. Shortly after

the community was formed in Soquel, CA, Lee moved

thereafter and spent the rest of his life surrounded by many

friends.

Lee is survived by his devoted and caring sister, Mary L.

Douglass, loving brother-in-law John W. Douglass, niece

and nephew, Julie E. Douglass and Ben S. Douglass.

Lee’s transition in middle age from the California system

into Camphill was remarkably smooth much to the surprise

of his parents who were initially convinced that he would

not take to community life. Under the tutelage of Steve

Zipperlen he became adept at ‘wheel barrow therapy’ and

thus made a significant contribution to the land program.

Although, a very strong and distinct individuality, Lee,

nevertheless, embraced the forms, practices and rhythms of

the community, albeit in his own way.

In the course of his time in Camphill many people came to

know and love Lee for his unique and idiosyncratic ways

and personality. This was especially true in his last years

when he was physically unable to participate in the

community life and was dependent on others for care.

In closing it should be noted that he was famous for a

number of stock phrases he used to express himself and

perhaps the one most fitting as an epitaph, and a lesson for

all, would be “don’t make yourself the problem” a phrase

he would address to himself!

by Coleman Lyles

Camphill Communities California

Photo credit: Bryan Zecca