March 2007

I expect you could call me a displaced, non-typical Philadelphia birthright Quaker. I was born in Knoxville, TN in 1937. My father was a forester with the TVA who had interrupted his Haverford College studies to help clean up France during the early days of the AFSC. My mother's ancestors had been Midwestern Quakers, but she grew up Presbyterian, attended Woodbrooke Quaker center in England, became a convinced Friend, and met Dad while she was the first secretary of Pendle Hill.

So, I grew up with sincere, idealistic parents. We moved to Philadelphia when I was two and two years later onto Bryn Gweled Homesteads, an intentional community my folks and other Quakers helped start. The Welsh name means "Hill of Vision;" the community is still vibrant 67 years later, with 70 some families! The originators founded a meeting that met in homes until it bought out a nearby bar to turn into a meetinghouse.

I attended public grade school and then George School, a Quaker prep school near home. In 1954 I participated in an AFSC high school work camp in Mexico. I was also active in the Philadelphia junior high yearly meeting and remember great summers on the Jersey coast at Friends General Conference.

As a student, I attended the Yellow Springs meeting on the Antioch College campus in Ohio and struggled greatly with my essay for the draft board in 1960 in which I needed to articulate why the specifics of my belief in a Supreme Being prevented me from carrying arms.

I finally received my CO status and arranged to work with emotionally disturbed teens for two years in Boston as my alternative military service. This experience led me to earn a secondary school teaching credential and launched me on my educational career. I drove my VW bug with canoe on the roof across country to Bakersfield to teach English and have lived ever since in CA.

I married my first wife and soon did graduate work in reading education, joining Bloomington (Indiana) Friends Meeting while there. On graduating, I landed a job at San Diego State University preparing high school reading specialists and joined the San Diego Meeting during my seven years there. After a sabbatical leave, I opened a family Nordic ski center in southern UT and sampled Mormon and evangelical services before moving back to California and, under the care of San Diego Meeting, married my wife Toni in 1984.

Until I retired in 2001, I taught reading skills in various community colleges from then until I retired, I joined Sacramento Meeting for the eleven years I taught at American River College. In 2001 we moved to Portola, where I have been tutoring and working on various community service projects. For several years I attended the Portola United Methodist Church, but missed my Quaker roots, so, as I could, began attending Reno Meeting and last year transferred my membership from Sacramento.

Home at last! I only regret that I live 50 miles away and find it difficult to attend many meeting activities. I have greatly enjoyed the silent meetings, potlucks, discussion groups, and friendships. Many thanks for the meeting's warm welcome. I look forward to a more active role in this wonderful group!