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<DIV>My, these are beautiful fragments of a great life.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Can we all get on-line on a skype conference call and sing: "For all the
saints...." or maybe: "Free men live..." ?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Paul</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 01/06/2012 07:37:09 GMT Daylight Time,
jkjmbarker@bigpond.com writes:</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 14px">REMEMBERING ROBERT SHROPSHIRE</DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span>Robert is remembered
with deep affection and gratitude by the Mowanjum community and all of us who
were there as staff in the Derby Religious House in the early 70's. His
presence in an Aboriginal community in the remote North West Kimberley region
of Australia caused far more attention than he was comfortable with. The press
were on to his presence - at first positive when a great photo appeared on the
front page of "The Northern Times" of him with the senior elder Micky Bunguni
in front of a new sign "Mowanjum Community - Mission to the World" together
with the wedgeblade. But later the same paper led a scare campaign with banner
headlines "Black Power comes to Derby!" Robert's response was to laugh at the
notion that he of all people should be considered a dangerous threat - after
all "I am only a cool school teacher". Some of our fond memories of Robert
are:</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span><BR></SPAN>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span>* such an empowering
and imaginative teacher especially of teenagers * introducing Aboriginal
people to music they had never heard before * his delight in
embellishing the story of the great sheep drive (5,000 of them) including the
fact that they all got lost at the first attempt! * his coolness towards our
tight structures * both his eruptive anger at being treated "differently" and
his gratitude when people were straight with him * being followed around by
giggling school girls * the love of kids who called out "Shropshire, come
here" * his infectious laughter especially at the incongruence of situations
we were faced with * his zany sense of humour and apt comments when the going
was tough * introducing "right on" into the Indigenous vocabulary * his
liberating presence as a proud black man * singing along with the elder Wattie
Ngerdu's favourite song "Free men live in responsibility" (Wattie could
sing but Robert???) - we could go on. People of Mowanjum will mourn his
passing - and are sure to retell great Robert Shropshire
stories.</SPAN></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span>We also cherish our
opportunity to have caught up with him in the nineties in Chicago and have his
distinctive chuckle again etched into our memories - and yes, the Great Sheep
Drive was told once again!</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span>We resonate with
Evelyn Philbrook where she says "</SPAN>I<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px"
class=Apple-style-span> somehow feel he is some where laughing with the
Mystery expecting great things from us all to carry out God's unfinished
work."</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span>Goodbye to a true
spirit colleague.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span>Jonathan and Janeen
Barker</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" class=Apple-style-span></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 15px">On 31/05/2012, at 9:45 AM, George Holcombe
wrote:</DIV><BR class=Apple-interchange-newline>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">
<DIV
style="WORD-WRAP: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space">Conna
Wilkerson told me that Robert died Tuesday night at his mother's home in
Chicago. A service will be held for him on Saturday.
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Wanda and I will never forget Robert. When he arrived at
Mowanjum, he was the star of the show, everyone thought he was the greatest.
Years later Robert and I had a great time playing music at the summer
programs. I'm sure others of us have memories of Robert, too.</DIV>
<DIV><BR>
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<DIV
style="TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium Helvetica; WORD-WRAP: break-word; WHITE-SPACE: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">George
Holcombe<BR>14900 Yellowleaf Tr.<BR>Austin, TX 78728<BR>Mobile
512/252-2756<BR><A title=mailto:geowanda1@me.com
href="mailto:geowanda1@me.com">geowanda1@me.com</A></DIV>
<DIV
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<DIV
style="WORD-WRAP: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space">Hope
appeareth, but it is not your Hope—you do not have anything to do
with it. It just appeareth. It comes as a stranger, as an alien—it
just appeareth! You do not even know why you hope. How in the
world could you hope when there is absolutely nothing to justify
any hope? ~Joseph W.
Mathews<BR><BR></DIV></SPAN></DIV></SPAN></DIV></SPAN></DIV></SPAN></DIV></SPAN></DIV></SPAN></SPAN></DIV><BR></DIV></DIV>_______________________________________________<BR>Dialogue
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