[Oe List ...] Being Black, (or Yellow and White) in the Order Ecumenical
Evelyn Philbrook
joyful52 at gmail.com
Sun Jun 3 18:08:26 PDT 2012
Dear Colleagues,
Larry and I were married in Nairobi Kenya and our two children Lloyd and
Lela were both born in Nairobi. Infact, Lloyd Philbrook could speak
greetings in Kiswahili, Kikamba, Kikuyu and probably Kiluyo and other
languages taught to him by HDTI participants while living in Kamweleni,
Kenya...as well as English when he was only two or three having been
born in the Nairobi hospital and living in Kenya most of his life. When
I asked why he did not speak those languages to me, he said, you speak
English to me. I took him back to Kemper in the summer and he trusted
the black staff as a toddler in day care, or so it seemed to me. I don't
remember her name, may be it was Phybee, but we had a black staff
working in the preschool at Kemper and I always found Lloyd with her
when I picked him up. She said when he woke up from nap he would always
come and sit on her lap so they became good friends.
My mom and sisters volunteered to care for him and I sent him with Ray
Spencer and Jill Egland to Los Angeles (if memory serves me correctly)
and he went with them without hesitation too.He was preoccupied with
water and electricity in California. He wanted to know where it came
from and where was the generator and where the water went instead of to
a kitchen garden. My dad laughed when he showed him the town water tank
and the huge pump from the ground and the the sewer drain at the curb in
front of the house. Once he ran around the house looking for a jerrycan
(20 liter plastic container) when it rained because we always collected
all the rain water and stored it in jerrycans in Kamweleni. My parents
were bemused and puzzled. He did not know what to do with a hamburger at
McDonalds. He took it apart and ate the meat, but not the bread. He
called french fries chips because we would once in a while go to
Machakos town for sausage and chips. But he did not eat cold cereal with
milk. My mother called me and asked what he ate. I answered everything.
Then she told me what he was doing. So I told her to make him soupy
grits with milk and butter for breakfast and make all his food like a
stew. She called back later to say he loved the grits and bread with
peanut butter and the stew works just fine. I told her he eats any kind
of cooked egg, but I usually scrambled it. He will drink milk at room
temperature or warmed and mangos or bananas. He called ice cream hot as
a temperature because never had anything frozen before. He loved the
refrigerator with ice cubes and water coming out of the door.
I think he knew more black people than white people while growing up,
but we had plenty of folks around the training center and Nairobi,
Filipinos, Indians from India, British, Caucasian Americans, Afro
Americans, and Japanese American.
Lela grew up in the Philippines and Malaysia as a toddler and attended
most of her education in Taiwan. But both Lloyd and Lela knew the Kemper
building as their second home with built in cousins with the
Philbrook/Otto family in residence most every summer.
Remember the African contingent that came to USA for that summer program
in Kemper! OMG, Benadetta, a girl from Machakos who ran a race in
Chicago barefoot and won. David Mbulu who lives in Scotland now, or Sam
and Ester Were, or Issac Kariuki, or Joshua or Henry... the hundreds of
faces and names who appear like it was yesterday as the New Village
Movement.
We really were the rainbow coalition before that term came into being
for which I am always grateful.
What does it mean to be a global presence now?
I still try to think global and act locally when I build models or
constructs in training. How would you work in China?
Hope to see y'all in Nepal this year!
Evelyn Kurihara Philbrook
On 6/4/2012 2:09 AM, McCabe, Diann A wrote:
> Realize I left Marcella off the list I sent earlier---She was a force
> of beauty, strength, and humor in the Atlanta House in 74 or so. Went
> to Nairobi after that and returned to live in D.C. Is married and has
> beautiful daughters.--Diann McCabe
>
> From: Paula Philbrook <paula.philbrook at gmail.com
> <mailto:paula.philbrook at gmail.com>>
> Reply-To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net
> <mailto:oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>>
> To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net
> <mailto:oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>>
> Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Being Black in the Order Ecumenical
>
> She was my roommate in 1969.
>
> On Sat, Jun 2, 2012 at 11:54 AM, R Williams <rcwmbw at yahoo.com
> <mailto:rcwmbw at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
> I have a name in my head that I can't quite put a face with. Does
> the name _Marcella_ _Buchanan_, or something like that, ring a
> bell with anyone?
> Randy
> "Listen to what is emerging from yourself to the course of being
> in the world; not to be supported by it, but to bring it to
> reality as it desires."
> -Martin Buber (adapted)
> *From:* James Wiegel <jfwiegel at yahoo.com <mailto:jfwiegel at yahoo.com>>
> *To:* Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net
> <mailto:oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>>
> *Cc:* Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net
> <mailto:oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>>
> *Sent:* Saturday, June 2, 2012 12:03 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Oe List ...] Being Black in the Order Ecumenical
>
> You sang on the bus all the way to the Bahamas ? Wow.
>
> Jim Wiegel
> Jfwiegel at yahoo.com <mailto:Jfwiegel at yahoo.com>
>
> I can't say as I was ever lost, but I was bewildered once for
> three days. Daniel Boone
>
>
> On Jun 1, 2012, at 18:25, "Ann Shafer" <asgoodasitgets at hughes.net
> <mailto:asgoodasitgets at hughes.net>> wrote:
>
> > And I so enjoyed working with everyone in Fifth City but most
> especially
> > Velma Brocks who is my daughter, Catherine's, godmother. Velma
> could say so
> > much without saying anything. She and I handled the Fifth City
> payroll for
> > awhile. Plus David and I had a wonderful time on the Fifth City
> to the World
> > trip to the Bahamas so beautifully enabled and spiritized by
> Alice and Jim
> > Baumbach. Remember Peggy who led the singing on our bus all the
> way there
> > and back? I know the Fifth Citizens were not O:E but they were our
> > colleagues and mentors. Ann Stewart Shafer
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: oe-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net
> <mailto:oe-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> > [mailto:oe-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net
> <mailto:oe-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net>] On Behalf Of David Scott
> > Sent: Friday, June 01, 2012 10:23 AM
> > To: Order Ecumenical Community
> > Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Being Black in the Order Ecumenical
> >
> > Phylis Christmas
> >
> > On Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 8:55 AM, Nancy Lanphear <nancy at songaia.com
> <mailto:nancy at songaia.com>> wrote:
> >> Dear Ones,
> >>
> >> Our common memory is such a gift. Each of us can let go of some of
> >> our worry about loosing our own. Thanks for sharing your
> memories with
> > me.
> >>
> >> Love,
> >>
> >> Nancy
> >>
> >>
> >> On Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 7:48 AM, E B <marosel2000 at yahoo.com
> <mailto:marosel2000 at yahoo.com>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Who can forget Dawn Lingo and Lynette Shanklin?
> >>>
> >>> ________________________________
> >>> From: Mary Laura Jones <mljones2022 at gmail.com
> <mailto:mljones2022 at gmail.com>>
> >>> To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net
> <mailto:oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>>
> >>> Sent: Friday, June 1, 2012 9:37 AM
> >>> Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Being Black in the Order Ecumenical
> >>>
> >>> I learned so much from Lois Reeves and Emma Melton in the
> Cleveland
> >>> Region. I am so grateful for their presence in our lives. Many
> things
> >>> they said still make me smile. Their wisdom and leadership were
> very
> >>> important in the ICA's work.
> >>>
> >>> Mary Laura Jones
> >>>
> >>> On Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 9:12 AM, McCabe, Diann A
> <dm14 at txstate.edu <mailto:dm14 at txstate.edu>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Sharon Turner stands out for me. Vincent Scott and Mary. And deep
> >>> colleague in Mississippi, the late Ruth Wilson.
> >>>
> >>> Diann McCabe
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On 6/1/12 8:17 AM, "Nancy Lanphear" <nancy at songaia.com
> <mailto:nancy at songaia.com>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Dear Randy,
> >>>
> >>> I, too would appreciate hearing some of the stories about what
> it was
> >>> like to be black in the Order. I remember Phoebe Reynolds,
> Christine
> >>> Harris, and some of the children .... Tad and Todd Mueller, Eric
> >>> Shropshire, Adam and Kaira Lingo, Emanuel Ward, Kevin Woodward
> ...
> >>> I am sorry , who are the others who have slipped through my memory
> >>> ...? Thank you Joyce and Randy
> >>>
> >>> Nancy
> >>>
> >>> On Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 3:55 AM, R Williams <rcwmbw at yahoo.com
> <mailto:rcwmbw at yahoo.com>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Joyce,
> >>>
> >>> Your brief comment, in remembering Robert Shropshire, about
> what it
> >>> was like to be black and to have been in the O:E has me wanting to
> >>> hear more about what that experience was like, and trying to
> recall
> >>> our black Order colleagues prior to our being dispersed around the
> >>> globe, embracing cultures of color everywhere.
> >>>
> >>> In addition to you, Carlos and Shropshire, I remember Larry Ward,
> >>> Nadine Ward, Harold Williams and Richard whose last name was, I
> think,
> > Epson.
> >>> Other faces are pictured in my mind's eye whose names I cannot
> >>> recall. Who were they?
> >>>
> >>> My interest is peaked by the fact that the white majority, in
> the U.S
> >>> at least, is shrinking and will likely soon no longer exist,
> combined
> >>> with the fact that there is a glimmer of indication that cultural
> >>> diversity of all kinds is coming to be not only tolerated but
> >>> embraced by more and more people.
> >>>
> >>> On behalf of the future, with an eye toward how all people may
> live
> >>> together in peace on this flat, increasingly diverse and crowded
> >>> planet, I would love to hear more of your reflections, as well as
> >>> those of others, on what it was like then to be black and in
> the O:E
> >>> and what, with
> >>> 50 years of experience behind us, we all have learned.
> >>>
> >>> A conversation like this could be a fitting tribute to Robert,
> >>> Nadine, Harold and others now departed who have impacted our
> >>> community and consciousness over the years.
> >>>
> >>> Randy
> >>>
> >>> "Listen to what is emerging from yourself to the course of
> being in
> >>> the world; not to be supported by it, but to bring it to
> reality as it
> > desires."
> >>> -Martin Buber (adapted)
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
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> >
> > --
> > Margaret and David Scott
> > Flathead Valley College
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> --
> Paula
>
> /Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into
> enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order,
> confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a
> home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past,
> brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow/.
> /Melody/ Beattie
>
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