[Oe List ...] Gordon Harper

[Shelley Hahn via OE]

I didn't know Gordon well at all, but he stood out among the throngs in
navy blue. Of course there was the pipe and goatee ... but there was
something more. As we talked about him over dinner last night, my parents
told me Gordon was a scholar of English (literature, I assume), and now I
can see how well he fit that part. I can imagine him performing on stage or
at the podium, opening young minds to the beauty and genius of Shakespeare.
Perhaps in his quest to save the world, he gave up other aspirations
(totally guessing here). I will say that in the past few months, as he
faced his own death, he posted some of the most eloquent, insightful,
beautiful and loving reflections I've ever read on the OE list. I can see
him clearly in my mind's eye, head tilted slightly back, a great smile,
sweet-smelling pipe ... I'm glad I knew him, if only a little. Sending love
and wishes for peace to Roxana, Geoff, Elena & Stuart.

With warmest regards,
Shelley Hahn

On Tue, Feb 9, 2016 at 6:32 AM, Linda Barnes via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net
> wrote:

> On the occasion of Gordon's passage
>
> We, Rupert and Linda Barnes, lived next to Gordon and Roxanna in the early
> days of the Kemper building in the famous filing cabinet suites.  Often,
> in the evening, after our progeny had been tucked into their respective
> filing cabinet cubbies, aromatic  pipe smoke would waft over the top and
> between the cracks of the filing cabinets into our neighboring suite.  One
> could hear Gordon rustling through papers or quietly commenting to Roxana
> about something read in the New York Times.  That was my first brief
> acquaintance with the Harper clan as they were rapidly whisked off to
> Taiwan and India and only much later were the Barnes  and the Harpers to
> reacquaint through the marriage of Elena Harper and Daudi Barnes.
>
> Over the years  we have had the privilege of interacting with Gordon and
> Roxanna through family gatherings and as grandchildren wove their way into
> our families.  A prodigious mind, ever inquisitive, ever mindful of the
> uniqueness of the spirit movement, grounded in the Order Ecumenical, ironic
> to a fault.  A father and grandfather of loving objectivity, a colleague
> and a dear friend.  We experience loss at this moment,  but we will
> remember you Gordon  in fullness as a warrior for justice and humanity.  Thank
> you for passing our way on this amazing journey.
>
>
> --
>
> *Linda Rolfing Barnes, CNM*
>
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>
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