Dear Mary, Thank you for the reminders of at least part of George's incredible journey, where he has touched our lives individually, corporately and societally. And for an update on the incredible journey you continue on in Pune. In celebration and with gratitude, Gail On Thu, Jul 30, 2020 at 11:15 AM Mary Kurian D'Souza via Dialogue < dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
My very dear George and Wanda, When I was in Chicago for a meeting three years ago I looked at the *postage stamp garden* from our Uptown Five days in 1974 at the corner of Sheridan and Lawrence. We had the Uptown Fire Department water the garden during that summer. In its place now is a beautiful Japanese garden. It survived all these years and is a beautiful spot. That space is still beckoning people to live their lives in beauty and compassion.
The Aragon Valentine's Ball. That was gutsy. To take such a huge, closed up building and revive its role as a community space.
As priors on my floor at 4750 North Sheridan you and Wanda kept a watch over me. I remember going to a store to buy soap in the evening. You stopped me right there at the entrance and said "never go out on your own after dark". We (Heng Tsu Chen and I) knew that we could come to you to sort out our concerns.
I remember the ITI in Mumbai. You were the dean of the programme. The large hall with the huge decor pieces in a school at Andheri. That is where I experienced the depth of who the Ecumenical Institute was. Those were formative years of mine also. You have played a key role that has given me a base for any and all the work I am now engaged in.
I now teach women so they can finish formal schooling. More importantly, I empower them to create their space and role in a changing society. I plant small forests of native trees to slow down climate change and hold water in the ground. I counsel women who have been abused by friends or family. And I am a mother to two young adults I constantly yearn to live out of my deeps All of this has been influenced by who you are and have been in my life.
Dear Giant of the Deeps, I wish you well on the journey here and across the river of transition.
My deepest gratitude and respect. Mary Pune, India