November 2023 - OE - lists.wedgeblade.net

FW: Celebration of life for John Weir Singleton, 1931-2020
by Lynda C 05 Nov '24

05 Nov '24

From: Rob Singleton <rob.singleton(a)hsc.utah.edu> Date: Saturday, July 11, 2020 at 3:51 PM To: Rob Singleton <rob.singleton(a)hsc.utah.edu> Subject: Celebration of life for John Weir Singleton, 1931-2020 This email is sent on behalf of Louise Singleton- Dear Family and Friends, We plan a virtual Gathering of Gratitude to celebrate the life of John Singleton on August 8 at 11:00 a.m. MDT. The celebration will consist of a service and, after a five minute break, a virtual reception. Details of the service and instructions for how you can participate are contained in the attached Word document. Please register to join the celebration at: http://bit.ly/johnweirsingleton which also contains additional information. With love and appreciation to all of you who made John's life abundant. Louise Rob, Martha, David, and Will Louise Singleton 3101 Old Pecos Trail, Unit 509 Santa Fe, NM, 87505 lrsingleton85(a)gmail.com<mailto:lrsingleton85@gmail.com> J. Robinson Singleton, MD Professor and Vice Chairman for VA Programs, Department of Neurology, University of Utah Chief of Service, Neurology, Salt Lake City Veterans Medical Center Office 801-581-6770 Cell- 801-201-4525

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Celebrating the Completed Life of Sandra Lynne Rafos
by Sharon Rafos 10 Jul '24

10 Jul '24

It is with deep sadness that we report that our Mother, Sandra Lynne Rafos, passed away Monday, November 13, 2023. She died peacefully at home with her daughters Kim, Sharon and Robin by her side. She lived an amazing and spirited life. No doubt she is dancing in heaven with our Father. May they walk together, reunited in peace. Sandra Lynne Rafos Obituary <https://www.canalefuneral.com/obituaries/SANDRA-LYNNE-RAFOS?obId=29923771> [image: girlsatdunes.jpg][image: 101_0230.JPG] In peace and prayer, Sharon Rafos -- srafos(a)gmail.com (231) 340-0634

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Blue Skies
by Sharon Fisher 18 Dec '23

18 Dec '23

Friends, I thought many of you would be interested in seeing this video clip of Al Jolson singing "Blue Skies" in "The Jazz Singer," one of the first talkie movies. This is a video clip showing him singing a few versions of "Blue Skies." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djd1XfwDAQs I love this song! It works well in lots of settings. Grace and peace, Sharon -- saf1220(a)gmail.com c: 503.807.7385

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Birthday Witness
by Richard Alton 30 Nov '23

30 Nov '23

*Birthday Thoughts: My Solar Hero* I was struck by Terry Bergdall’s Thanksgiving report from Litibu about his solar cooking for his community dinner. What a great image of our future. Actually, this is the second time Terry has brought solar to the community. Not long ago, Terry was the Executive Director of ICA USA and started a social investment program to fund Kemper’s (Greenrise) own solar system. You invest in the solar system and then from the savings in electricity the Institute would pay you back in cash (50%) and the other half in tax deductions. Absolutely brilliant (somebody told me the real thinker was the late Board member and financier Bob Rafos) but Terry put it into action which was the huge task. Bless him. Solar now covers 25% of our energy use in the Greenrise building. I have become fascinate with solar; after Sally and I invested in the ICA solar project, we did a solar system on our church, which helped reduce our energy cost dramatically. We not only did solar on the roof but also community solar where you buy solar panels in a solar field, which puts solar energy in the system to match your energy used. You could argue you were Net Zero. All our energy was renewable energy. Bless the Methodist Church: they just committed to be Net Zero by 2050. Our Methodist Conference’s Bishop came out with a Net Zero Task Force that is making solar a huge focus. Reminds me of H. Richard paper on the Church as Social Pioneer. The church is being the church when it is the first to repent for the sins of a society, turns its back on it and leads society in the social act of repentance. And then there is the ICA USA Africa Fund which has found an amazing amount of interest in village solar. Zimbabwe has combined solar with their Self Help Groups saving to rotate getting a home solar system. Women groups in Zambia are using solar to keep their chicks warm at night. Ghana has used solar to bring lights to the community. Kenya has just started Self Help Groups to save for family solar kits. Uganda has over 2,000 families in Self Help Groups saving for solar. As Richard Kirya reported on Uganda solar work: “More than 90% of the 230,000 people living in Budaka District of Uganda live without reliable access to electricity. There are reports where young school going children ten to fifteen-year-old have been badly burned in kerosene accidents in the countryside and urban slum communities. The families and children rely on kerosene lamps for lighting their homes; these are very smoky and blacken their home and clothes with soot. The school going children rely on kerosene to study, which is dangerous and produces poor-quality lighting. They cannot study longer, and efficiently. Some homes have experienced total burn of their entire homes causing loss of life long achieved properties.” The world is in a precipitance state. As global leaders gathered in Dubai for the United Nations climate talks known as COP28 this month, we must acknowledge that the fossil fuel age is out of gas- that its end is inevitable, we must ramp up renewables and phase out fossil fuels. Our future is helping communities become Climate Change Ready. Not only with solar energy but, most importantly, coming together to build communities moving together… recognizing we do not stand a chance alone. My survival depends on you. Niebuhr saw this tragedy of ‘individual overemphasis’ and not recognizing how ‘self and society are bound together’. Dick Alton, Greenrise Community member, entering 82 and working to be the church. Became religious and a theologian in 1968. -- Richard H. T. Alton ICA Global Fund The Last Chapter Methodist Net Zero T: 773.344.7172 richard.alton(a)gmail.com Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2 Won't you be my neighbor?

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Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] David Morton's Passing
by Robertson Work 30 Nov '23

30 Nov '23

Dear Marilyn, In my view, this wasn't bad of you at all. It was out of your respect and love for David. I had already commented on a FB post about David's death that his relatives posted. I mentioned how brilliant he was. I would now add that his great smile touched me. Bill mentioned that some of us are overwhelmed. I agree. We are mostly in our 70s, 80s, 90s - the season for passing. And the world that we tried so hard to heal seems so full of suffering and pain and confusion. Not to mention the suffering of Earth's ecosystems on which humanity and all life depends. We know that there is no two-story universe. We are called to love this one planet and one universe and then to let go. May we continue to care for others each day in every way we can. Blessings, Robertson Work Books and bio<https://www.amazon.com/Robertson-Work/e/B075612GBF> Blogsite<https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/> Substack<https://robertsonwork.substack.com/> Videos and articles<https://www.globalcompassioncoalition.org/author/robertson-work/> Website<https://www.robertsonwork.com/> ________________________________ From: Dialogue <dialogue-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> on behalf of Mari Crocker via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2023 9:40 PM To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: Mari Crocker <maricrocker(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Dialogue] David Morton's Passing Hey there, Randy, My bad. Karen Snyder updated me and I apologize to you and all others for overkill of sending emails. Since nobody commented, I figured the message hadn’t gone through. Finally dear Isobel Bishop acknowledged my posting, and shared her condolences. After that, Karen told me she had received the notification 3 times. When I don’t acknowledge with even a word or sentence, the passing of an OE colleage, even someone I didn’t know or work with closely. I realize it suggests I don’t care or didn’t care about their investiture in our mission. I felt as if that was what happened re: David Morton’s passing — and that’s why I sent three messages. Grace and peace, Marilyn On Nov 29, 2023, at 8:52 PM, Randy Williams via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: Marilyn, don’t know about others but I’ve received the message all 3 times. Randy Sent from my iPhone On Nov 29, 2023, at 6:02 PM, Mari Crocker via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: (This is my third attempt to get this message out to you. I seem to have sent it to an old address. Hope this gets through this time. Marilyn) Dear OE/ICA Global Colleagues, It is with deep sadness, and permission from the family, that I share the news that our dear colleague and longtime personal friend of the the Crocker family, David Morton, passed away on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2023. David contracted a rapidly progressing form of pneumonia that did not respond to massive doses of antibiotics, and his breathing failed. David and his first wife, Betsy (deceased 1989), were members of the EI/OE community from 1967 - 1978, serving in assignments in various places in the US and Australia. David, a committed researcher, teacher and voracious reader, significantly expanded our Order’s outreach to understand the “new quantum sciences” and their intersection with theology in the years he was a Prior of our Research Centrum in Chicago. He also served on the Global Panchayat, and was one of the major writers/editors of The Order Polity Document, at the request of our founder and Dean, Joseph Mathews, (just before Joe's death in 1977), to “pull together the fundamental operating principles and foundational understandings of our experimental family religious order.” My husband Joe and I were blessed to have been assigned to work with the Morton family both in Chicago, and in Sydney, Australia — and continued our friendship after 1988 when the OE was called out of being, and many of us continued to live out our commitment to serve those in need in many different ways. Joe officiated at the lovely marriage of David and his wife, Denney, in 1991 and we have continued to be close friends, especially as it became more possible when Joe and I moved to Maine in 1999. David and Betsy’s children, Kim Morton Case and Luke Morton, and Denney’s three daughters from a previous marriage, Kate, Julie and Susan all are gathering around to support their blended family in this time of loss. I’m sure messages of condolence to David’s wife and family will be deeply appreciated: Mrs. David Morton, Apt. 2A. 18 Blueberry Lane, Falmouth, ME 04105. Cell: 207-400-9955. Email: denneymorton(a)gmail.com<mailto:denneymorton@gmail.com>; or Kim Morton Case, E mail: casebkim(a)gmail.com<mailto:casebkim@gmail.com> With abundant gratitude for David’s life and his gifts to us all, I offer this — and will send additional information as the family requests. Grace and peace, Marilyn Crocker _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net

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Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] Completed life of Jack Gilles
by RICHARD HOWIE 30 Nov '23

30 Nov '23

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Re: [Oe List ...] OE Digest, Vol 140, Issue 35
by Lawrence Philbrook 30 Nov '23

30 Nov '23

> > Jack Gilles was the spirit of authentic exploration and service to the > mission. Always exploring how to articulate the edge of transforming in this moment He was always ready to discuss the next leap especially when he thought I should leap first or he was already leaping and was looking for company In India as part of the economic development team we helpfully fought most of the time. As part of the Organizational Transformation Network in Asia, we grew together forcing the discipline of knowing doing and being into everything we were developing connecting spirit, community development, leadership to organizational transformation. He will be missed and will be on my meditative council with so many others With love and respect, larry

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Re: [Oe List ...] [Dialogue] Completed life of Jack Gilles
by Robertson Work 29 Nov '23

29 Nov '23

Jack was assigned to the Indiahoma HDP when our family was reassigned to Jamaica. Much later, I enjoyed working on the ICA archives with Jack. I loved his passion, self confidence, and total commitment to world service. I was touched by the way he cared for his wife as she declined. In his final years, he continued working on a Wayside Inn in Litibu. I miss his physical presence and know that his words and deeds will continue to touch many lives. Robertson Work Books and bio<https://www.amazon.com/Robertson-Work/e/B075612GBF> Blogsite<https://compassionatecivilization.blogspot.com/> Substack<https://robertsonwork.substack.com/> Videos and articles<https://www.globalcompassioncoalition.org/author/robertson-work/> Website<https://www.robertsonwork.com/> ________________________________ From: Dialogue <dialogue-bounces(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> on behalf of Jo Nelson via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2023 2:13 PM To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Cc: Jo Nelson <jo.r.nelson(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Dialogue] [Oe List ...] Completed life of Jack Gilles My first encounter with Jack was on a small team in Summer 1970, working on the tactical system for renewing the local church. I was just out of university, planning to join the Order in the fall when I would start teaching school. Jack was a very rational team leader with firm opinions. One day we were assigned to the preschool. What an adventure. I saw an entirely new side of Jack and appreciated him in a different way after that day. Journey on is an appropriate send-out, Joan. Jo Nelson On Nov 29, 2023, at 1:29 PM, Martha Laird via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: I, too, came out of the Cleveland region with Jack and spent many hours in other locations with him, including Chicago. Every hour spent was a delight. Martha (Laird) On Nov 29, 2023, at 1:18 PM, Joan via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: You never forget your first RS1 teacher so I can never forget Jack. We both came out of the Cleveland Region. We have journeyed together, shoulder to shoulder for many years. Journey on. Joan Knutson On Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at 04:56:07 AM MST, Terry Bergdall via OE <oe(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote: Jack died peacefully early this morning and, according to his strongest wises, at his home at the Litibu EcoVillage in Mexico. Grace and Peace, Terry Bergdall _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ OE mailing list OE(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net<mailto:Dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net

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David Morton's Passing
by Mari Crocker 29 Nov '23

29 Nov '23

> Dear OE/ICA Global Colleagues, > > It is with deep sadness, and permission from the family, that I share the news that our dear colleague and longtime personal friend of the the Crocker family, David Morton, passed away on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2023. David contracted a rapidly progressing form of pneumonia that did not respond to massive doses of antibiotics, and his breathing failed. > > David and his first wife, Betsy (deceased 1989), were members of the EI/OE community from 1967 - 1978, serving in assignments in various places in the US and Australia. David, a committed researcher, teacher and voracious reader, significantly expanded our Order’s outreach to understand the “new quantum sciences” and their intersection with theology in the years he was a Prior of our Research Centrum in Chicago. He also served on the Global Panchayat, and was one of the major writers/editors of The Order Polity Document, at the request of our founder and Dean, Joseph Mathews, (just before Joe's death in 1977), to “pull together the fundamental operating principles and foundational understandings of our experimental family religious order.” > > My husband Joe and I were blessed to have been assigned to work with the Morton family both in Chicago, and in Sydney, Australia — and continued our friendship after 1988 when the OE was called out of being, and many of us continued to live out our commitment to serve those in need in many different ways. Joe officiated at the lovely marriage of David and his wife, Denney, in 1991 and we have continued to be close friends, especially as it became more possible when Joe and I moved to Maine in 1999. > > David and Betsy’s children, Kim Morton Case and Luke Morton, and Denney’s three daughters from a previous marriage, Kate, Julie and Susan all are gathering around to support their blended family in this time of loss. > > I’m sure messages of condolence to David’s wife and family will be deeply appreciated: Mrs. David Morton, Apt. 2A. 18 Blueberry Lane, Falmouth, ME 04105. Cell: 207-400-9955. Email: denneymorton(a)gmail.com <mailto:denneymorton@gmail.com>; or Kim Morton Case, E mail: casebkim(a)gmail.com <mailto:casebkim@gmail.com> > > With abundant gratitude for David’s life and his gifts to us all, I offer this — and will send additional information as the family requests. > > Grace and peace, > > Marilyn Crocker

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Completed life of Jack Gilles
by Terry Bergdall 29 Nov '23

29 Nov '23

Jack died peacefully early this morning and, according to his strongest wises, at his home at the Litibu EcoVillage in Mexico. Grace and Peace, Terry Bergdall

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