We received this letter and photos from Grace Dow and her son Geoff Bremner. We asked her permission to share her tender writing with you. Grace now lives near Minneapolis, MN.
To the Apple Farm Community,
You may be surprised to get these pictures and letter. I am leaving this world soon and going over my treasures which I wish to share with you. I am so very happy and enjoying every minute as I near the last few weeks.
When Helen Luke moved from Los Angeles to retire on a small one cow one horse farm with Jane Bishop and Elsa, they did not expect any more analysands. Helen heard of a dream of mine through my best friend Florence Riley who came to her first. Then Helen invited me to come and I was her second analysand. I can't remember when I started, 1965 or so until 1968.
Sincerely, Grace Dow
December 17, 2024
To the Apple Farm Community,
You may be surprised to get these pictures and letter. I am leaving this world soon and going over my treasures which I wish to share with you. I am so very happy and enjoying every minute as I near the last few weeks.
When Helen Luke moved from Los Angeles to retire on a small one cow one horse farm with Jane Bishop and Elsa, they did not expect any more analysands. Helen heard of a dream of mine through my best friend Florence Riley who came to her first. Then Helen invited me to come and I was her second analysand. I can't remember when I started, 1965 or so until 1968.
Sincerely, Grace Dow
December 17, 2024
Left to right in the Farmhouse living room:
Nancy Hector Kurilik
Elanor Macomber Raiche
Janet Witt, Elsa Hope
Jane Bishop with the dog.
Part of Joan Miller's response to Grace:
Thank you so very much for reaching out to Apple Farm with your keepsakes and your letter. I have heard your name mentioned at various times through the years. I keep in regular contact with Nancy Hector Kurilik who lives now in New Mexico with her sister, Joan Hector... Nancy is the last living person out of the four women founders (as we now call them) of Apple Farm.
Apple Farm, this one horse, one cow farm (as you said), has lasted over 60 years as a center for persons seeking the renewing power of symbols in their lives. Isn't it amazing! The Farm is now extending its traditions to a new set of folks, many of whom did not know Helen Luke or any of the founders but they are drawn to Apple Farm. You may be interested to know that the two sons of Janet Witt will be moving to the Witt property across the road to participate in the new life of the Farm.
Thank you for keeping these treasures from the early years of the Farm and for believing they might have meaning now. They do. Three of your photos are new to me. I do indeed have interest in the original copies of the papers. I like seeing Helen's handwriting to you.
Thank you for being a person that mattered to Helen and Jane and others that are part of the founding of Apple Farm and thereby undergird it to this day. I believe that all the hours of inner work, dreamwork and friendship lived here are part of the fabric of what Apple Farm was and is.
As you live deeply and happily into the last weeks, I send along also a bit of poetry that has been appreciated by so many at Apple Farm through the years. I suspect you may already know it. You now have a place in the hearts of those of us currently serving Apple Farm.
With deep thanks,
Joan Yoder Miller
Apple Farm Community
Thank you so very much for reaching out to Apple Farm with your keepsakes and your letter. I have heard your name mentioned at various times through the years. I keep in regular contact with Nancy Hector Kurilik who lives now in New Mexico with her sister, Joan Hector... Nancy is the last living person out of the four women founders (as we now call them) of Apple Farm.
Apple Farm, this one horse, one cow farm (as you said), has lasted over 60 years as a center for persons seeking the renewing power of symbols in their lives. Isn't it amazing! The Farm is now extending its traditions to a new set of folks, many of whom did not know Helen Luke or any of the founders but they are drawn to Apple Farm. You may be interested to know that the two sons of Janet Witt will be moving to the Witt property across the road to participate in the new life of the Farm.
Thank you for keeping these treasures from the early years of the Farm and for believing they might have meaning now. They do. Three of your photos are new to me. I do indeed have interest in the original copies of the papers. I like seeing Helen's handwriting to you.
Thank you for being a person that mattered to Helen and Jane and others that are part of the founding of Apple Farm and thereby undergird it to this day. I believe that all the hours of inner work, dreamwork and friendship lived here are part of the fabric of what Apple Farm was and is.
As you live deeply and happily into the last weeks, I send along also a bit of poetry that has been appreciated by so many at Apple Farm through the years. I suspect you may already know it. You now have a place in the hearts of those of us currently serving Apple Farm.
With deep thanks,
Joan Yoder Miller
Apple Farm Community
| Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet. Let it not be a death but completeness. Let love melt into memory and pain into songs. Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest. Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night. Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence. I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way. --Rabindranath Tagore |
Blog entry by Pamela Dintaman December 2024
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