A MAGAZINE FOR FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND …camphillspecialschool.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Camphill...ursel june 16, 1927 – july 28, 2015 remembering reflections fall 2015+winter

UrselJUNE 16, 1927 – JULY 28, 2015

REMEMBERING

REFLECTIONSFALL 2015+WINTER 2016

A M A G A Z I N E F O R F A M I L Y , F R I E N D S , A N D S U P P O R T E R S O F C A M P H I L L S P E C I A L S C H O O L

REFLECTIONS

REFLECTIONS FALL 2015+WINTER 2016 CAMPHILLSPECIALSCHOOL.ORG 32

REFLECTIONSREFLECTIONS

EDITOR’S LETTER

CONTENTS

COVER STORY

10 Ursel Pietzner Nee Sachs

FEATURES

4 Welcome to Meadowsweet

8 Letter from Beginnings

22 VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT Keith Patterson

23 EVENTS/HAPPENINGS

The 2016 Camphill ProAm

EDITOR

Courtney Coffman

CONTRIBUTORSCornelius Pietzner

Cara Schmidt

2015–2016 BOARD OF DIRECTORSCraig L. Adams, President

Tom Rosendale, Treasurer

Claud Sproll, Secretary

Sonja Adams

Berta Aldrich

Guy Alma

Gregory P. Ambrose

John Fish

Brent Franklin

Lynn Garner

Jan Christopher Goeschel, Ph.D.

William C. Herman, Esq.

Amy P. McHugh

Jennifer Nilsen

Sarah Schreck

Bernard Wolf

EMERITIManfred Maier

Raymond Ripper

OVER MY TEN-YEAR TENURE AT CAMPHILL SPECIAL SCHOOL, I have helped produce countless publications from Annual Reports to Radiuses. When working on a publication I have always kept Ursel in the back of my mind. She made no bones about telling us what we did right or wrong, how to improve, and what to include or not include in each one. Out of all opinions, I took hers most to heart. Every time I put

a new issue on her mail shelf, my hand shook a little. Inevitably the next day she would come in the office to give us her review: her honest “Ursel opinion.” I would wait with bated breath. . . . “Courtney, it is just lovely! The stories are wonderful and I love the photos, especially the one of me! I need six copies to send to my friends.” These were some of my best days at Camphill. I was out on maternity leave this summer. On July 28th my infant son and I visited the office to have lunch and catch up with everyone. As I passed Chantry on my way out, I thought to myself, “I forgot to ask how Ursel was doing!” That same evening Pam Benton called to tell me of Ursel’s passing. My eyes filled up and my mind went a million miles an hour — it kept going back to the fact that I had not asked how she was. Dearest Ursel: I miss you dearly, but promise to make you proud. Hopefully, this issue of Reflections is a good start. This is for you, about you, and is our greatest issue yet! I hope it honors you adequately — your kindness, your forthrightness, and your tenacity that allowed you to create this incredible school that I am honored and humbled to serve.

Courtney Coffman, Editor

Dearest Ursel: I miss you dearly, but promise to make you proud.

Hopefully this issue of Reflections is a good start.

— Courtney Coffman

Photography contributions by Marc Bryan-Brown


FEATURE

Welcome to MeadowsweetAFTER YEARS OF DREAMING AND NEARLY A YEAR OF CONSTRUCTION AND FINISHING TOUCHES, MEADOWSWEET IS COMPLETE – AND FULL OF LIFE!

Group and

individualized therapies take place

in the open and spacious therapy room on the

lower level.

The stairwell features

custom artwork by David Newbatt.

The catering kitchen appliances

were funded by a grant from Kistler-Tiffany

Foundation.

Joseph distributes

chimes to his classmates.


FEATURE

The dining room awaits tables that are being crafted by the Transition Program

woodshop crew, but the space is no less homey.

Mary Wheeler prepares lunch in the

kitchen – she loves the size of the prep space and state-of-the-art

equipment.

The lounge is where students gather before

lunch and rest after their meal.

Natural light floods the play area in the second

grade classroom.

Katie participates in movement activities during circle time.

Paige welcomes her classmates to a new day by playing a few notes

on the recorder.

Kai plays a chime during the second

grade’s music lesson.

Dylan helps fill the room with

music.


LETTER FROM BEGINNINGS

EDITOR’S NOTE: This letter written by Ursel was found in a book called “Memories of the Beginning: Camphill in North America 1961–1986.”

FEATURE

THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM A LET-TER I wrote to my mother a few weeks after our fami-ly’s arrival to this country in October 1961. It gives a fla-

vor of what life was like for the Pietzners: Our houses (Orchard and Bungalow) slowly take on our character. The little one-story house (Bungalow) with three rooms, kitchen, dining room, and living room looks already nice after many hours of work from Carlo and Renate. The bookshelves had to be made (bad crafts-manship) and now the many books have to be sorted and placed, what a job! The desks are installed and the one or the other pieces of old given furniture which we had to clean, wash, polish is placed into the dif-ferent rooms. This afternoon they started to paint exterior walls (in nice warm rusty barn red) — Renate in shorts and green sweater, Carlo in shorts — it’s hot! It’s a good job that will take a long time. Every day we have at least one visitor of all kinds, announced or unannounced.

Carlo is often very exhausted, but also very grateful for everything that we may do and have. However, the children are fine! They try already to speak “American,” and as we have still the wonderfully warm weather (Indian Summer) they can be outside all day. They play for hours in the muddy creek; this is a paradise of creatures like water spiders, fish, tadpoles, frogs, and snakes. As the world around is full of dan-ger, nothing else is left for them. We have forbidden them to go over the bridge to the farm, because the farmer has such a mess there. Away from the house they are not allowed because of poison ivy and hunters; they are a real pest. At every hour of the day these men stroll around everywhere in the woods in our valley. They wear red shirts or caps and shoot pheasants, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, and soon the deer sea-son starts; then they get quite crazy and we have been warned to be very careful. There are bangs around us several times a day. So the children are limited, we shout at them that they are not permitted to do

this or that, also not to fight with each other or scream or be silly (because we have no time for them!); so they have concentrated on the frogs! They catch tadpoles and frogs, bring them proudly into the house and have “their” frogs at home in a basin. Clemens has a special pet frog. Yesterday Christiana sat in the middle of the road and had in her (pink!) gathered skirt at least eight frogs of all sizes! The boys brought more. She was completely taken by the “sweet” frogs. She usually has two to three frogs on her arms and one in her hand and is delighted. I close both eyes and let her. The children also climb willow trees at the creek and old fruit trees in the orchard. The boys do this well, the little one (Cornelius) sits then high up in the branches and starts a far-sounding proud hollering. They have a great time, whilst we work hard and get the place ready for the first Villagers.

However, the children are fine! They try already to speak “American,” and as we have still the wonderfully warm weather (Indian

Summer) they can be outside all day.

— Ursel Pietzner


COVER STORY

URSEL PIETZNER NEE SACHS

JUNE 16, 1927— JULY 28, 2015

I was born June 16, 1927, a summer child, in the evening. My father climbed over the big iron gate, which was locked, when he heard my mother’s cry in the Elizabethan seminary in Heidelberg (Germany). Their joy was immense. My name was to be Ulrike, or something like that, but I looked too grumpy; they had to call me “Ursula” — the little bear. With her two younger sisters, Eva and Renate, she spent her childhood at, and attended, the Odenwaldschule, a well-known, progressive boarding school where her father was the Principal. My parents met in the school in the early 1920s. They were both teachers: he art (drawing, painting, sculpting); she music (violin). They were married in 1924 in Freiburg. Before that, apart from teaching, he was responsible for a group of boys (the son of the author Thomas Mann, etc.). During these years, father corresponded with the great philosopher Martin Buber, about child drawings, etc.

For Ursel these were mostly happy years, where she learned a love of nature, was athletic and excelled in sports, and played the viola. The family was cultured and musical, with her grandfather (mother’s side) a professor of music coming from the Gdansk area, then still part of Prussia, and her entire family highly accomplished in various instruments. (Sister Renate trained as a concert pianist.) Her father read poetry to the family on Sunday mornings, and Ursel at an early age learned to draw and sketch with accurate and true observation and a sure hand for proportion and relationship. Even as a young girl, Ursel was high- spirited: I liked to run away, also evenings, sometimes down the long stairs to my admired Olga (senior, from England). This time, when I returned (I was about 5) I got a spanking on my behind, on the laps of father and mother. It was the only time in my life, and we all three cried. She recalls a later incident of another kind at the school: My special friend was Häschi. We were also roommates. As teenagers, she came once into my room saying: “I will now start to WORK on myself!” I had

IN HER “RETIRE-MENT,” URSEL PIETZNER often conceived of and undertook projects which gave her both

joy and focus. About a year before she died, she began to work on a private memoir. This obituary incorporates some excerpts from the memoirs (all in cursive and some slightly edited) to tell Ursel’s story. It is, therefore, also quite personal, and not a chronological recapitulation of dates and activities. Ursel was born before the Second World War in Germany and died at her beloved home in Camphill Beaver Run, Pennsylvania, 88 years later in high summer.

BY CORNELIUS PIETZNER


no idea what she was talking about, but was mightily impressed! (I did this “working on myself” consciously only many years later in Camphill.) With the Sachs family having to leave the Odenwaldschule immediately after the war in 1945 (followed shortly by the early death of her father), Ursel moved to Stuttgart and attended the Waldorf School there briefly. She lived with the Killian family in the same house as Karl Schubert, often seeing him walk to the school. On the advice of her father, she took up a practical training in weaving at Schloss Salem near the Lake of Constance. Post-war Germany was poor, and Ursel learned to “make do.” We had our lunches, a hot meal, in the restaurant “Schwanen.” The waitress knew us and tried to make our limited portions (on food stamps) as big as possible, but of course, we were always hungry. We could pick up apples under trees, and collect corn ears from harvested fields, to exchange for flour at the bakery. This was an attribute that she carried with her for the remainder of her life — a modest, even Spartan approach, with no need for luxury and no waste or extravagance. Back in Stuttgart she learned of Dr. Koenig and Camphill, and in August 1949 journeyed to Scotland with her sister Eva. She was placed in Heathcot, a Camphill school nearby where Carlo Pietzner was Principal and Janet McGavin the Matron. At her arrival, Carlo was away visiting in Dornach, Switzerland. Carlo came back soon one evening and the next morning came to the dining room for breakfast to greet everybody. I still see him standing at the door, in a brown corduroy suit, with his blue eyes looking around — seeing me, greeting me. Something must have happened then, because I noticed he liked me. The following weeks (and months!) confirmed that. But these were difficult weeks to settle in and learn. And the physical and spiritual situation was so totally new and strange from everything I had ever met. Her Camphill training was thorough and far-reaching, both inwardly (spiritually) and outwardly: In the house, I became the mother of the “green” nursery, with eight children, mostly cerebral palsy, in different ways. I even had to sleep with them! (My bed was in one corner.)

The nights could be tough, if Maria B. had a seizure and I was at her bedside. After a while, I moved with some of my children to another room, four in the nursery, two next door with me. My dorm helper was Christof-Andreas Lindenberg! There was much carrying and physical help needed. Her spiritual journey and experi-ences are described with some self-irony and humor. For example: I became a Community member, after talks with Karl Koenig, the fatherly “king,” which included the Festival of Offering (Sunday service). What did I understand? The services, anyway, were strange and difficult for me, not “understanding” anything. In a children’s Service in Heathcot, I learned, for the first time, that the weekly gospel reading was different every Sunday only after the celebrant who was holding the service had forgotten his bible and stood there in deep silence, looking into space until someone had run over to the house and brought him a bible! The Offering Service to which I had to go, only for adults, at festivals,

was still more “holy.” He (Dr. Koenig) lovingly called Eva and me the “heathen sisters.” Of course, it would be wrong to characterize Ursel’s relationship to either the community or the Sunday Services in this way. Indeed, she developed a profound and earnest relationship to both for many decades, living deeply into the mood and words of the Sunday Service, and carrying a serious commitment to the

striving and study of the inner Camphill Community and anthroposophy. She carried considerable responsibilities for both. Although the work in Heathcot was still young and new, Ursel went for 18 months between September 20, 1951, and early 1953 to southern England to help build up the work of Ringwood Sheiling Schools. She recalls: Well, this was now absolutely like pioneering life! Apart from cooking, we had to do everything! Children, school, therapies, walks, entertainment (acting out fairy tales on Sundays was great fun!), excursions, etc. For some three years Ursel resisted the wish of Carlo to marry her, finally consenting in San Gimigano, Tuscany, on a group journey to Italy with Carlo, Christof-Andreas Lindenberg, and Reg Bould. She and Carlo were married on Whitmonday, May 25, 1953. Later that same year, Carlo and Ursel

IN THE HOUSE, I BECAME THE MOTHER OF THE “GREEN” NURSERY, WITH EIGHT CHILDREN, MOSTLY CEREBRAL PALSY, IN DIFFERENT WAYS. I EVEN HAD TO SLEEP WITH THEM!

We had our lunches, a hot meal, in the restaurant “Schwanen.” The waitress knew us and tried to make our limited portions (on food stamps) as big as possible, but of

course, we were always hungry.



went to Glencraig in N. Ireland to build up Camphill. Here her three children, Clemens, Christiana, and Cornelius were born. These were intense years, raising the young family with the many inner and outer aspects and responsibilities of deepening the community. There were also public and personal relations to attend to in Belfast that were important for Glencraig.

Denis Rebeck, President of the great shipworks Harland & Wolf (they had built the Titanic), was a large, jolly, kind man. He invited Carlo and me to the launching of a big new oceanliner which we attended (I had to wear a hat and gloves, borrowed from Dr. Janet). Denis and his wife came to Glencraig, invited for a dinner and film slideshow. Carlo had cooked (was proud of his cooking!) but used for the soup sharp cayenne pepper instead of paprika by mistake! Imagine the result! Then, the film spooled off the reel into a big heap on the floor. Denis had so much fun, and for a long time thereafter could tease Carlo about those mishaps. In 1961, again at the request of Dr. Koenig, the Pietzner family, together with Mary Elmquist and Renate, sailed to America to pioneer Camphill in upstate New York (Copake) and expand Downingtown Special Schools in Pennsylvania. Upon arrival in Copake: Gladys Hahn had prepared Orchard House (Copake) for us, before she and Bill left. Her warnings were serious: poison ivy, hunters

that shoot at anything that moves (unless you wore orange clothing) and it was September 1961, hunting season! — black widow spiders that are very poisonous, rattlesnakes in some areas. Carlo spent a great deal of time in Copake, and Ursel and the children in Downingtown Special Schools. As the latter did not provide the conditions for the necessary growth, Ursel spent many weekends (with her children in tow) driving around the countryside looking for a suitable property. She found Beaver Run, and it was acquired in 1963. Camphill Children’s Village was soon born with the consolidation of Downingtown and Donegal Springs. It was here that Ursel could develop roots, raising her family, directing the growth of Beaver Run together with Carlo and others, and integrating herself slowly into American culture and climate. Yet most of the new environment was indeed unfamiliar, a little unsettling, and full of surprises and experiences, not all of them benevolent. A typical story of “leading by example,” was: the harvesting of the unknown


large zucchini/squash-like vegetables that were growing wild in the garden in Beaver Run in the first year after we moved there. These were harvested, duly boiled and served to the large Whitestone household for lunch. It tasted truly awful! In fact, one could not eat it; it was just too horrible! Ursel, and her dear mother Elizabeth who was visiting at the time, stoically forced down the disastrous lunch as a good example to us. (I still don’t know how they did it.) I simply refused to eat and would not partake of this “America”! Well, it turned out the “vegetable” was a decorative gourd, and by no means ever intended to be eaten: Ursel and her mother paid for their brave stoicism and leadership by being sick all afternoon. Welcome to the new world! I learned to drive, in the evening (no time by day) with our maintenance man. I was the first of our female coworkers who passed the test the first time! So, Carlo and I went to Washington to celebrate (visiting Eunice Shriver, sister to John F. and Robert Kennedy, presenting her with a lovely enamel bowl from Copake). With the ongoing integration into the new environment, Beaver Run grew rapidly, partially through the interest of the federal government at the time, which financed the construction of five residential houses simultaneously. Also Ursel’s role in Beaver Run expanded. In her words: Carlo began to delegate tasks: I took over admissions. He had said WE had to carry the karma with the children and their parents! That was scary to begin with, but then I learned and became confident. Coworker admissions with the visas, etc., from abroad, of course, was also my task. Slowly I took on a lot of administra-tion, and I think in the course of years became, and felt like, the soul of Beaver Run. I had also to travel overseas, for the Community, for conferences, also to Dornach and for the international seminar teachers. Taking over from Carlo was an honor. In another chapter, Ursel writes: My responsibilities for Beaver Run and trust in people and in the Being of Beaver Run, made me think of every coworker and houseparent for years every evening before going to sleep! That was good. Carlo’s death in Copake in April of 1986 (The cloud formation on that day was extraordinarily unusual; it was written about in the local paper. In the evening the western sky was aflame in brilliant manifold colors. Little Sanne (granddaughter) said: “Look,


*EDITOR’S NOTE: We know Ursel was not pleased with this trans-lation, but for the sake of those who do not speak German here is the Calendar of the Soul Verse 34 in English: In secret inwardly to feelHow all that I’ve preserved of oldIs quickened by new-risen sense of self;This shall, awakening, pour forth cosmic forcesInto the outer actions of my life And growing, mold me into true existence.

Carlo is painting!” Yes, who knows . . .) was clearly a significant event in many ways. In a certain way it also “freed” Ursel to develop her own considerable gifts and capabilities and grow ever further into her role, taking on her own persona and identity, deepening her character, in her way. She was 12 years younger than Carlo, and not yet 60 when he died. She was no longer “Carlo’s wife.” She was Ursel. Something new and independent emerged. There were many journeys over the years, many family vacations, and special trips that were important to Ursel. She writes of her camping expeditions with Clemens: Clemens and I once drove down to Virginia, camping our way through the Shenandoah Valley. Then coming from the south meeting up north in Chincoteague with family. At the last stop in the south, we got fried chicken and beer and ate those most happily in the car in the parking lot! Of another trip: Cornelius invited me to come with them, first to the wedding of Jofrey McWilliam on an island near Seattle. Then on to Hawaii, where he was to have a workshop in a medical conference. Honolulu and beach were the first impressions. Then many more: lava, beaches, people, food (pineapple fields). Many great memories. Clemens and Claudia also came. Swimming, volcano visits, traditional festivities, touring around. And then the numerous visits to Norway where she visited Christiana and her family. She loved to be there, and went as often as she could, sometimes flying alone, often accompanied by Hedda or someone else. And she would stay for weeks, well taken care of in all respects by her daughter. A special highlight for her 85th birthday was a celebration hosted by Christiana. Ursel’s three children and their partners were there, and this special week is commemorated in a picture book that she so enjoyed. In the last (nearly three) decades of her life, Ursel developed a large and diverse circle of friends. She was genuinely interested in people, could be (and was) direct and occasionally sharp. She said what she thought, and would “cut to the chase.” Some would say that this was being honest. She was honest to herself; that is, authentic (and occasionally eccentric). She preferred things (speeches, for example) to be rather shorter than longer. She would often be the one to say what needed to be said in difficult community settings, eschewing diplomacy for the plain, sometimes hard, truth. She had her likes and dislikes, and

she also had her opinions. But she could change them, and was willing to work on them. She was spiritually stalwart and also in this regard honest. This led her to question, especially in her later years, assumptions and anthroposophical homilies that, in my view, had carried and supported her striving for many of her earlier years. On each of my visits to Beaver Run in the last years we always had several deeper talks. Once we had covered the catching up, and the soul and life-level of exchange, we spoke about deep, genuine questions she had. These amazed me for she was so open and without ambition. And it amazed and moved me that she was even concerned about such questions in her old age. There was no guile or cleverness that was intended to “stimulate

conversation”— just deep human, spiritual, questing. Ursel concluded her Memoirs with the Calendar of the Soul Verse 34, (Nov. 24–30). She felt much closer to the German original, and wasn’t really happy with the English translation.* Gehimnisvoll das Alt-Bewahret Mit neuerstandnem Eigensein Im Innern sich belebend fühlen: Es soll erweckend Weltenkräfte In meines Lebens Aussenwerk ergiessen Und werdend mich ins Dasein prägen.* And finally, to close, she writes: I am myself, my destiny is fulfilled, and what I can still give to the “Aussenwelt” (outer world) may be a little love, a little lightness, a little joy,

and a very little wisdom. And gratitude for all that has been. My Angel knows. — Cornelius Pietzner, Dornach, August 2015


VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT

KEITH PATTERSON: ENABLING US TO FOCUS ON OUR MISSION

V ANGUARD HAS PAR-TICIPATED in the Day of Caring at Camphill Special School for a decade. Keith Patterson, a Senior Manager at Vanguard,

has volunteered through this United Way–driven volunteer event for twenty years, the past five of which have been spent at the school. Keith was introduced to Camphill after working with John Gallagher. John, whose daughter Emily is in her first year at the Transition Program at Beaver Farm, is the organizer and driving force behind the Days of Caring that happen at the school.

“John obviously thinks I can paint, because I have painted many decks, the small barn, and a couple houses [in the years I have vol-unteered].” With so many sites to choose from for the Day of Caring, what keeps Keith coming back year after year? “The first thing that captures you is the setting. What a wonderful location and atmosphere. The experience John and his family have had with the school makes me want to help continue [its] mission. It’s a hidden gem in our community. I’ve also enjoyed . . . inter-actions with the students. They are always interested in what we are doing and very friendly.

“It has been rewarding to con-tinue to support this organization. I’ve seen the community evolve over time as we continue to assist in the projects. It’s nice to come back each year and see what we did the previous years. It’s great that we can support the school through the main-tenance of the grounds so that the staff can focus on the core mission. Thanks for allowing us the opportunity to come into your community and experience the awe-some services you are providing.”

BY CARA SCHMIDT

INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING? Contact Cara Schmidt at 610.469.9236 or [email protected].

A n o t h e r m a g i c a l y e a r i n s t o r e a t t h e G a l a & P r o A m

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS, STEP RIGHT UP FOR THE . . .

COME ONE,

COME ALL

to the Cirque du Camphill Gala and

Village Racquet ProAm! We won’t

reveal our “big- top-secret” planned

attractions and spectacles just yet,

but you will get to peek through

the tent flaps in future issues of

Reflections and Cadence

(our e-newsletter).

Cirque du Camphill GalaFriday, June 3, 20166 in the eveningPhoenixville Foundry

Village Racquet ProAmSaturday, June 4, 201612 noonCamphill Special School

Can’t stand the anticipa-tion? Contact Courtney Coffman at 610.469.9236 or [email protected] for more information and to learn about sponsoring the events, advertising in the program, or donating an auction item.

2015/ 2016

INDICIA

November 18 CAMPUS TOUR 9 a.m.

November 28 CHRISTMAS CAFÉ (visit camphillspecialschool.org for details) 12 p.m.

December 1 #GIVINGTUESDAY (visit camphillspecialschool.org/givingtuesday for details)

March 16 CAMPUS TOUR 9 a.m.

April 20 CAMPUS TOUR 9 a.m.

May 18 CAMPUS TOUR 9 a.m.

June 3 CIRQUE DU CAMPHILL GALA (see page 23)

June 4 VILLAGE RACQUET ProAm (see page 23)

FSC LOGO HERE

VISIT CAMPHILLSPECIALSCHOOL.ORG FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT ALL EVENTS.

PLEASE JOIN US

1784 Fairview Road Glenmoore, PA 19343 610.469.9236 camphillspecialschool.org

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Camphill Special School’s mission is to create wholeness for children and youth with developmental disabilities through education, extended family living, and therapy so that they may be better understood, they may more fully unfold their potential, and they may meaningfully participate in life.

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Documents

A MAGAZINE FOR FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND …camphillspecialschool.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Camphill...ursel june 16, 1927 – july 28, 2015 remembering reflections fall 2015+winter