[Oe List ...] those who die on the march shall renew their strength
LAURELCG at aol.com
LAURELCG at aol.com
Thu Nov 15 19:51:15 EST 2007
Thank you, Marshall, more than I can express. I think your compilation is
perfect and wise.
Fred and I lived on 5th City soil for eleven months, in 1972 and 1975. (I
was assigned with Alice Baumbach and Wayne Nelson on E.G. in 72 and to in-kind
development in 75. Fred was deployed to Schwab Rehab Hospital in 72 and taught
for YMCA college in 75.) We worked very hard there. But, to be honest, we
may as well have been working on behalf of a community on the other side of the
globe as far as feeling like part of the neighborhood. However, with
Thanksgiving approaching, I'll never forget the feast I helped neighborhood women
cook, when I learned how to REALLY make candied sweet potatoes.) It's not that I
didn't love the community, but it was in an abstract way, and I always felt
like an alien there.
We are still close to Lynn Woltjer, who worked in the preschool, and Gil
Woltjer, who worked in housing rehab. (They're no longer married.) I know that
they became acquainted with more people in the neighborhood that we were able
to, and will enjoy seeing your completed list. Thank you again.
Blessings on you and your work,
Jann McGuire
In a message dated 11/13/07 11:50:07 PM, synergi at yahoo.com writes:
<< I want to thank those of you who helped me so much with the task of
compiling the list of Fifth City Pioneers. Just rehearsing those names has brought
back to me such a rich flood of memories.
I'd also like to share with you how I came to this moment.
I always envisioned that there would be two DVD's. One is the public and
secular story of the ICA, and the other is really the internal story of The
Ecumenical Institute's former staff, which is the symbolic Order, the extended
Order, the movemental Order, and the Fifth City Order, if I may use that term.
At first I wanted to dedicate the second DVD to Joe Mathews, not just
because of his symbolic role in the Order, or because of his personal contribution
to who we are, but as the representational figure who is the symbolic sign of
the presence of all of us: the embodiment of the thin red line.
But then I remembered that Joe said that the one thing he was most proud of
in his life was being a Fifth Citizen. So that brought to mind the concept of
the Fifth City Pioneers (or saints, to use the traditional jargon). And I
placed Joe symbolically in their midst, which is where he wanted to be.
Then there arose the issue of where to draw an arbitrary line, because
there were many in the Order who served there with Joe, and many who were assigned
elsewhere and who never had the privilege of working in Fifth City. And since
Joe never worked alone, it was obvious that I would need to symbolically
recognize other names representing of all of us who were in the Order and worked
directly or indirectly in Fifth City.
So my somewhat arbitrary decision was to recognize those among the first
seven families who died on the march. That would include Lyn Mathews,
representing all the women. And Joe Pierce, representing all the men. And finally I
added John Mathews, representing all the second generation of the Order who were
always as fully engaged as the adults.
So with those four symbolic representatives of the symbolic Order clearly
named, the bulk of the list of Fifth City Pioneers that we honor are the people
from the community, not the symbolic Order.
And my, oh my, as Slicker would say. Resurrecting the memory of those dear
ones brings back so much richness in our history. It's a very mixed bag, which
is quite wonderful in itself, and includes people you may have not thought of
in decades, and who may never be remembered for what they did by any beyond
ourselves.
For example, there's Ola the cook, who was up at 4 am every morning. And
preschool teachers who taught five days a week for thirty years. And Helen
Eskridge, who was there every time the door opened and went on a global odyssey.
And Bernard Higgenbotham the gang leader who protected us during the riots and
then died of an overdose in the alley behind the community center. And Charlie
Stewart. And I could go on and on.
Do you sense the glory of this bunch? They weren't particularly the best
and the brightest who could get into Harvard, but they were the intentional and
the committed. And I'll stand with them any day.
here's the text of the final list:
We celebrate
the courage and creativity
of these Fifth Citizens
who pioneered in
Human Development
on behalf of all
communities
Allen Adams
Ernest Austin
Eugene Beasley
James Carter
Anna Conar
Wetzel Connie
Helen Eskridge
Evelyn Mathews Edwards
George Farr
Ray Fox
Flozell Foy
William Glover
Bernard Higgenbotham
Richard Lawrence
Wanda Lee
Joseph Wesley Mathews
John Mathews
Ola Newsome
Joseph Pierce
Rosemary Medious
Mildred Robinson
Nola Rose
James Steplight
Charlie Stewart
Gregory Thomas
Tom Washington
God bless us every one,
Marshall Jones
Reminds us of a speech:
St. Crispen's Day Speech
William Shakespeare, 1599: <http://shakespeare.mit.edu/Shakespeare/henryv/>
Henry V | Act 4, Scene 3
King Henry V: ... We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words--
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester--
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered--
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Thank you, Charles, for reminding us all of David Wood's long years of
service to the Order. You're right, David exemplified the Guardianship dynamic.
The way he will be honored on the DVD is by listing his name and full title
under "gratitude for major support" after these illustrious names: Daley,
Chandler, and Sisler; and before Mr. & Mrs. Glen Lloyd. This list is followed by
a long list of living Fifth Citizens honored for their "extraordinary service."
These are the closing credits for the 'Decade of Miracles' video over the
singing of 'When Iron Men Go Marching In', which strikes me as a very apt
ending for the video.
I'm sorry I had to cut the part of the videotape where Slicker recognizes
Sisler and Wood presents the deeds to the Community Center and several other
properties to the Fifth City board. But at 27 minutes it is long enough without
all this extra footage. Sigh.
But (if you order the DVD from ICAI) you'll have the heart of the event,
which starts with Lela Mosley introducing Joe Mathews, followed by Joe's spin on
Resurgence in the public and private sectors in Chicago, then introducing
Mayor Daley, followed by Daley's rather amazing speech calling for replication of
our efforts throughout Chicago. The next part is Daley receiving the Iron Man
statue, followed by the closing song.
All in all an amazing moment in our history! And, BTW, many thanks to
Shirley Snelling for recording this for us in 1973.
You'll get all this on the DVD plus 'The Bold Community', a 29-minute CBS
News film on the Order shot in 1965.
This DVD, titled "The Bold Community: Fifth City Chicago and The Ecumenical
Institute" is a freebie for Order members when you renew your individual
membership in ICAI or order copies of the companion DVD titled "The World of Human
Development: origins of the Institute of Cultural Affairs."
I'm looking forward to seeing the Hahns and many others at Lake Junaluska
in a very few weeks.
Marshall
Charles or Doris Hahn <cdhahn at flash.net> wrote:
Greetings Marshall,
What a moving poetic, but down to earth, statement!!
Thanks so much.
In reading I thought of one other category to be
included in this list. I do not know if it Movemental
Order or something else. The person that holds this
for me is David Wood. Separate from the fact that he
drew up the papers for the incorporation of the Order:
Ecumenical and was one of the three signatories on
those incorporation papers, he was the Order to the
core of his being. If you can re-open the list,
please add David Wood. I could say much more about
him, but will stop for now.
Charles Hahn
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