[Oe List ...] Anne's completed life on earth

[Marilyn R Crocker]

Dear Joe, Bill, John, Joanne and members of the extended Slicker family,

The Crockers --Joe, Ben, Jon and I -- received the news today of Anne's
completed life on earth with both sadness and thanksgiving, and we hold
all of you in our thoughts and prayers at this time of separation and
remembering, losing and cherishing.

Although Joe and I met Anne much earlier, our family came to know and
love Anne in very special ways when we were in Maliwada for the first
Human Development School in 1976-77 .  My vivid memories of Anne include
her intentional role as "the wise woman" assigned to the Maliwada
auxiliary.  Her thoughtful perspective, years of experience in mission,
and gracious style contributed to her being a kind of "magnet" for many
of us youngsters on the journey, especially the women.  

My enduring image of Anne will be her, sitting quietly in the sunbathed
courtyard of the Castle in Maliwada during our brief lunch time break,
writing in her journal or answering enviable volumes of correspondence
(all by snail mail in those days) with a pink flair pen .  

Her mentoring qualities continued in the post-Maliwada years when Anne
(who was a gatekeeper to her husband's ear) often counselled some of us
that our burning issue du jour was simply NOT on her priority list of
topics to raise with Joe Slicker.  And I became clear that Anne served as
a very important clearinghouse for our Order's agenda at critical
junctures.

Anne claimed and deserved the "set apartness" of our Order's first among
equals, the Mathews and the Slickers.  (I appreciated Jack's reference to
her as the grandaunt.)  Joe and I experienced her as a beautiful,
exquisitely groomed (even in a dusty village), gracious lady, whose
ability to stand tall and take on any assignment (even cleaning and
cooking rice in the Castle kitchen in Maliwada) inspired and encouraged
us and others.  Her "strength in gentility" (Joe Crocker's term) insisted
that the revolutionary culture of our Order continuously reflect and re
frame.

Because Joe and I had the good fortune to live with John (in Singapore
and Australia) and Joanne (in Malaysia and NYC) we are able from this
longitudinal perspective to see in them, even at those distant times, so
many of their mother's wonderful qualities.  And so her presence
continues to the next generations.

I understand (though the family should correct me if I am misinformed)
that Anne was an accomplished musician in her early career, a pianist who
studied at the esteemed Juliard School of Music in NYC.  Clearly Anne
must have chosen "being mission", as our Order understood it, over
becoming a concert pianist.  That decision hold volumes of meaning for me
about this woman, my friend and mentor, Anne Slicker. 

Joe and I will celebrate Anne's manifold gifts on Saturday by playing our
collection of  Chopin's piano preludes and nocturnes in her memory.

We love you.

Grace and peace,

Joe and Marilyn

Marilyn R. Crocker, Ed.D
Crocker & Associates, Inc.
123 Sanborn Road
West Newfield, ME 04095
(207) 793-3711
____________________________________________________________
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