In Memoriam

Below are tributes to fellow Mighty Companions who have passed. They have blessed us with their presence, and we hope they will continue to do so through those who read the memories recounted here.

Ben Bartle

Tribute by Mary Anne Buchowski with Ben’s mighty companions, Victor Guraieb and Mary Barry

Posted:

On Tuesday, October 22nd., Ben Bartle, our beloved brother and dearest friend, and Course teacher, passed on in Manchester, England.

Robert recalls that he met Ben in 2001 at a Miracle Network conference in London, and from then on, Ben was associated with the Circle in one way or another. He came to Sedona several times to take part in our classes, workshops, and trainings. He was especially fond of the Workbook. Because he lived so far away, it was his need that prompted us to start letting people join our Workbook class remotely. In those pre-Zoom days, this was done via a little triangular conference phone sitting on a table! And in 2013, he was part of the team of teachers that led an online audience through the Workbook.

Ben loved the Course, had a solid grounding in it, and felt called to share it, especially through teacher-pupil relationships. He was part of our first Teacher-of-Pupils Training in 2012-2013 and was devoted to the Teacher-Pupil Initiative from its beginning in 2009. Teacher-pupil relationships became central to his life and sense of purpose and the focus of his teaching. He continued as a teacher of pupils (with Victor Guraieb and Mary Barry) until his passing.

Ben’s teacher-pupil relationships gave an enormous amount of meaning to his life. He was on a lifelong quest for happiness and love, and it was through those relationships that we believe he found them both. He loved his pupils and was deeply committed to them, and they, in turn loved him dearly. We believe that the love he gave and received through his teacher-pupil relationships gave him what he needed to continue his journey and his teaching function. His body kept its usefulness while it could still serve and now, we are sure that it will be “be replaced for greater good” [CE W-294.1:10] as he continues to serve on a different plane.

It was my great joy and honour to be Ben’s teacher for fifteen years and to see him heal particular beliefs and relationships and become so truly helpful to those he served. Ben said that, through being a pupil and a teacher of pupils, he became “a much more loving person…. The more I teach, the more loving I become…. I’ve come to understand and experience the holy relationship.”

Here is what Ben’s two longtime pupils, Victor Guraieb and Mary Barry say.

From Mary:

Ben was my teacher for 6 ½ years. He was also my friend and one of the most significant relationships of my life. Because of him, I now know what a holy relationship looks like.

He was kind and gentle, sincere and funny. When I applied for a teacher, I asked to get somebody strong who would stay on top of my ego and also somebody with a sense of humour. I got all of that and more. He was a devoted teacher. With his guidance, I have been able to heal things in my life that I didn’t think were possible to be healed. He helped me take myself lightly.

The Course passage that he quoted most often to me was:

What could you not accept if you but knew that everything that happens, all events past, present, and to come, are gently planned by One Whose only purpose is your good? [CE W-135.19:1]

As I mourn Ben’s passing, I am comforted by these words. I can hear him speak them to me. I hold him in so much love and gratitude, and I feel blessed that he was part of my life and my work with the Course.

From Victor:

After 11 years of being his pupil, I always received from Ben much love, light and patience. He always instructed me to pray “from the heart” and left before me a trail of love and determination to always be connected with God, with the Holy Spirit, and with Jesus. He enriched my readings of the Text with wisdom, and reminded me, as I practiced the lessons in the Workbook, that I am still just as God created me, completely loved and cared for by Him forever. Ben, I wish you a loving and peaceful transition to your encounter with the infinite Love of God.

************

In closing, Victor, Mary, and I trust that having laid aside the body “now outworn,” Ben can “rest a while from labor gladly done and gladly ended… [and has gone] in peace to freer air and gentler climate, where it is not hard to see the gifts [he] gave were saved for [him]” (Song of Prayer. 3.II).

I recently read that, “When someone kind and loving dies, they leave a glow on those who are left behind.” Ben definitely left a glow on us who are left behind, and who knows how many others!

Ben, we celebrate you, your life and work, your presence, and your many gifts to us. Thank you. thank you, thank you!

With love and blessings for your continuing journey,

Mary Anne, Mary, and Victor

Note:  The photo of Ben with Mary Anne was taken on his 67th. birthday, which we celebrated in Sedona on March 31st., 2012.

Allen Watson

 

 

 

Tributes by: Mary Anne Buchowski & Robert Perry
Posted: September 23, 2024

Even though “There is no death. The Son of God is free” [CE W-163], we are deeply saddened by his sudden departure and will miss him greatly.

Allen was Robert’s teaching partner for several years, having been invited by Robert to join him in the newly born Circle of Atonement in 1993. He was a Course teacher “par excellence” who contributed greatly to the Circle. His fidelity to the Course and his integrity as a Course teacher were exemplary and inspirational.

Allen wrote several booklets, articles on Course topics, Text commentaries, and was primarily known through his two-volume A Workbook Companion. Although his Workbook commentaries were written years ago, they still attract a wide and faithful readership of Course students, who see them as true companions on their journey through the Workbook. I think that Allen has had such a strong following because, as well as having a solid understanding of the Course, he had the gift of conveying it in a very down-to-earth and personable way. I still hear students say that they feel as if Allen is right there with them and seems to understand them as they work through the lessons. He was always ready and open to talking about his insights and his own experiences–and challenges–as he practiced and applied the lessons in his own life.

As I prepared to write this, I went back and read some of Allen’s commentaries, and I too could feel him right there talking with me about the lessons, and I felt as if I was getting to know him all over again. I also had the privilege of working with Allen, and I had the even greater privilege of being his friend.

As well as being an excellent Course teacher, Allen was an excellent Course student, practitioner, and demonstration of the Course’s teachings. He truly endeavoured and succeeded significantly in doing as Jesus asked:

Teach not that I died in vain. Teach rather that I did not die by demonstrating that I live in you. [CE T-11.VII.8:3-4]

As I write this, I’m practicing Lesson 265, “Creation’s gentleness is all I see,” and it came to me how easy it was to see creation’s gentleness in Allen. The fourth characteristic of God’s teachers is gentleness, and that was a hallmark of Allen. He was a gentle and loving soul, a person of substance. It was always a joy to be in his presence.

When we used to hold workshops and retreats in Sedona, Allen would start things off by singing one of many songs he had written based on the lessons. I can still hear him singing and strumming his guitar. I can still hear his deep, melodic voice guiding us through a Course-based visualization.

If Allen didn’t achieve perfection as a teacher of God, I do think that he came very close. And I have confidence that he will continue his spiritual journey and return to the world as an advanced teacher. God gave special gifts to His teacher Allen because he had a special role in His plan for Atonement here [CE M-4.1:4], and I’m certain that he will be back to complete his role and be truly helpful to even more people, extending his hand to reach his brothers, and to help them walk along the road with him [CE W-WI.5.4:3]. As he sang in “I Cannot Go without You”:

I cannot go without you, for you’re a part of me. Come take my hand, my brother… my sister… and go to God with me.

Allen,

Spirit are you; holy are you, eternal, free and whole, at peace and in joy forever in the heart of God.
Spirit are you, free of all limits, safe, and healed, and whole, shining in the reflection of God’s love.

We honor and love you and are so grateful to you. You were a mighty companion, and we will miss you greatly. We send you our blessings as you continue your joyful journey back home to God.

Love,

Mary Anne Buchowski
Circle teacher

Allen Watson Memoriam by Robert Perry

I will never forget fetching the mail from the Circle’s P.O. box in Sedona, Arizona in the early 90s and discovering that someone had sent me two booklets by a man named Allen Watson. Even before leaving the post office I started reading one of them, a commentary on “The Fear of Redemption” section in the Text. I was instantly impressed. The writing was clear, emotional, and true to the Course. I thought “This guy really has something.”

I reached out to Allen and after a couple of years of exploration, in person and through the mail, we realized we had so much in common in how we saw the Course that, in 1993, Allen decided to move from New Jersey to Sedona to join us in the newly incorporated Circle of Atonement.

His influence was felt instantly. While I liked to do topical classes, he urged us to take our students through the entire Text, section by section, which we did, over four years. It was a landmark time in the spiritual journey of all who attended.

But his influence was also felt in a deeper way. While I liked to pull topics together from all over the Course, Allen’s Bible background had trained him to carefully draw out each sentence and indeed each word. He would often read a sentence aloud and, by putting the emphasis on a particular word, open up a whole new meaning for me.

I had been working on a summary of the Text in which I compressed every paragraph into half its length, stripping out “unnecessary” verbiage. Once he was in Sedona, I shared my draft with Allen, hoping he’d be impressed. Instead, he simply said, “But it’s already compressed.” He was right, and I abandoned the project. It was a fundamental shift for me to focus on drawing out the wealth that was hidden in each line, a shift I received from Allen.

His writing was all about drawing out that wealth, in a way that made you understand it, but also that made you feel it, adding stories, quotes, and personal anecdotes. This is no doubt why his beloved Workbook Companion commentaries remain the most popular thing on our site to this day. I can still see him working on those every night out on the deck at the house we shared in Sedona.

Allen and I taught countless classes, workshops, and retreats together, often leading us through his original Course music. He finally retired from the Circle in 2006, but he kept teaching in Portland and writing commentaries. When he came to our thirtieth anniversary celebration last year in October, he sat Emily and I down and asked, with emotion in his voice, if we would house his Text commentaries on the Circle’s website in perpetuity. He had been working on these for over twenty years. We were honored and immediately said yes. But right or wrong, we also took away the impression that he didn’t think he would be around very long.

Allen was a gentle soul. A mutual friend called him “the quintessential reasonable man.” He gave so much to students of A Course in Miracles. Even if you don’t know his writings, all of those who have benefited from the Circle’s work, and all of us at the Circle, me very much included, owe him a deep debt of gratitude.

With love,
Robert Perry

Note: Here are the links to the two-volume A Workbook Companion in the Circle’s Bookstore and Allen’s online Workbook Commentaries on the Circle’s website.

 

Michael Deane

Tribute by: Anna Warner
Photo by: Chris Smedley
Posted: November 6, 2023

Michael has been involved with the Circle of Atonement from the start and has been a student of the ACIM since the 90s. He started leading his first face-to-face study group in the early 2000s, which, due to COVID-19, changed to online meetings. This enabled him to join more groups in the Zoom format, and he ended up leading three of them. 

He was so loved by everyone. His humbleness, genuity, helpfulness, and wry humor were a perfect mix of qualities in a great leader. 

He became ill four years ago, but this didn’t slow him down much. When he started needing medications to control his pain, he would skip them before meetings because he wanted his mind to remain clear. During these meetings people would say, “Michael, you look so well; it’s hard to believe that you are ill.” He often said at the beginning of his later Zooms that he might not stay the whole time, but as a rule he did. He said that the energy of the meeting and everyone there had made him feel so much better. 

Even towards the very end, he continued to participate in a lesser capacity, and while in Hospice, family and friends helped him log in to meetings just to say a few words and hear the outpouring of love of his ACIM and Circle family. 

Michael passed away on the 14th of October 2023. and leaves behind his “Y” Sherry (the term he lovingly used for her). They had been separated for years but remained very close friends, and Sherry took care of him to the very end), his two wonderful sons, his siblings, and all his dear ACIM friends. 

Here are a few things his fellow students have to say about Michael:

I think of a scholar when I think of our gentle and humble companion, Our dear Michael. He was, in many ways, my teacher and always so generous in spirit, explaining and directing me to references whenever any questions were raised about the Course. He was, for me, ACIM “boots on the ground” living the daily lessons as his body bravely fought the “real” illusions of pain and loss. I stand humbled in his example of facing the beginning of his transitioning by checking himself into Hospice living the basic lesson of the Course, being comforted in the understanding that he had of knowing, “I am not a body. I am free.”….of knowing he was, is and always will be as God created him. But he lived this…each day as a physical limitation reminded him, tempted him to believe what his physical eyes were seeing but he knew what Jesus told him and was able to raise up above that battlefield of physical sight to the truth of what Jesus was teaching. “I am not a body. I am free. I am still as God created me.” 

Sweet Holy Spirit, our Translator and Teacher, help us not to grieve as we are human and may feel an emptiness or loss but to know that our dear brother Michael is alive and in the full Memory of who is His, one with love and with all of us. Amen”  

“My ‘brother’ Michael is so many things, but bottom line he lives/lived ACIM-CE and was so glad for its fullness, and for about 2 decades he held classes on ACIM-FIP. I always saw him, in each of the gatherings he had, as teacher and mentor to me. And I much loved it when a phrase or word from him sounded like gladness that I understood something difficult. His central point was to always, just like Mary Anne did, direct us to look down to the page for the answer.  

In one of our phone chats I had told him he was presenting me, all of us, with a huge lesson here in continuing, when what most of us before had only lived as endings of others’ lives. It was new language and phrasing between us, he and I, and between us all, shifts in perception and projection, to see God’s holy Son’s steps in setting this vessel of a body aside in this transition process, and then continuing on in Home’s direction…  He proved love supporting him provided him mini-healings. He’d join our Saturday morning meeting quite drained. By meeting’s end he would be remarkably restored just by being together. It wasn’t easy, and it did become doable. It took experiencing his own mind shifting for Michael to grinningly understand others’ exasperation with his not understanding why they weren’t getting something techie Michael was trying to get across. Michael had emailed — Holy Spirit’s strength in him — that he was checking himself into Hospice, and requested us to keep reminding him who he truly is . . . God’s holy Son. So then I learned the value in talking to Michael in mind, ala Helen talking to Dave Diamond or her husband Louis, doing as Michael asked, and being of service in providing ease of no identity loss when he chose his leaving with God. He isn’t a body; he is free. Michael is still as God created him. And I’m gladdened and grateful this is so.” 

Michael, I am glad that I have said my words of peace to you while you were here. I will miss you very much. Your kindness and dedication to Spirit has helped me and so many others immensely. Your presence here is gone but it feels like you are here. I would venture to guess that this is your joy over where you are now shining out to your friends who love you. I hope you are finding Precious Henn’s hugs as wonderful as I did. 

To family and friends left behind, thank you for making Michael’s life a happily loved one. I am heartily sorry for your losses. How fortunate the world has been to have such a person in it that cares for so many. May you find peace and comfort in the face of this. Wishing you all the best. 

Even though we are sad of his passing let’s remember that Michael just left his body, but he is well and alive for eternity with infinite LOVE that never dies. 

Michael is not a body, he is free, he is just as God created him. 

He was a true brother to me and very deeply missed. But I know where he is and I am so happy for him.

The red suspenders said it all! There will be a huge hole in my heart for a long time but I know that you are just fine. 

Michael, you were so patient with me over the years. I would get all gung-ho for a while and then my ego would take me places and I’d start skipping meetings. You always took me back with a smile and said that if the lessons seem too much to do at the moment, just read them every day, something will stick. Something has been sticking, thank you. I love you and will miss you so much but as others have said, you are around….

Sandra Rocafort

Tribute by Jacqueline Ramsey
posted: November 24, 2022

If you have encountered Sandra in any of the Circle groups or events, you no doubt would have seen her smiling face and heard her joyful laugh. She was a loving and dedicated Course student, always doing her best to practice what she was learning.

Sandra started at the Circle as a volunteer in 2019 helping me with uploading, formatting, and correcting articles on the website. In January 2021 she joined my Text study group which led to our WBK study group, so I’ve had lots of contact with Sandra over the past three years. As a group participant she was engaging while sharing her wonderful insights. Throughout that time her volunteer work continued in many ways including her continued involvement with articles, Spanish translations and more recently the CE App. She gave over 100 hours of her time, but she also gave her warmth and joy.

We will miss her at the Circle, our study group will miss her, and I will miss her – even as I remember that she is never far from me.

Jacquie

Sylvia Barry

Tribute by Mary Barry
posted: September 10. 2021

Dear Companions,

It is with a sad heart that I tell you about the death last night of our dear Companion, Sylvia Barry. When I joined the Study Group Leader training last year, I discovered Sylvia had joined too. She was not yet a member of Course Companions. I was so thrilled to have another Irish person on this journey. Unfortunately, Sylvia was diagnosed with cancer and couldn’t finish the training, but she did join my study group when I started in January. To say she challenged me is an understatement!!! My growth as a study group leader is partly down to her. Our study group, which she attended up until a few weeks ago, will miss her.

We love you, Sylvia.

Steve Sechrist

Tribute by Emily Bennington
posted: September 1, 2021

Many of you may know already that one of our fellow Course Companions members, Steve Sechrist, passed away recently due to covid complications. I didn’t know Steve well but I have great memories of his thoughtful contributions in class. Steve was a kind soul and serious about his spiritual path. He lit up whenever he spoke about the Course’s ideas and he had a wonderful, warm smile. It’s hard to believe he was in class only a few weeks ago…a stark reminder of how precious life can be.

We will miss Steve greatly and send our love and prayers to his family.

Judith Skutch Whitson

Tribute by Robert Perry and Emily Bennington
posted: October 20, 2021

Judy Skutch Whitson’s passing yesterday at age 90 marks the end of an era for A Course in Miracles. She was the last member of the first family responsible for bringing the Course into the world.

Judy’s story is well-known. In 1975, after turning her New York apartment into a “consciousness salon,” a hub of meetings and events for the world of parapsychology, she found herself alone in her bedroom, in a state of desperation, crying out “Won’t someone up there please help me?” Within days, she was introduced to Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford, who had been receiving guidance that the woman who would take the Course on its way was coming.

At their initial meeting over lunch in New York, in the midst of an innocuous discussion about psychological research, Judy inexplicably blurted out to Helen, “You hear an inner voice, don’t you?” Immediately, Judy was ushered into Bill’s office, the blinds were closed, and she was shown the Course for the first time. After reading its Introduction, Judy heard an inner voice say, “Here is your map home,” and she knew that this was the answer to her cry for help.
After that momentous day, Judy became a key member of the early Course family, meeting with Helen, Bill, and Ken Wapnick daily. As word spread, publishers approached them with offers to publish the book. When the four of them sought guidance, the message was clear: “It is to be published by those who have only the Course as their focus, and nothing else.”

That’s when they realized that they were supposed to publish it. The foundation that Judy and her then-husband Bob Skutch had established, The Foundation for Parasensory Investigation, was changed to the Foundation for Inner Peace, and in 1976, one short year after her meeting with Helen and Bill, it published A Course in Miracles.

In those early years, Judy was a tireless promoter of the Course. But eventually, she largely stepped back from a public role. She focused her energy instead on running the Foundation for Inner Peace, with its colossal job of translating the Course into what is now 26 different languages. But she remained an active presence behind the scenes in the community, always happy to receive a visitor or hop on the phone and talk, always generous with her time. One Course teacher captured it well when he said, “She has a heart like a hotel.”

In recent years, it was wonderful to see her taking on a more public role once again in doing podcasts for the Foundation. Even in the most recent podcasts, what we now know to be her last, her absolute seriousness about the Course and her earnestness and enthusiasm for really living its principles were as infectious as ever.

Early in the process of the Course dictation, in talking about how more and more truth was coming through Helen, Jesus said this was “due to only one sign of assent. I asked her to take notes, and she did.” With Judy, we see the exact same “one sign of assent.” And like the guidance that said the Course should be published by those who have only it as their focus and nothing else, that’s all she did, for the remaining forty-five years of her life. All of us who hold this book in our hands today owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Judy Skutch Whitson.

With Judy’s passing, so much is lost. We have lost a living link with the genesis of the Course. We have lost a wealth of personal memories of Helen and of Bill. The Foundation, the parent organization, has lost its guiding light. But the keynote here isn’t loss, but achievement. Jesus asked her to bring the Course to the world, and she did.

 

Steve Weglarz Sr.

Tributes by Mary Anne Buchowski and Robert Perry
posted: September 14th, 2021