“John’s health started to weaken in 2022 after he fell and got hurt. In the rehabilitation center in November, he caught Covid, and after he was released from the hospital he was not able to recover his health. In his last days, he told me that he tried hard but was not able to get better, and he was now ready to leave, to die. He spoke the names of many of his friends and repeatedly thanked and appreciated all the love and care. I sang and recorded his favorite song by Paramahansa Yogananda and played it for him in the last days before he left his body.”
– Ulla-Maija
When Thy Song Flows Through Me
Nay, but as when one layeth, His worn-out robes away,
And, taking new ones, sayeth, “These will I wear to-day!”
So putteth by the spirit, Lightly its garb of flesh,
And passeth to inherit, A residence afresh.
– The Song Celestial, translation by Sir Edwin Arnold, 1885
John began his work with San Diego OASIS as a reading tutor in the Escondido School District. At the end of his first year of tutoring, the teacher he worked with told him that his little student, Jose’, was now speaking English with a British accent.
What a sweet and funny memory! Thank you Jane.
Awesome!!
Chris Gonzalez
I befriended John at the Escondido Meditation Center a year before his passing on. We enjoyed each other’s company and sharing our love of poetry. He was physically struggling at this time but always outgoing and cheerful. Here is the poem that we last shared with each other that John especially loved:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
~ Invictus, by William Ernest Henley.
You are ever in my prayers John.
And thank you Ulla-Maija for this wonderful memorial you have created in honor of John.
I worked as a volunteer Oasis reading tutor with John for the last nine years. He was a great mentor and shared his love of reading by encouraging and supporting many, many tutors who, in turn, have helped countless students develop their skills and love of reading! I will miss John! Thank you for sharing so many wonderful memories and life stories!
It is my great privilege and blessings to know John as my dear friend when I moved near the SRF Hidden Valley Ashram nearly 12 years ago.
We will walk and talk and be in touch all these years. John will always attend my health classes at Oasis. I also became a tutor at Oasis because of John and enjoyed it.
I miss my dear friend, John!
It was John who I met at a very big Oasis meeting many years ago. He told me about the intergenerational tutoring. He was such a kind intelligent and spirited Person. I came to his oasis Tutor Meetings in Escondido whenever there was a meeting. I brought him my homemade Jams which he enjoyed very much. I truly miss John. A big thank you to Ulla -Maija for that beautiful Song.