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Edited by Mary O’Connell
VOLUME 11 |ISSUE 2 |2020
MO: What was your childhood like?
WFW: Pretty typical. Well, you don’t grow up wimpy in a
house full of active boys. I was always busy with Girl Scouts,
babysitting, dance and theatre lessons, and summers at the
Jersey Shore.
MO: Do you have hobbies?
WFW: Sewing, knitting, reading, singing, writing, cooking,
music and theatre, staying in touch with people, art exhibits,
learning, thinking—it’s really fascinating to watch ideas
coalesce to new insights and understandings.
MO: What is the most powerful truth you learned from your
cult experience?
WFW: Value a contradiction and reflect on it. There is
tremendous power in the unanswered question—a question
that cannot be answered yes or no with a simplistic twist,
but asks of us to think, reason, and hold contradictory
information in our soul, working to make sense out of the
confusion. The unanswered question is the crack that helps a
closed mind open. It is the ultimate gift.
MO: Did you have a mentor or role model?
WFW: Talented and compassionate people are role models
for me. Both parents were pretty amazing—patient,
thoughtful, ready to laugh, encourage, and listen.
MO: What is the best advice you have ever received?
WFW: Give it time, one day at a time. The best help was to
know that those who loved me believed in me.
MO: What specific issues are you most concerned with?
WFW: I don’t get wrapped up in causes any longer. I
celebrate Life and my friends. I am concerned with the
person Life puts in front of me. What kismet is this moment,
and how can I respond?
MO: What is your daily life like?
WFW: It’s changed over the decades. When I was working,
I went to the fitness center, then off to work. After work, I
sang in choruses for many years and I was involved with
dancing and theatre. There was tennis, sailing, skiing on the
weekends. Always busy.
After I retired, things slowed down a little. I volunteered as
a newsletter editor for a music organization and our church
… continued to sing and perform, helped out friends and
family.
MO: What motivates you?
WFW: I try to be helpful. I’m pretty good at listening and
caring, so I offer these gifts when possible to those in need.
MO: What is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?
WFW: …There is beauty everywhere, and in it I find
tremendous solace and encouragement, from a budding
flower to the kindness in an elder’s face. Beauty, large and
often very small, is everywhere…
Here’s part of something I wrote in ’05 that kind of sums it up
for me:
…
I rest my future in love and friendship
My heartaches soothed by Beauty’s balm
Lead on, lead on, let me walk the lonesome road
Through sorrow and abuse
To the heaven of Beauty’s rest
Lead on, each day anew
Let me rest in my love for you n
There is tremendous power
in the unanswered question—
a question that cannot be
answered yes or no … but
asks of us to think, reason,
and hold contradictory
information in our soul…
Edited by Mary O’Connell
VOLUME 11 |ISSUE 2 |2020
MO: What was your childhood like?
WFW: Pretty typical. Well, you don’t grow up wimpy in a
house full of active boys. I was always busy with Girl Scouts,
babysitting, dance and theatre lessons, and summers at the
Jersey Shore.
MO: Do you have hobbies?
WFW: Sewing, knitting, reading, singing, writing, cooking,
music and theatre, staying in touch with people, art exhibits,
learning, thinking—it’s really fascinating to watch ideas
coalesce to new insights and understandings.
MO: What is the most powerful truth you learned from your
cult experience?
WFW: Value a contradiction and reflect on it. There is
tremendous power in the unanswered question—a question
that cannot be answered yes or no with a simplistic twist,
but asks of us to think, reason, and hold contradictory
information in our soul, working to make sense out of the
confusion. The unanswered question is the crack that helps a
closed mind open. It is the ultimate gift.
MO: Did you have a mentor or role model?
WFW: Talented and compassionate people are role models
for me. Both parents were pretty amazing—patient,
thoughtful, ready to laugh, encourage, and listen.
MO: What is the best advice you have ever received?
WFW: Give it time, one day at a time. The best help was to
know that those who loved me believed in me.
MO: What specific issues are you most concerned with?
WFW: I don’t get wrapped up in causes any longer. I
celebrate Life and my friends. I am concerned with the
person Life puts in front of me. What kismet is this moment,
and how can I respond?
MO: What is your daily life like?
WFW: It’s changed over the decades. When I was working,
I went to the fitness center, then off to work. After work, I
sang in choruses for many years and I was involved with
dancing and theatre. There was tennis, sailing, skiing on the
weekends. Always busy.
After I retired, things slowed down a little. I volunteered as
a newsletter editor for a music organization and our church
… continued to sing and perform, helped out friends and
family.
MO: What motivates you?
WFW: I try to be helpful. I’m pretty good at listening and
caring, so I offer these gifts when possible to those in need.
MO: What is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?
WFW: …There is beauty everywhere, and in it I find
tremendous solace and encouragement, from a budding
flower to the kindness in an elder’s face. Beauty, large and
often very small, is everywhere…
Here’s part of something I wrote in ’05 that kind of sums it up
for me:
…
I rest my future in love and friendship
My heartaches soothed by Beauty’s balm
Lead on, lead on, let me walk the lonesome road
Through sorrow and abuse
To the heaven of Beauty’s rest
Lead on, each day anew
Let me rest in my love for you n
There is tremendous power
in the unanswered question—
a question that cannot be
answered yes or no … but
asks of us to think, reason,
and hold contradictory
information in our soul…
