8 minute read
Elizabeth “Beth” Wieting, Eulogy by Aaron Wieting
June 10, 1942–July 16, 2019
One of the things I miss most about my mother was her ability to bring people together. She walked in many circles and I especially remember her holiday parties where these circles intersected. Her holiday parties were where she invited various interesting and intelligent people such as neighbors, parents of my childhood friends, Anthopops, people from the Biodynamic Association, colleagues, and her future daughter-in-law and mother of her grandsons. Mom very much enjoyed bringing these people together who might otherwise never have met, and seeing what sort of conversations might unfold, and what new connections and friendships might be made.
Many of you her know her through her involvement in the Anthroposophical Society, I was asked to talk a little about some of mom’s history and her life outside of the Society. Elizabeth Churchill Taft was born on June 10, 1942 in Richmond, VA, to Robert W. Taft and Ruby Mae Churchill. Beth came from an old New England family, her ancestor Robert Taft and his three brothers came from England in the mid-1600s. Two very distant relatives were President William Howard Taft and Senator Robert Taft of Ohio who ran against Eisenhower for the Republican presidential nomination in 1952.
Betsy and her younger sister Marjorie grew up in semi-rural Massachusetts and were around farms and animals from a very early age. She told me many stories of her enormous Great Dane Brindy, and her mother’s horse Queenie, a white quarterhorse with blue eyes. Betsy and Marjorie’s mother Ruby taught them both everything about horseback riding from grooming her, feeding her grains and even changing the stall, putting in new hay. Betsy and Marjorie also had bantam chickens as pets, and Betsy decided she would try to train some of the hens to walk along a “high wire” of sorts, guiding each hen along with a dowel stick. She succeeded, and exercising her natural instinct as a performer would put on shows or circuses for the local neighborhood children.
Betsy loved going fishing, enthusiastically accompanying her father on trips out on Lake Willoughby for bass or Lake Damariscotta in the neighboring state of Maine. By high school Betsy would go with her father and his buddies on their annual fishing trip up in Quebec to a remote lodge that could only be reached by plane. Her father came back praising how Betsy outfished all the grown men and was an ace at the sport.
There were four high schools in downtown Springfield where everyone from the suburbs would go, choosing each one for what their interests were (business, technology & engineering, a trade or college). Classical and Technical high schools were where everyone who was college-bound went, with Classical being the most rigorous. Beth graduated Summa Cum Laude from Classical High School in Springfield, MA, 1960, as a straight-A student and near perfect SATs with no preparation, and editorin-chief of the Classical Recorder high school newspaper. Beth was a superb piano player practicing up to five hours per day, and was accepted into the private Tuesday Morning Club where student musicians would give solo recitals. Classical is the same high school that Theodor Geisel, known as Dr Seuss, graduated from in 1920.
In 1960, Beth travelled to the Middle East and Europe on a summer-long trip with her best friend Susan and her family, stopping in Egypt, the United Arab Republic, Jordan, Syria, Israel, and Lebanon. Susan’s father was head of the Arab American League and the trip included a private dinner with King Hussein of Jordan as well as visits to Palestinian refugee camps. It had a profound effect on her regarding spirituality, human rights, women’s rights, her place in the world and missions in life.
Beth had the courage to pursue her dreams. Going to Radcliffe was her dream, but her guidance counselor said, “You’ll never get into Radcliffe and don’t even think of applying early decision.” Beth was easily accepted with a “full ride” based on merit & financial need. She spent her junior year studying French in Aix-En-Provence, France, and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Romance Languages and Literatures. Lady Bird Johnson was the commencement speaker, the first person from outside Radcliffe to give a commencement address.
At Radcliffe, Beth was working in a café in Cambridge when she was introduced to her future husband Tom Wieting. Beth came to Oregon after Tom received a teaching position at Reed College and she initially taught at Milwaukie High School before she and Tom were married and had their only child, myself, in 1967. Beth was largely a stay-at-home mom as she believed in being present during early childhood development, but was also a very active gardener. She was also active in environmental issues and lobbied the Oregon legislature on the bottle bill and vehicle emission testing, and testified on pesticide use in agriculture before the California State Legislature. During this time, she also studied and received a master’s degree in Comparative English Literature from Portland State University. She also taught music at Reed College for a few years where she made some deep & lasting friendships that she maintained for the rest of her life.
The 1970s were when Beth became very active in organic gardening, providing extensive technical assistance on biodynamic methods to small organic farms in the Willamette Valley that were just starting up. This is also when she became active in the Anthroposophical Society.
I have numerous wonderful memories from this period. Mom believed in exposing children to the outdoors and this involved numerous beach trips and hikes in the Columbia Gorge, and passing on her father’s interest in fishing while teaching me to fish for trout in the Columbia Gorge and bass at Tenmile Lakes near the Central Oregon Coast. We also enjoyed the classic American “road trip” driving back to Massachusetts while my father worked on his doctorate at Harvard. With summers off, there were many camping trips around the Pacific Northwest. I remember some rough camping in the early days near Sumpter in NE Oregon and sweeping up pine needles to make a bed covered with plastic, and then being reminded the next morning not to move too quickly just in case a rattlesnake might have snuck into my sleeping bag in the middle of the night. Later my mother took my high school friends and me on backpacking trips in the Columbia Gorge where we fed ourselves by catching rainbow trout along the way.
Beth went back to teaching in 1983 at David Douglas High School and taught through 2004. She taught English, Literature, French, German, Latin, and Humanities. She was well-loved by her students, many of whom stayed in contact with her after graduating; she was even invited to some former students’ weddings. One student, a photographer, wrote on the back of a photo he took of her:
Beth retired in 2004 due to health problems; in 2005 she started to lose feeling in her legs while studying at the Goetheanum in Switzerland, and returned to the US to seek medical attention. Within nine hours after arriving in the US, she was in surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from her spine that was pushing up against her spinal cord. The oncologist stated she had been within 24 hours to a week of losing the ability to walk. She had extensive physical therapy and was given five years to live; she defied the odds as usual, living fourteen years and having the opportunity to get to know her grandsons, Saul and Reunan, born in 2008 and 2011 respectively.
One of Beth’s most appreciated accomplishments was the Festival Newsletter she self-published from 2007 to 2018. She received thousands of cards and letters thanking her. Her last newsletters she sent from the memory care facility where she spent her final seventeen months. Even in dementia, she continued to give back by giving piano concerts for the other residents and insuring that the free-range chickens at Oatfield Estates were well-fed.
Beth’s sister Marjorie describes Beth as a leader who was strong in a quiet way, never seeking to draw attention to herself, but just to do good, to do what was right. Some things I have appreciated most from my mother are the values instilled in me that I hope to pass on to our children: don’t pass judgement; always put yourself in other people’s shoes; don’t elevate yourself by tearing others down; be kinder than necessary for everyone is fighting some sort of battle. And elbows off the table, don’t talk with your mouth full, sit up straight, don’t wolf your food down, and so on and so forth. Of course, one of the most important lessons she taught me is that food quality is paramount, there is no substitute for quality food.
So as I and my family begin the next phase of our lives, I hope to honor her memory by meeting more new and interesting people and finding ways to bring them together. Thank you.
