We honor five women whose contributions to the Ojai Valley community deserve a brilliant song of praise. The Ojai Valley News recognizes the civic achievements, tireless giving and creativity of these women.
Thank you. Your love, care and vitality strengthen our community evermore.
By Karen Lindell | Special to the Ojai Valley News
Julie Gerard hosts a fourhour outdoor event every Thursday for 500 people.
It’s no wonder Gerard, who’s also a practicing lawyer, no longer has time to grow her own food. The weekly affair she manages, however, is the Ojai Community Farmers’ Market, so she can fill up her reusable bags with local food grown by others instead.
Completely separate from Ojai’s Sunday farmers’ market, the nonprofit Ojai Community Farmers’ Market began operating in June 2021, from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursdays in the courtyard of the Ojai Unified School District headquarters. Gerard, however, arrives at 12:30 p.m. and doesn’t leave until 9 p.m. At any given moment she’s helping vendors set up booths, welcoming guest artisans and musicians, chatting with families, cleaning bathrooms, picking up trash, and doing other tasks to keep everyone safe, satisfied and sustainably fed.
“I like taking care of people,” she said.
And it all started because she was taking care of herself.
‘‘ I like taking care of people.”
Gerard came to Ojai 11 years ago to make a life change. She moved from Calabasas to Ojai with her husband, Jim, and three sons (who are now in their 30s) while going through stage 4 colon cancer. “I always wanted to live in Ojai,” said Gerard, who grew up in Southern California. “When I had my health scare, I didn’t think I would survive, but said if I survive, I want to live in Ojai.”
Gerard, who had been working 60-hour weeks as an attorney, wanted to slow down and place herself and her family in a more healing environment. “In Ojai, I did different types of things to go along with Western traditional healing — a combination of everything to heal myself,” she said. Gerard then opened a law practice in Ojai and “got very involved in the food and farming community.” She started working for the nationwide nonprofit Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, representing people in Ojai with issues related to farming and agriculture.
Her legal work led Gerard to connect with a small group of people in Ojai who wanted to start a food co-op. They struggled to make it work, however, because a co-op would require an actual building, full-time employees, and
extensive funding.
So they decided to start a farmers’ market instead, a midweek event to complement the Sunday market where people could “hang out” — gather on the grass, sit and have a meal together, listen to live music, and take part in activities for kids and educational programming. OUSD offered up its courtyard on Thursdays.
In addition to fresh produce, vendors sell breads, juices, fermented goods, sauces, prepared foods, and more. The market gets funding, Gerard said, from a percentage of purchases, as well as anonymous donors and small grants from local businesses, the city, and other sources.
The market’s biggest cost, she said, is helping people who pay for their purchases at the market through state or federal nutrition assistance programs. The market accepts payment via SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), WIC (Women, Infants, and Children), and SFMNP (Seniors Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program).
“We also participate in Market Match,” Gerard said, which doubles the value of nutritional assistance up to $20 spent at the market on fruits and vegetables.
In addition to hands-on management of the market, Gerard writes requests for grants, vets vendors with the organization’s board of directors, obtains permits, and handles other behind-the-scenes tasks.
Gerard said she used to grow all her own food and had a farmstand in front of her house where she shared her bounty with neighbors, including beets, carrots, lettuce, artichokes, corn, onions, citrus, garlic, melons, and squash. “Now I don’t have the time,” she said. “I will get back to it eventually. Maybe I’ll slow down on practicing law.”
The Ojai Community Farmers Market runs from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursdays, rain or shine, at 414 E. Ojai Ave. For more information, visit https://tinyurl.com/frv3r89h.
NORA DAVIS - Nora Davis has been an Ojai real estate agent for more than 35 years and has lived in the Ojai Valley her entire life. Growing up in a family where her mother was also a real estate agent, and owning rental properties was the family business, it was only natural that Nora would choose to continue this family tradition of helping people find their dream homes and investing in rental properties throughout the Ojai Valley and Ventura County. After being a Realtor for more than three decades, Nora has developed a well-established network and a wide array of resources that assist her in providing impeccable service to her clients. Her attention to detail, dedication to meeting her clients’ needs before and after their transaction, and ability to serve both seasoned investors and first-time buyers looking for Ojai homes for sale are just a few of the reasons she is able to establish long-term relationships with many of her clients and continue to assist them in buying and selling homes throughout the years.
ELIZABETH ROBLES - Elizabeth is a third generation Ojai Valley resident and an active member of the community, most recently being appointed by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to serve on the Oak View Advisory Committee. As part of The Davis Group, Elizabeth uses her knowledge of the valley to help sellers and buyers achieve their real estate goals. She is also the owner of Noble Estate Sales, through which she has specialized in helping families in transition sort and sell unwanted belongings since 2015. This valuable service is ideal for clients who have inherited homes or who need to release belongings that are no longer needed in order to prepare their home to sell.
GEORGIA ROBINSON - Georgia has lived in the Ojai Valley for 50 years, raised her two children here, and now enjoys being active in the lives of her three grandchildren. Before retiring in 2018, she spent 28 years helping people create beautiful, successful events for weddings and special occasions through her work at an event rental company. With an eye for design and creating inviting spaces, she started Stage 805 and joined The Davis Group as the lead home stager in 2023. When the first home she staged sold for over the asking price the day it came on the market, she knew she had found her new calling and has been helping people prepare their homes to sell ever since.
AIMEEJO DAVIS-VARELA - Nora’s daughter, AimeeJo, was born and raised in Ojai and returned to her hometown after many years spent earning a masters degree, teaching abroad, traveling, and living in various parts of the country with her late partner, who was a Marine. As part of The Davis Group, she manages the website, marketing, and community involvement. She also provides second home management services to clients with vacation homes in the Ventura County area through her business, Mind Your Manors. She is also a freelance writer specializing in real estate and green living, and works in the LGBTQ+ and widow communities to provide outreach, support, and activities.
Ojai brought out the volunteer in Judith Hale Norris.
After moving here with husband Bill Norris and their two children following a distinguished legal career, Judy had her first opportunity to give back to the community by helping neighbors successfully fight the construction of a cell tower in her East End neighborhood.
Judy’s volunteerism blossomed as she learned about the charitable organizations that daily serve the needs of Ojai Valley residents. “I became very interested in the Ojai Women’s Fund and the Ojai Music Festival. I also immediately got involved in the Ojai Education Foundation, because it’s critical to have a vibrant public school,” she said.
“An equally vibrant necessity is a good hospital and emergency room,” said Judy, who joined the Community Memorial Healthcare Board of Trustees and the board of the Ojai Valley Hospital Foundation. “I have music, I have education, I have medical, which is a whole new area for me. It’s just been great.”
‘‘Ojai welcomes volunteers and it just opened a whole new world to me.”
Recently, at the request of Joan Kemper, one of Ojai’s most treasured citizens, Judy joined the board of the Ojai Performing Arts Theater Foundation.
Retirement allowed Judy to work full-time helping the Ojai community. “This is exactly what I’ve wanted to do and, honestly, it was ingrained in me from the time I was young,” she said. “Both Bill and I grew up with parents that always gave back. It was what you did.”
Judy’s love of the law began in the seventh grade when she worked in the busy law office of her father, Judge Allan Hale, who taught her to always treat everyone, friend or adversary, with respect.
During her career, Judy served as chief staff counsel for the U.S. Court of Appeals, as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and as a trial and appellate attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maine and her Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law, “when there were six women and 432 men,” she said.
“While at the U.S. Court of Appeals, I had the tremendous pleasure of
working with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, Robert Bork, Ken Starr and 16 other wonderful appellate judges,” Judy said. “I had two babies 16 months apart at Bethesda Naval Hospital and I would often bring them in to work on Saturdays to try to get the briefs done.”
During the Watergate scandal in 1973, Judy was a lawyer at the Justice Department when the “Saturday Night Massacre” took place, a series of resignations over the firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox.
Prior to retirement, she served as an adjunct professor and associate director of the Investor Advocacy Clinic at Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University School of Law.
Bill and Judy have known each other nearly all their lives. They lived in adjoining towns, their parents knew each other and they went to the same church.
“I was on the boys tennis team in high school. We didn’t have a girls,” Judy said. When Bill’s team played Judy’s team, she beat him in tennis. “I jokingly say that was the only time in my life I beat Bill Norris.” They married in 1966.
Bill, a retired captain with the U.S. Coast Guard, also loves giving back to his community. He serves on the board of HELP of Ojai (you’ll frequently find him behind the wheel of the HELP van), and on the board of the Ojai Valley Defense Fund.
Ojai’s inclusive spirit inspired the couple to reach out and lend a helping hand, according to Judy. “Ojai welcomes volunteers and it just opened a whole new world to me,” she said. “I could really see the needs of the community. It has broadened my horizons.”
Recently, Bill and Judy’s granddaughters have become avid horsewomen. “I am spending a lot of time at Oso Ranch saying ‘nice horsey’ and watching as the granddaughters take lessons. It’s really been wonderful,” she said.
Since 1985, Heather has woven herself into the fabric of the Ojai Valley, where she’s not only worked but also nurtured a family of six alongside her husband, Clint. With each of their children attending Ojai Public schools, Heather’s commitment to the community runs deep. Her unwavering dedication is palpable in her approach to providing tailored support from the very first interaction to the final transaction, grounded in a bedrock of knowledge, integrity, and professionalism. Beyond merely securing your trust and business, Heather treasures the relationships formed along the way. It’s this ethos that earned her the accolade of Best of the Ojai Valley in 2023, and the prestigious title of the number one realtor for homes sold by Keller Williams West Ventura County.
Heather Erickson can be reached at 805.798.3358
Amanda is an Ojai native, attending Ojai public schools to now raising three children in our beautiful Valley with her spouse Ben makes her very passionate about maintaining the community’s charm and appeal for families. With a rich background spanning over a decade in customer service within the Retirement Community sector, Amanda brings a wealth of experience to her real estate endeavors. Amandas array of interests, including photography, design, marketing, and customer care, underscore her vibrant and adaptable nature.
Amanda Erickson can be reached at 805.798.3056
‘Igot into teaching late because my mother was a sixth-grade science teacher, and every day she came home and she told me not to be a teacher,” said Nordhoff High School Science Department Co-Chair Annelisa Cohen, with a laugh, about how she got into teaching science.
Her mom also warned her off of going “down to Coloma where the American River is, possibly, one of our most commercially rafted rivers in California. … So those are the two things I did in my life — become a raft guide and a science teacher.”
Her path to teaching, like a river, winds through interests and experiences, picking up bits and pieces and then depositing things down along the way.
Initially, her love of culture and language led her to study international global relations and she traveled and lived abroad, becoming fluent in Italian and proficient in Spanish.
Cohen has guided in the American and Merced rivers, in Yosemite, Idaho and the Grand Canyon, and overseas.
‘‘ I’ve been to China, Japan, lived in Italy for about three years. I’ve been all over Scandinavia, Argentina, Costa Rica, and the biggest culture shock I ever had was going to UCSB.”
“I’ve been to China, Japan, lived in Italy for about three years. I’ve been all over Scandinavia, Argentina, Costa Rica, and the biggest culture shock I ever had was going to UCSB,” going to the beach town, filled with “mostly kids from LA,” from “the boonies of Placerville.”
She started out as a biology major.
“I wanted to be a pediatrician. I knew I wanted to work with kids. In my first chemistry class, like everyone else, I lost it. I didn’t want to be inside. I wasn’t doing it for the science; l did it for what I thought would be medicine,” said Cohen. “And then I reflected on what I really wanted to spend my time learning. I was really into culture and language at the time. So I studied global international relations,” earning a bachelor’s degree in Global Studies from UCSB.
She was working on rivers and substitute teaching around the world. “I discovered from being in the classroom that I wanted to go into teaching,” she said.
Her path to science and agriscience flowed from her early childhood experiences with 4-H and exploring open space, ranchland and rivers around the world. Her teaching today is sourced from expertise rooted in proven experiential lesson plans.
Cohen has completed “lots of classes” in science and art at Ventura College. She has a single-subject teaching credential in science (biology and physics) from National University, and holds a master’s degree in science from Montana State University. She earned her Career Technical Education credential in Agriscience with her teaching credential, “plus over 2,000 hours in the industry.”
She’s excited about an externship planned for this summer on Friend’s Ranches where she’ll “learn more from professionals” in the field.
She began teaching as a substitute in Ojai Unified School District in 2012. She taught at Meiners Oak Elementary, then started at Nordhoff in 2019. Her two classes offered through the Career Technical Education program at Nordhoff are Environmental Field Studies and Agriscience, and Environmental Ag Biology. Weaved into those classes is the school’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) program. Cohen led the effort to restart FFA at Nordhoff.
“The toughest student in my classroom is the most respectful at state conference,” said Cohen. State conference is a component of FFA that involves wearing a uniform, public speaking and presenting completed projects.
“Next year, we hope to have a Career Development Education team of three to compete in Veterinary Science, possibly also livestock judging. We have some students in our program that are really interested in veterinary,” said Cohen.
She also has put together a Water Issue Capstone project for next year.
“We’re going to have a debate about water issues and the best three debaters will go on to a state water issues competition for FFA, so they arrive in uniform and have a debate with other schools. … I think because of what we’ve dumped into it, in terms of money, energy, effort and passion, our students are really responding,” said Cohen.
She said more than 10 students are participating in the Native Plant Nursery FFA project and twice-a-year plant sales. They learn to propagate and care for a variety of native plants. “They are selling their plants and they’re just so into it, so that is what makes it rewarding.”
It’s time to use your Strengths to Embrace What’s Next!
WHO: Women Over 50
WHAT: A 2-hour Discussion Exploring your Strengths/Talents/Gi s to create your Optimal Future – for a mere $47! (Includes a personalized Cli onStrengths document and video series – worth over $300!)
Presented by Women Coaches over 50 at FromWithin Coaching (one of whom is Ojai resident, Lu Setnicka)
WHEN: 9 a.m. Ojai Time on June 22nd, July 18th, August 17th, September 19th, October 19th, November 21st, December 14th
WHERE: Via Zoom - Live Discussion
HOW: Register at FromWithin Coaching (https://fromwithincoaching.com/ eventcalendar.html)
At FromWithin Coaching, we believe strongly in the power of Women Over 50. Whether you are reinventing yourself, looking for a new direction, or facing a career change, we can help make sure your new path acknowledges your unique value and wisdom. PLEASE JOIN US!
Mimi Walker | mimi@ojaivalleynews.com
Joan Englander was born to dance. As she has traveled across the globe and back again throughout her 87 years of life, her openness in inspiriting others is just as free-flowing as her feet.
She has taken the hand of many a person whose time Earth-side approached its end, and through her own zest for life and gift of storytelling, walked them through the beauty of life’s meanings in exuberant vigils that eased them into whatever lies beyond.
Joan is now writing her own memorial, in preparation for the eventual inevitable.
“How’s it gonna shape itself? I don’t really know, but I love working on it,” she said, adding that “it’s exciting and joyful to write it” and that it will be “full of wonders.”
She revisits a few of the stops on her journey through life that formed her calling — mind, body and soul — in the very newspaper that featured scores of her writings years ago.
DANCING QUEEN
As a young woman, Joan learned the art of many cultural dances, including her favorite — Greek.
She trained hard enough to dance at the Hollywood Bowl “under choreographer Sonia Shaw and later in a Cyd Charisse TV program,” Joan recollected.
‘‘
When I die I want the peace of knowing I left something of beauty and hope for those who come after me.”
Over time, she became very close to dance-therapist pioneer Mary Starks Whitehouse, who introduced her to Authentic Movement/Movement in Depth practice.
“Movement and Jungian (psychoanalysis) work opened the gates of writing and led eventually to use a gift I didn’t even know existed,” Joan shared.
WORLD TRAVELS
In the mid-’70s, while visiting India, a realization hit: “Soon after I got there, my desires to be a dancer faded. My desire was to become selfless, to shed self-centeredness, to serve others more than myself. I thought the best way to be transformed was to be with Mother
Teresa in Calcutta if only for even a week.” Alas, Joan fell ill. It couldn’t happen.
Fast-forward to 1982, when Joan finally got to see Mother Teresa in person, delivering the commencement speech at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula: “In a press conference, she said one thing I have never forgotten: ‘When you write, write something beautiful for God.’ And that is what I have tried to do.”
WRITING FOR A CAUSE AT OVN
Joan’s writing career at Ojai Valley News kicked off in 1979 when she did a profile on legendary trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, strongly encouraged by the late OVN publisher Fred Volz.
“Although I wrote over 100 articles for the OVN, I found two article themes that express the longing of my heart: One, supporting young people to know and live the importance of human values, and two, helping the poor.”
Assignments that moved her the most included advocating for those in need in Tijuana, through volunteer work with Los Ninos, an Ojai interfaith group.
When she saw “Peace Child” in Seattle, a musical focused on Russian and American children pleading for the end to nuclear-war threats, she advocated for the show to be staged in Ojai. With help from Zubin and Shahastra Levy, and later from Mike Krumpschmidt, David and Faith Friedlander, “Peace Child” ran in Ojai in 1987, to great success.
After this, another calling emerged. “The plight of elders in care homes called me onward,” said Joan.
Paula Pugh is all art.
Paula lives and breathes creativity.
“I’ve drawn pretty much all my life,” Paula said. The Ojai Valley News cartoonist said: “I’ve always been interested in cartoons. Inspiration can be found from music, films, video games, nearly anywhere.”
Paula cited some sources of inspiration: “old ‘Looney Tunes,’ animated movies from different countries, like Japan, or there are old Soviet cartoons that are pretty amazing; old Disney, ‘Ren & Stimpy,’ ‘Animaniacs,’ Studio Ghibli, other wonderful animated movies.” Favorites include “The Three Caballeros”; an Australian show called “Bluey”; and “Loving Vincent,” a hand-painted feature film made in part with the Polish Film Institute.
“It’s just gorgeous!” enthused Paula. “And the artists become illustrators as well as animators.”
‘‘There’s so much progress to keep working toward.”
There is a distinction there that Paula wishes more people were clear on. Animation is moving from frame to frame, versus having an illustration or a sketch, she explained. Cartooning is satirizing, taking something realistic, and turning it into something garish, over-the-top.” Cartooning is a style in either of these professions.
Video-game animation has also influenced Paula.
“I’m in the generation that really got into video games,” she said. “Originally, they weren’t taken seriously like cartoons or movies were. But then the games got more CGI-heavy (computer-generated imagery), and people started to recognize the value of animation that it takes to make these games functional. It wasn’t a mainstream thing, it was people with a passion for pixel art. These things were drawn, perfected so the game could be readable, understandable.”
When faced with artist’s block, music can sometimes help.
So what albums would Paula take with her if stuck on a deserted island?
“Frank Zappa’s ‘Rats.’ It’s not very long, but it’s really good. Like Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon,’ but that one’s kind of depressing. It’s mostly instrumentals, and some good mixes. I listened to ‘It Must Be a Camel’ when I was on a plane, and we were descending through the clouds, and just as
we came out the other side of the clouds, there was a pause in the music, and it was a perfect moment.”
Other favorites include Neil Cicierega’s “Mouth Moods,” “Saturday Night Fever,” which Paula describes as “quintessential disco,” Talking Heads’ “Stop Making Sense” (the live version), and the music from “Mother/ EarthBound” “gets an honorable mention.”
No matter the form, all expression is important and shares some commonalities.
“All art is with a purpose; it should be able to say what it needs to say,” Paula said. “Even as a comic artist … for me, sometimes less is more.”
While many creative professionals are suffering under AI-generated content, Paula isn’t worried.
Currently, “it doesn’t really learn fast,” she said. “It learns repetitive things. I’m not really threatened by it. The computer is just finishing a task with the information you asked of it. … AI is kind of muddying the waters that are already muddied. … It’s the human trends that tend to scare me. AI will live or die, because it’s just a tool. What is the intention of people making AI? To replace artists? To learn how artists think? Can it help us explore the way we learn as people? It should be a tool for artists, not a replacement.”
Looking to the future, technology and connection offer promise from Paula’s perspective.
“I’ll be 40 at the end of this year. Although 40 now is different from 40 years ago, with all the negative connotations. Like with Zappa, in a lot of his songs, there’s this toxic culture prevalent in the ’70s and ’80s that diminishes people with the inability to succeed.
“The internet has allowed us to branch out, to be more empathetic. … The future has to be more broad. There’s more chances to make new friends. … There are a lot of my own individual ideas I’d like to get finished. … There’s so much progress to keep working toward.”
To learn more about Paula and her work, visit about.me/DontPokeSmot
Carolyn is proud to be serving the Ojai Valley as an attorney at the law firm of Waite, Jacobs & Atkinson. Carolyn is a 1993 graduate of the UC Davis School of Law, where she graduated in the top 5% of her class, earning a spot in the prestigious Order of the Coif national honor society.
She clerked for United States District Judge Milton L. Schwartz in Sacramento, thereafter joining the litigation department of the international law firm of Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco. She went on to become a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Washington State before moving to Ojai to be near family.
Carolyn is an active volunteer with the Ojai Valley Defense Fund and our local schools. She is happiest when hiking or fly-fishing in the Los Padres and Yosemite back country with her family.
The team includes Megan Davis, who has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography from UC Santa Barbara. Megan came to the firm in 2011 after a career in corporate management, followed by a decade of teaching throughout the Ojai Valley. Megan is passionate about the work of the Ojai Valley Defense Fund.
Denise Heimo joined the firm in 2021 and continues her twentyyear career in the legal field.
Selena Mitchell joined the firm in 2024 after a career in phlebotomy.
As a team, we, with law firm Partner, Ross E. Atkinson, are honored to assist our clients with their estate planning and trust administration needs. We are grateful for our community of friends, neighbors, and clients.
JUDITH: CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
She has also put her mentoring skills to good use, helping high school students and others who have benefited from her life experience. In 2022, Judy was named an Ojai Living Treasure by the Rotary Clubs of Ojai. In remarks at the Ojai Valley Museum in June 2023, she reflected
ANNELISA: CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6
Cohen recognized the vital help of Ron Singer in the plant nursery. “He is insanely dedicated. I couldn’t do any of this without him, our professional volunteer,” she said.
Cohen continues to be inspired by her mother’s teaching approach and recalls what the classroom was like. “Her kids were always independent. … All of her sixth-graders were doing what was asked and they had the tools to do it, very student-centered and hands-on, and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”
One tool she uses in the classroom is called the Black Box.
“So Black Box is a metaphor for the unknown in science and then models how scientists communicate information or make predictions or explain
on her year as a Living Treasure. “At a time when you read daily that our society has become polarized,” she said, “I found that any differences real or imagined can be set aside when everyone is collaboratively seeking common cause on how to make a positive and powerful impact in the Ojai Valley.”
how things work,” she explained.
Students are given an actual black box and they have to discern what is inside. Another lesson involves pouring water into a black box, but more water comes out than what was put in. Students have “to figure it out and draw what they think is in there.”
She said: “Kids respond to me well because my daily lessons are very engaging and how I do that is, I don’t create my lessons. I go and I find what’s been peer-reviewed and what works, that professionals say is an awesome lesson, and I use that.”
Thinking about how she sees the impacts of what her students are learning, she said: “This is really engaging students that maybe before this program were unseen, or didn’t have a place. … I encourage them heavily to engage in public speaking or (FFA) conference, and when I see them out there, I think, ‘This is why I do this.’ ’’
JOAN: CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
“For 25 years at Christmas and New Year’s, I drove to Big Sur to the Benedictine New Camaldoli Hermitage on top of a mountain. … I could not work in care homes without the influence of life at the Hermitage. … It was here I took counsel with monks who guided me in how to be present with the dying,” Joan remembered.
In Ojai care homes, Joan used music to give elders comfort. “To foster lighthearted banter, I invited elders to sing what they loved for breakfast, their favorite desserts, pets.”
joy and wisdom; solace, consolation, inspiration to continue one’s life journey in peace.”
All poems/prayers/songs and more can be played on a phone, computer, or printed to be read at a bedside.
“Spirituality is unique to each person. ...It is my hope that many choices on the web will allow for meaning joy and wisdom; solace, consolation, inspiration to continue one’s life journey.”
— Joan Englander
Over time, this musical communion between life and death led Joan to develop “Healing Companion” guidelines for individuals and families dealing with endof-life care, culminating in the release of her book, “Joy in the Evening of Our Lives.”
Because Joan found resonance and meaning in nearly all forms of spirituality, a wealth of resources across cultures is available for everyone to “bring something of spirit and joy into the room … Spirituality is unique to each person. … It is my hope that many choices on the web will allow for meaning,
“When I die I want the peace of knowing I left something of beauty and hope for those who come after me. I decided my website would be that gift and I am arranging for it to survive seven to 10 years after my passing,” said Joan.
While she’s fulfilling her final years in Ojai, Joan calls for us all to be healing companions to each other, and notes she is no exception in wanting that for herself.
Come what may, she embraces every day that she’s here with unbridled joy, in the evening of her life.
For more information and to reach out, visit healingcompanions.care and/or email joanienglander@gmail.com.