Living life intentionally, building networks and connections

 

(“Obituaries are not about the dead, but about the living and giving a person a second life.” Obit. 2016 documentary about the NYTimes Obituary Dept.)

 

MIDDLEBURY — At Priscilla Baker’s pre-school in Ferrisburgh, Otter Creek School, in the 1980s, a girl, maybe four years old, brings a Monarch butterfly chrysalis about to emerge as a butterfly. Everything stops as the simple beauty unfolds and the preschoolers feel the wonder of it all. Priscilla would have described it as the “facilitation of learning.” And oh, so much more.

Hanging over the sink in Priscilla’s bathroom is a framed quotation by George Bernard Shaw: “I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, . . . I rejoice in life for its own sake.”

Another framed quotation states the wisdom of Tao Te Ching: “If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.”

Priscilla lived these credos as her North Star, the organizing principle of her life. To be of service and embrace simplicity.

Priscilla Rodabaugh Baker grew up primarily in Lancaster, Ohio, the daughter of Frances Jean Ruple Rodabaugh and Galon Spacht Rodabaugh, the youngest of four children. She is predeceased by her parents and brother, Steven Rodabaugh. She is survived by sister Carol Rodabaugh Bininger, brother Ronald Rodabaugh, two sisters-in-law and several nieces and nephews.

From an early age Priscilla demonstrated a creative intelligence, always seeking a variety of learning opportunities. A flutist and singer, she had the good fortune to attend the Interlochen Music Camp for three summers.

After high school Priscilla attended Earlham College (’68), a Quaker school in Richmond, Ind., where she was introduced not only to a liberal arts education but also Quaker values, progressive social justice issues, and the power of community action. She participated in several off-campus study opportunities which stimulated her curiosity and interest in diverse cultures.

While living and studying in southern California, after college, Priscilla found a calling in early education, as well as meeting and marrying J. Stannard Baker in 1971. They decided to head East looking for a more rural permanent home and found it in Vermont. Immediately, and forever after, Priscilla embraced Vermont as her home and geographic anchor. In 1973 Priscilla and Stan established the Otter Creek School, first in Vergennes, and then Ferrisburgh, Vt. At the same time, she returned to her love of classical music, taught music lessons, and performed flute and cello recitals with her husband Stan and other musicians.

After they divorced in 1994 Priscilla moved to Middlebury and pursued other professional experiences but always wove into these some form of teaching which she defined as the “facilitation of learning,” the nurturing of innate potential abilities. She sought to create environments that invited learning — to pivot to what presents itself. When a child brought in a chrysalis about to emerge as a butterfly, what was planned for the day would be paused so that the immediate opportunity could inform the day’s activities. This was “organic curriculum” or experiential learning that she and Stan honed. She considered teaching to be “the noblest profession” and the most meaningful work she did.

In her long career working with children, Priscilla was an early childhood educator, an Expressive Arts and Play Therapist (MA, Lesley College ‘88), a community mental health counselor, and a consultant. For several years Priscilla was a Standardized Patient at the UVM College of Medicine, teaching medical students the art of history taking and physical examination and, most importantly, how to be an empathic physician — how to listen intently and compassionately.

In 2005 Priscilla became the Assistant Program Director and Volunteer Coordinator for Hospice Volunteer Services and a few years later Program Director. Priscilla helped to guide the founding of the Wellspring Singers who sing at the bedside of the dying, and for their families, as well as regular social sings with residents in local care homes. She led Wellspring with intelligence and passion. Twenty-two years later, Wellspring continues to share its gift of vocal music with those at the end of life and others in our community.

In addition to teaching over a dozen community hospice volunteer classes, she taught six J-term classes at Middlebury College about hospice and end-of-life care. Her classes were always oversubscribed. By the time of her retirement in 2018, Priscilla had trained many community members as hospice volunteers and caregivers.

Throughout her adult years, and guided by Quaker values, Priscilla engaged in promoting peace and social justice. She helped organize and participated in various projects and actions, including her role as Vermont co-coordinator for the International Ribbon Project which culminated in 1985 with 30,000 fabric panels tied together encircling the Pentagon and weaving 15 miles through the Capital.

After retirement Priscilla pursued her passion for teaching by becoming a volunteer tour guide at the Rokeby Museum, in Ferrisburgh, Vt. A lifelong learner, she sought to absorb all she could about the Robinson family and the Underground Railroad. As a tour guide she practiced her dual passions as facilitator of learning and storytelling.

Priscilla finally succumbed to a slow growing cancer that she lived with for more than 25 years. She learned to accommodate death and grief, which turned her toward end-of-life issues. Just as she sought to live her life with intention, she approached her time of dying with this same intentionality and curiosity, aided by the compassionate and skillful support of Bayada, a home health care and hospice organization. She died peacefully, surrounded by close friends, thanks to the exquisite care from the Palliative and Nursing staff at Porter Hospital.

Her last teaching engagement is yet to come when she will serve at the UVM College of Medicine as a cadaver for medical students learning the anatomy and amazing landscape of the human body.

Ever the teacher, Priscilla taught us how to live; she taught us how to die. And now, like the monarch chrysalis, her shell has broken open and her wings have unfurled.

Priscilla would be honored by any donations made to support local organizations that provide essential services such as food, housing, and health care (e.g. HOPE, Charter House Coalition, CVOEO, Open Door Clinic), as well as donations to the American Service Committee. There will be celebration of her life in the spring. ◊