Singing together somewhere in time
Tom & Gwen
Tom Hunter
For information about Tom Hunter, his ideas, and his music, visit www.tomhunter.com.
Tom Hunter left all of us a legacy of celebration, music, compassion and giving to our communities. Throughout his lifetime, Tom worked with people of all ages and backgrounds to teach new ways of learning and living. We all are committed to "keeping it going" by remembering his smile and his music and his voice.
There was a tremendous outpouring of support for the Hunters during this transition, and the family is deeply grateful.
Tom Hunter left all of us a legacy of celebration, music, compassion and giving to our communities. Throughout his lifetime, Tom worked with people of all ages and backgrounds to teach new ways of learning and living. We all are committed to "keeping it going" by remembering his smile and his music and his voice.
There was a tremendous outpouring of support for the Hunters during this transition, and the family is deeply grateful.
TOM'S HEALTH
Tom Hunter was diagnosed on May 20, 2008 with Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease and died on June 20, 2008.
On September 2, 2008, a letter from the National Prion Disease Pathology Research Center confirmed that Tom had what's called 'sporadic CJD' (sCJD). His was an extremely rare type of sCJD that one in 4.5 million people are diagnosed with annually. We're very grateful that he did not have the inherited form, but it's critically important that a cure for all forms of CJD (caused by scrapy proteins in the brain which can take up to 40 years to manifest and kill their victims) are found. All forms of CJD are fatal.
The most accurate and up-to-date site for learning about CJD and supporting efforts to find a cure is http://www.cjdfoundation.org/ .
On September 2, 2008, a letter from the National Prion Disease Pathology Research Center confirmed that Tom had what's called 'sporadic CJD' (sCJD). His was an extremely rare type of sCJD that one in 4.5 million people are diagnosed with annually. We're very grateful that he did not have the inherited form, but it's critically important that a cure for all forms of CJD (caused by scrapy proteins in the brain which can take up to 40 years to manifest and kill their victims) are found. All forms of CJD are fatal.
The most accurate and up-to-date site for learning about CJD and supporting efforts to find a cure is http://www.cjdfoundation.org/ .
Tom and Gwen
2007
Tom and Aeden
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May 8,2008
Tom and Irene
May 24th, 2008
To live on this earth
you must be able
to do three things:
To love what is mortal;
To hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
And when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.
mary oliver
DONATIONS
Please help provide financial support by sending whatever you can. We are hoping for lots of $25. hugs- or whatever works for you - to help the Hunters with medical and transition expenses. They also want to protect the wetlands, forest and farm* that have seen so much of their love over the years and to help keep Tom's work alive in the world. (*Contributions given specifically for the mortgage have been moved with overwhelming gratitude to the new Tom Hunter Memorial Account described above.) If you wish to make a donation please make checks payable to Tom Hunter Family Donation (or to Tom Hunter Memorial Account) and mail to:
Whatcom Educational Credit Union
PO Box 9750
Bellingham, WA 98227
If you'd prefer to donate safely and securely using your credit/debit card, use this button:
Whatcom Educational Credit Union
PO Box 9750
Bellingham, WA 98227
If you'd prefer to donate safely and securely using your credit/debit card, use this button:
Now the focus narrows to just the steps ahead. You have a chorus of knowing, loving voices all over this planet to sing you home.
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PHOTOS - NOW ON A NEW PAGE
Many of the photos from this page and also new ones have been moved to their own page and can be viewed by clicking on the link below. If you have photos to share please send them to us at tomhunterblog@gmail.com Thanks.
Pictures of Tom, Family and Friends
Singing with friends
Salem Oregon 1990
Laughing at a story
June 7th from Marie
"All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today" Indian Proverb
with love from Gege Manolis
with love from Gege Manolis
Tom and Irene
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June 2008
COMMENTS and HOW TO HELP
To leave a comment for Tom and his family please scroll to the bottom of this page, and then come back up to today's date on the left side. Click on "comments" and leave your message in the box on the right side of the comments page. Your comment will not show up immediately as all comments go through the postmaster. They will be posted as soon as possible. If your comment is not posted within 24 hours please contact the postmaster at tomhunterblog@gmail.com
There are many ways to help. Please click on www.tomhuntersupport.blogspot.com under Music, Meals, Flowers, Yard Work, Farm Work below or look for the How to Help section opposite the daily comments on the right side of the blog towards the bottom.
There are many ways to help. Please click on www.tomhuntersupport.blogspot.com under Music, Meals, Flowers, Yard Work, Farm Work below or look for the How to Help section opposite the daily comments on the right side of the blog towards the bottom.
Music, meals, flowers, yard work & farm work
The Hunter Family
Jeanne Herrick has put many photos from the blog into a beautiful slide show. Click below to watch
Words from Tom's Dad
May 26
Somebody noticed what you did today
Somebody noticed little things along the way
How you watched how you listened to what children do and say;
Somebody noticed what you've done alway
'Tis grace has brought us safe thus far,
And grace will lead us home.
May 29
And the Angels took care of him.
May 31st
The Lord bless and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you, your family, the city of Bellingham, and the world, peace-- both now and forevermore. Amen
Somebody noticed what you did today
Somebody noticed little things along the way
How you watched how you listened to what children do and say;
Somebody noticed what you've done alway
'Tis grace has brought us safe thus far,
And grace will lead us home.
May 29
And the Angels took care of him.
May 31st
The Lord bless and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you, your family, the city of Bellingham, and the world, peace-- both now and forevermore. Amen
Tom with the love quilt
From First Congregational Church of Bellingham
Aeden, Tom & Willard Hunter
Three Generations
Tom and Cindy
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Prayer rocks from Lummi Island
"Sometimes healing is more than getting better. Sometimes it's love revealed....." - Tom Hunter
Aeden and Tom, April '08
May 20, 2008
Here I sit, feeling my feet on the floor
An image of grounding you’ve used lots before
Trying to make sense of this surreal, difficult time
While loving where I came from with infinite pride
It’s been amazing how many lines from your songs
Have been lights in the darkness when it all feels wrong
Have comforted, questioned, been profound and fun
Your capacity for humanity is second to none
This world is a better place because of who you are
And that’s known widely – near and far
In music, education, and matters of the heart
You’ve bettered lives right from the start
I’m so proud of you, of where I’ve come from
You’re a huge part of me and have taught me a ton
About being human, love, laughter, and tears
And how to keep going despite life’s fears
Please don’t worry about the rest of us
We’ll take care of each other and will always feel your touch
Your laughter, music, compassion, and voice
Will always be with us in the midst of life’s noise
So here I sit, feeling my feet on the floor
With love and gratitude deep down in my core
I’m so grateful for the time we have had
You’ll always be my mentor, my best friend, my dad.
-Aeden
Irene and Tom last summer
The very best dad in the world
i’ve always loved your laugh lines,
the way you smile ear to ear
and you always have this easy way
of crushing any fears.
we’ve shared so much so far in life
and i’m so proud and glad
that i can say with confidence
i have the very best dad.
from raspberries to hasty moves
and the cutting edge again?!
to times when you have comforted me
over troubles with my friends.
you know how to relieve the weird feelings
when things don’t feel quite right
you let me put them in your hands
and throw them into the night.
we’ve shared trees against the sky
and books, poems, songs and walks
you taught me respect by looking again
and i’ve always loved our talks.
from dream stories to lake padden eagles
and coloring outside the lines
i can say with ease and confidence
you have the most lovely mind.
i remember all those wakeful nights
and running down the hall
you and mom sang lullabies
and sound asleep i’d fall.
i’m your goofball now—
i’ll always be whether we’re near or far
i’ll hold you close in who i am
no matter where we are.
i know it’s getting harder
to take in this fantastic world
just know i love you—i always will—
as daddy’s little girl.
Irene
May 22, 2008 After baptizing little Maddie
Exchanging blessings
To My Old Brown Earth by Pete Seeger
To my old brown Earth
And to my old blue sky
I'll now give these last few molecules of I
And you who sing
And you who stand near by
I do charge you not to cry
Guard well our human chain
Watch well you keep it strong
As long as sun will shine
And this our home
Keep pure and sweet and green
For now I'm yours
And you are also mine
with thanks to Cori Dusmann
May 22, 2008 At the Shepherd's
"I want my music to be grounded in the realities of what kids and teachers know. I want it to 'ring true; as it helps people laugh, cry, remember, celebrate, and learn."
— Tom Hunter
Tom in his backyard Labor Day 03
"I've been visiting schools to sing songs for almost 30 years. I've been in a lot of classrooms, presented a lot of workshops, talked with a lot of teachers, and sat on a lot of floors with kids. If I bring reminders of what's important in education, they come from finding those moments when the heart shows up, moments that peek around the corner and need to be invited farther into the room so we can see them. Such moments might seem ordinary but they are way too important to be captured in test scores. They fill teachers (and sometimes children) to overflowing."
Quoted from Tom's introduction to his book of essays : "Visits to the Heart of Education: Remembering What's Important" (available from Song Growing Company - see link below)
Quoted from Tom's introduction to his book of essays : "Visits to the Heart of Education: Remembering What's Important" (available from Song Growing Company - see link below)
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"But what if we can't get there?
What if it's too far?
What if we can't find our way from right here where we are?
What if it doesn't matter
that we can't find our star?
What if God comes anyway
right here where we are?"
-Tom Hunter
What if it's too far?
What if we can't find our way from right here where we are?
What if it doesn't matter
that we can't find our star?
What if God comes anyway
right here where we are?"
-Tom Hunter
Northwest Teachers Camp
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from Cori Dusmann
Photos
If you have photos of Tom that we can use on the blog, please email them to us at tomhunterblog@gmail.com
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
Rumi, the Sufi Poet
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
Rumi, the Sufi Poet
Clarification -- How to Comment
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If you have questions about the blog or if this does not work for you -- send your message to the postmaster at: tomhunterblog@gmail.com and it will be posted for you.
If you have questions about the blog or if this does not work for you -- send your message to the postmaster at: tomhunterblog@gmail.com and it will be posted for you.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
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9 comments:
Dear Irene,
I'm glad you had a good birthday. Your brother says you want to gather all the memories, I understand that. I want to tell you a story from before you were born. I took a class from Helen and Richard at the community college. I met Linda Allen there and that is where I was first introduced to your Dad's music. Chris loved listening to your Dad's record which I bought. Your parents came to Bellingham for a visit and did a house concert I think on Henry street. Anyway Frank and I were still together at that time and very poor so I stayed home with Jesse because I was still his meal ticket then and Chris and Frank went to the concert. It was the first time Chris heard Tom sing live-a very special treat (Chris has always loved music-he still played his violin on the aircraft carrier and the only thing he wanted from my day care stash for his children was all my music). Anyway, Frank came back and he didn't talk about the music at all. All he could talk about was your Mom--he saw the most beautiful woman in the world and he went on and on about Tom's incredibly beautiful pregnant wife, Gwen.
Later when your family moved to Bham and your Mom interviewed me for day care she mentioned she and her husband, Tom, were musicians. I think I said something stupid like "Not The Tom Hunter" I was a little star struck. Anyway, lifes paths are strange but I bless all the interconnections -love, and blessings
I want to share a song that helps me with my feelings about my Dad who died when I was about the age you are. It's by Ysaye Marie Barnwell to her father--sung by Sweet Honey In The Rock.
chorus #1
I am sitting here wanting
Memories to teach me-
To see the beauty in the world
Through my eyes.
I am sitting here wanting
Memories to teach me-
To see the beauty in the world
Through my own eyes.
You used to rock me in the cradle of your arms
You said you'd hold me till
the pains of life were gone
You said you'd comfort me in times like these-
And now I need you.
Now I need you and you are gone.
chorus
I am sitting here wanting
Memories to teach me-
To see the beauty in the world
Through my own eyes.
Since you've gone and left me,
There's been so little beauty-
But I know I saw it clearly through your eyes
Now the world outside
Is such a cold and bitter place
Here inside I have few things that will console
And when I try to hear your voice
Above the storms of life
Then I remember all the things that I was told.
chorus #1
I think on the things that made me feel
So wonderful when I was young
I think on the things that made me laugh.
Made me dance, made me sing
I think on the things that made me
Grow into a being full of pride
I think on these things, for they are truth.
chorus
I am sitting here wanting
Memories to teach me-
To see the beauty in the world
Through my own eyes.
I thought you were gone,
But now I know you're with me
You are the voice that whispers
All I need to hear
I know a please, a thank you
And a smile will take me far
I know that I am you and
You are me and we are one
I know that who I am
is numbered in each grain of sand
I know that I've been blessed
Again and over again.
repreat chorus #1
with Love, Linda B
dear irene, aeden and gwen,
i recently was handed an envelope from a dear mother in my class as her daughter was leaving for the summer. when i opened the envelope i found a most beautiful card with a quote on it that reminded me of your sweet tom. i would like to share that quote with you all.
"Your work
is to discover your work
and then with all your
heart
give yourself to it"
Buddha
bless your hearts with love,
gege manolis
step one school
berkeley, california
Dear Irene-
Thanks again for your posts-they are beautifully written and I seem to "hear" your voice when I read your words even though we have never met. You are so couragous to let us in and to share and teach us how to go through this process.
Two years ago in May, My grandmother died at the age of 99. That summer, we had so many song birds, cardinals, finches and all kinds of birds hanging around us. We even had noticed a humming bird had made a nest in the tree directy above our hammock at our summer lake place. My girls& I would lie in the hammock and watch her bring food to the babies and softly sing Tom's songs.
I dont believe in reincarnation, but I thought of her everytime we would see those birds. I think our family members can comfort us, and remain near us to guide us after they die. I am glad you are finding all those "rose" and "apple" moments that Tom planted for you, to remind you of his love for you that will go on and on until the end of time.
Tom has touched so many lives in big ways in just brief moments, and everyday encounters. What an inspiration that is and what a gift he is to us. Thank you for continuing to give us the gift of your story on this journey.
God Bless,
Heidi in MN
Dear Gwen, Irene, and Aeden,
I love that Gordon Bok song, too. It's the one that I've been humming for more than a month now and I treasure the recording of Tom singing it. (But I still can't take one of the bunnies. :)
We held your family very close during Family Camp at N-Sid-Sen this last week. Meril and I passed along some buttons to "keep it going" to folks who weren't able to make it to Tom's service. You are never far from my heart.
Irene, Aeden and Gwen: Here's another story of how Tom's work and mission have inspired others... I was going to say "even in his dying", but perhaps it's "especially in his dying".
My daughter will turn 20 on September 6th, and she reminded me back in the spring that for several years she has wanted me to write out the lyrics to all the lullabies I used to sing to her at bedtime.
As I was sharing your heartache as Tom's life was so quickly and painfully taken from us, I realized that after a lifetime of singing with children, I have rarely recorded any of it, and if something were to happen to me, my daughter would not have access to those songs.
So, I got busy and wrote out the lyrics to the most common songs we shared - most of them not lullabies at all, but ballads and folks songs that I used to sing with my family. That was often my daughter's request at bedtime: "Sing me a song you used to sing with your sisters"
Yesterday I spent an hour with a colleague who has the knowhow and the technology to record me singing these lullabies. I will put the CD with the scrapbook I made for my daughter's birthday, so that she will have those songs and my voice with her when she needs to "hear my voice again".
On it are the lullabies my mother and father used to sing to all their babies, songs I've shared with children in schools across the country, songs I sang with my sisters, and a couple of special ones that Lainey and I discovered together that became "our songs".
I hope that in this and other small ways, I can be part of "keeping it going".
Yours in song,
Hope Moffatt
Dearest Gwen, Aeden, and Irene,
Somehow it is not the same beginning another school year without Tom here in this world. I can't begin to tell you how many things I've found this afternoon relating to Tom, Teachers' Camp, his Edwardsville visits, etc as I've unpacked my boxes here at Leclaire Elementary. Here in this very building and others where we had planned an entire week with Tom as our Fine Arts guest artist just last year.
Please know our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family during this difficult time. Through your blog you truly lived his words, "Sometimes it is not about healing, it is about love revealed" and for that we are grateful.
Linda Plant
You wouldn't believe how many Midwest friends shared with me on June 19 and 20 "you know I can't explain it but Tom has been on my mind today in oh so many ways". Now we know his spirit was with many of us across the country during his final hours.
Dearest Gwen, Irene, Aeden, and Morgan,
I have been feeling the same kind of "watchful sort of waiting" that I did during Tom's illness...... (Not that he intended those words in either context).........as I think of you and love you all daily. I wish I could do something more concrete to ease this loneliness and grief for you, but alas, there seems to be limits on what a loving and devoted Ninja can actually do.
All I can say is that we are all still here and will be through the whole dang process with you.
As I gaze out into my living room this morning, I see a group of lovely young women (E, Ez, J, Er, A & E) who have been thoroughly loved and guided by the dear Tom since birth and toddlerhood - playing with 1,2,3,4 bunnies transplanted from your yard. They are all gathered for a final summer sleepover before heading off to their various schools in a week. These girls, too, will be keeping it going the rest of their lives. It's in their souls and very cells.
I am grateful for the episodes of comfort and bravery you are finding along the way.
I/we love you so very much.
Meril
Dear Gwen, Aeden and Irene,
I must let you know that I think of each of you, and Tom, every day. I am so grateful to read about your lives, even when it's so hard. Each of you has such a gentle, loving, hurting tone. Thank you for writing and sharing.
It seems like such a long time since Tom's been gone, but it hasn't. It's really been a short time and healing comes so slowly. Trust that whatever you feel is right! You're so lucky to have each other and the amazing friends that surround you--near and far. How wonderful that you appreciate them so!
I've missed you especially lately Gwen, wondering if you might decide to go to the Usana conference. It was such a joy to have some of that time with you and I thank you for sharing that in the past.
I wish I could take away the hurt for all of us, especially you, Tom's loved ones. I can't. I wish I could be as eloquent as so many others who post here. I'm not.
But you're in my heart and I love having this place to connect with you. Thank you all.
Sherry Baugh
Dear Hunter family,
I cried the day I found our Tom passed away. I had the opportunity to attend a few of his sessions at the NAEYC conference in Chicago this past October. He was an inspiration to me and I will never forget his words during the presentation. It was amazing to see someone so passionate about life and his calling. May you find comfort in your memories of Tom.
Angie
Discovery Time Preschool
MN
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