My Beautiful Childhood Caring for Meher Mount
The following is an email sent to Meher Mount from Marlow Morrison on June 17, 2019, after receiving a gift of ashes from Baba’s Tree which burned in the December 4, 2017, Thomas Fire.
Marlow came to live at Meher Mount several years after the October 14, 1985, New Life Fire. Meher Mount is sharing Marlow’s story near the two-year anniversary of the Thomas Fire.
BABA’S TREE days after the December 4, 2017, Thomas Fire hit Meher Mount. High winds and fire toppled the canopy and badly burned the tree’s core. It look as if Baba’s Tree might never recover. (Photo: Buzz Glasky)
Hello Meher Mount,
I want to thank all involved in Meher Mount’s rehabilitation efforts, particularly in the care of the coastal oak known as Baba’s Tree.
The gift of the ashes that was given to me has had a profound effect on me with many layers and I want to share with you, as a reminder, that our efforts of love touch each other in ways we often can’t predict.
AGNES BARON’S memorial marker which was placed under Baba’s Tree at Meher Mount after her passing in 1994. This marker was burned in the 2017 Thomas Fire. (Photo: Wayne Myers, Amartithi 2017)
My father and mother, Earl and Madeline Butler became caretakers to Meher Mount and Agnes Baron in 1988, after the fire in 1985. I was 11 at the time, and my main responsibility from day one was weed abatement!
Later as a young adult, I would become Agnes’ caretaker along with Ken and Len Cedar, until her death. Her memorial was held under Baba’s Tree.
At that time (without internet) there was very little support or funding, rebuilding was slow at best, and we lived without running water for many years, waiting for the filtering system to be built.
“It brings such joy to my heart…”
It brings such joy to my heart to see the care and effort by everyone to rebuild and care for this special place.
BABA’S TREE at Meher Mount in early 1986 after the October 1985 New Life Fire (known officially as the Ferndale Fire). (Photo: Claudia Wenning)
My memories there are more than fond. Meher Mount was my home until I was 18 and my father’s home until shortly before his death in 1999. It was full of adventures, insight, interesting people and many, many, many moments of silence with the trees, whom I have always considered my friends.
I knew every square inch of Meher Mount intimately. Baba’s Tree was a part of that, though at the time, it wasn’t named and honestly, I didn’t know Baba had a special relationship with that tree or even sat under it!
COAST LIVE OAKS along the meadow by Baba’s Tree (on the left by the Pine trees). All survived the 2017 Thomas Fire at Meher Mount, including Baba’s Tree. (Photo: Margaret Magnus, January 2015)
All the coastal oaks in that meadow were special to me, and I have very specific beautiful memories with each of them just like you would friends. I have many friends (human) still in Ojai and Santa Barbara, but the truth is when I learned of the Thomas fire my very first thought was of the trees on Meher Mount. The possibility of their death saddened me greatly, and I knew that even with their incredible natural resilience to fire, the Thomas Fire was a great threat.
The gift of the Baba Tree’s ashes holds the spiritual energy of Baba and that alone is a beautiful gift, but for me they hold many years of wonderful memories alone with Baba’s Tree, with my father, Earl, my animal friends (Max, Agnes’s dog and the wild critters), the days “in the clouds,” and the expansive view that reminded me there was a whole world out there, to be a part of.
AGNES BARON playfully instructing her dog Max. This photo is after the 1985 New Life Fire destroyed everything, and Agnes is living in a trailer parked on the property. This would be around the time Marlow Morrison and her family lived at Meher Mount. (Photo: Ken Ceder, late 1980s)
Many, many thanks to all of you and Cassandra Bramucci for following her heart and desire to preserve the ashes.
The gift is far beyond anything I have been given in some time, and I will cherish it always, drawing on its energy and power to remind me of my beautiful childhood spent caring for Meher Mount.
Silence is golden,
Marlow Morrison
A GIFT of ashes from Baba’s Tree sent to Meher Mount volunteers and donors. (Photo: Margaret Magnus, May 2018)
Editor’s Note
Marlow’s father, Earl Butler, served on Meher Mount’s board of directors. After he passed away on December 26, 2000, his obituary written by Bing Heckman, was published in the Love Street Lamp Post, April 2001, page 37. Here’s an excerpt:
“Earl arrived at Meher Mount in the late 1980s, just after Agnes Baron, the longtime preserver of Meher Mount, returned to the property after a fire destroyed all of the buildings. He provided vital assistance to Agnes, enabling her to reside on the property. Earl continued to live at Meher Mount and help with its many needs until the fall of 2000 when his condition worsened. Earl was 58.”
EARL BUTLER, a former caretaker and board member at Meher Mount, with his daughter Marlow Morrison who lived at Meher Mount with her family as a young girl after the 1985 New Life Fire. (Photo: Courtesy of Marlow Morrison)