Ted Hain
On May 2 a memorial service for Ted Hain was held at the meetinghouse during the morning Meeting for Worship. Ted was born on July 23, 1947 to Chester and Louise (Bailey) Hain in Pottsville, PA. He died on April 25, 2004. Preceded in death by his mother, Ted is survived by his father and two sisters, Jewell Baker and Alice Hain.He graduated from Central Missouri College in 1969 and was employed as a teacher and guidance counselor in several states. Ted actively opposed the war in Vietnam. He resisted the selective service registration and disputed the control of governmental and corporate bureaucracy.
Ted wore his hair long and beautifully braided. He eschewed conventional expectations. With intention, Ted did not follow many of the notions of mainstream culture and that separation was not without distress and sorrow.
Ted yearned for peace and tended his garden. His philosophy grew out of the garden as much as did his garlic and flowers. In his profile for the Friendly Connection, January 2004, he wrote of the garden. “My intent, in the new century has been to have the horizon boundary marked as footsteps tread the morning dew circumnavigating a garden, arriving at a compost pile. The garden has been my focus. The garden has been my escape. My passion and the common flavors of the garden became interwoven.”
Ted understood that the garden accommodates beautiful flowers and organic rot. He shared with us from his garden - serendipitous gifts of garlic, flower bulbs, vegetables and bread - and from his heart. We are a sorrowful meeting for the loss.