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58 SPIRIT AND THE MIND
missionary. Her early years were lived in a strict and authoritarian setting, and later in her life she developed osteoarthritis, leading to double knee replacements.
A.T. was always bright, inquisitive and creative. She graduated from high school with a straight-A average and during her high school years showed remarkable sensitivity to the plight of the poor. About age 15, while at a one-week Unitarian young people’s conference retreat, she and her friends were moved by Ralph Abernathy’s Poor People’s Campaign. She fasted three days and went with friends to Washington to visit Tent City and take part in the protest. The next summer she volunteered her time with a Head-Start program.
At age 16 she was an exchange student for three months in South America, becoming fluent in Spanish and developing a continuing interest in South America. Then followed a heightened awareness regarding broader world problems. She became involved in student rights activities and anti-war protests even while living in a conservative community. Following her graduation from high school at age 17 she entered Brandeis University, majoring in biology.
Over the next few years she met and married her present husband, a physician, and graduated from Brandeis in 1975. Then she and her husband moved to a small California town where, for the next two years, she worked as an instructional aide for a migrant educational program, helping migrant high school students adapt to school. Her sensitivity to the issues, fluency in Spanish, intelligence and humanistic interest brought her success and led to her involvement in curriculum development.
While teaching there, she developed a friendship with a substitute teacher who introduced her to new spiritual ideas and gave her my first book upon her leaving in 1978. She and her husband then came to San Diego, California, where he entered practice. Approximately one year later, in 1979 and at age 27, she entered treatment to investigate her inner world and improve communication with her husband. There was no history of drug abuse, trouble with the law, marked depressions or sexual problems.
EARLY YEARS
Although A.T.’s family was basically healthy and strong, as in all families there were some discernible problems in the relationship