Testimonial von Ernst Löschner für Alice & Wickham Skinner
Wickham Skinner was my mentor who has influenced my life more than anybody else besides my immediate family, for 50 years, ever since 1969, when he enabled that I could study at the Harvard Business School. He and his wife Alice have fostered for me and all from my family our love for Maine, starting at Thanksgiving 1969 at their farm house in Sprucehead Island. At the age of 90, Wick – still quick at the net - played his last tennis doubles match with me as his partner in 2014. It was exactly a year ago in February 2018 that I could spend a week with him at his house in St. George, Maine, with conversations about the meaning of being. The annual APC Peace Hike and our social projects were always of particular interest to Wick. He has been – and still is - my role model for life, now also for the transition to the after-life. His decision "to call it a day" was so clear, he felt “free and happy” on Jan 25, 2019. When he passed away peacefully only 3 days later on Jan 28, this was a last gift to his family and all friends.
The reunion chairman of my High School in Manhattan, Kansas, where I graduated in 1961, sent me this poem/prayer:
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Hold on to what is good,
Even if it's a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe,
Even if it's a tree that stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do,
Even if it's a long way from here.
Hold on to your life,
Even if it's easier to let go.
Hold on to my hand,
Even if someday I'll be gone away from you.
Pueblo Prayer
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When I read these words aloud on Jan 28, it was as if Wick was speaking to me, to “his younger brother” as he would often call me. Yes, Wick, I hold on….to your hand. You will be living forever inside me. I think of you as a mountain, beautiful and strong.
I have always loved the mountains. You trusted me when I took you to climb the Schönfeldspitze near Maria Alm some 30 years ago. When you learned how to fly an airplane at the age of 60, also some 30 years ago, I trusted you when you took us into the air over the Penobscot Bay in Maine.
We owe so much to you and Alice. Merci infiniment…..
Ernst Löschner, Vienna, Austria, Feb 3, 2019
