Obituary of Helen Philbrick

HELEN LOUISE PORTER PHILBRICK Helen Louise Porter Philbrick died peacefully at her Duxbury home, Faith Homestead, on December 1, 2011, at the age of 101, leaving many friends and admirers. With her late husband, the Reverend John Philbrick, Helen ministered to Episcopal congregations in Massachusetts and Missouri, including the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Duxbury, MA. She was also a pioneer in the Biodynamic and organic farming and gardening movements, a longtime practitioner of homeopathy, as well as an expert silversmith, weaver, chair-caner, and basket maker, and one of the early occupational therapists. Helen Philbrick was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, on February 23, 1910, to Ethel and Franklin Porter. She spent her early years in Bristol Ferry, Rhode Island. Helen and her adopted brother, Edward, lived with their parents in Middleton and later Danvers, Massachusetts. Helen was a graduate of Wheaton College, in the class of 1932. After graduation, she worked in her father's silversmith shop. Her father was known in his field as a modern-day Paul Revere, and a few years ago, Helen gave a collection of the silver that she and her father created to the Yale University Art Gallery. Porter silver is also in the collections of the Peabody-Essex and other museums. She also worked briefly in New Haven, where her brother Eddie had become a high school teacher, and then entered the Boston School of Occupational Therapy. She graduated as an occupational therapist in 1936. Helen met John Philbrick at Episcopal youth conferences while she was in high school, and she continued her association with the Philbrick family while John studied at the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Cambridge. She commuted every day to an occupational therapy position in Providence. Helen and John married soon after John was ordained in 1937, and they spent their honeymoon at the Brightwater community in Maine. During their time in Duxbury, Helen and John became practitioners of Biodynamic gardening, a system of organic gardening based on the teachings of the German philosopher, Rudolf Steiner. They gathered around them a community of gardeners with a strong interest in the principles of Biodynamics and caring for the earth. The writings of Rachel Carson were also a strong influence. Over the years, Helen and John collaborated on numerous books about organic gardening, including The Bug Book and Companion Plants and How to Use Them. They also co-authored Powder Point Priest Keeps Pigs. During the Duxbury years, Helen was active in the Rural and Historical Society and the Women’s Guild of Saint John the Evangelist. At Roanridge in Missouri, they spent 12 years training ministers for rural ministries. In 1972, after serving parishes in Groveland, Weymouth, Duxbury, Ashfield, and Wilkinsonville, Massachusetts, they retired to Faith Homestead, which became a conference center for people associated with the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, of which John became president. They erected a building for workshops; participated in the Second Whole Earth Exposition; became active with the Plymouth County Wildlands Trust (now The Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts); and tended ancient apple trees. After John died, Helen continued to share her knowledge of gardening, weaving, and chair caning, and gave Faith Homestead to The Wildlands Trust, reserving the right to live there. For many years, she demonstrated and taught weaving, chair-caning and basket-weaving at the Daniel Webster Sanctuary of the Massachusetts Audubon Society in Marshfield, the Soule Homestead in Middleboro, the Duxbury Senior Center, and at her Duxbury home. She published her memoirs, Journeys with a Real Jack in the Pulpit, in 2005. After she retired from active participation in gardening, Helen derived great pleasure from watching the community gardens created by the Wildlands Trust on the grounds of Faith Homestead flourish outside her window. Helen was an inspiration to thousands: a generous, creative, quick-witted woman with a smile for everyone, always ready to laugh at the world and at herself. She is survived by Timothy Burdick, her long-time friend and principal caregiver, who resided with her during the last years of her life; Pat Michaud, of Scituate, her cousin; and scores of friends, relations, and caregivers, who constituted an extended loving family. Her life will be celebrated at a memorial service at 2:00 pm on Saturday, December 17, at Saint John the Evangelist Church, 410 Washington Street, Duxbury, MA, where her late husband served as first full-time rector. An Act of Consecration of Man for Helen Philbrick will also be performed at 11 am on Saturday, December 10, at The Christian Community, 365 Washington Street, Brookline Village. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, P. O. Box 944, East Troy, WI 53120-0944; Saint John the Evangelist Church, 410 Washington Street, Duxbury, MA 02332; and The Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts, P. O. Box 2282, Duxbury, MA 02331-2282. .