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Each year Pendle Hill hosts one or two Friends in Residence who are present throughout the term and provide support and guidance founded on their long experience in the Religious Society of Friends. The company of these seasoned Friends adds a special dimension to the community's understanding of what it means to be a Quaker.
Fall 2008
Takako Mendl was born in Japan and lived in Hiroshima for over 25 years. In 1971 she came to Pendle Hill as a resident student and became a close friend of Howard Brinton’s second wife, Yuki. She also met her late husband, Wolf. She joined the Society of Friends in 1985. Since then, she has extended hospitality to F/friends from different parts of the world. For many years she worked as a counselor with Japanese students at the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) and Kings College, University of London. A member of the Westminster Branch of the United Nations Association, she supports projects for refugees and asylum seekers.
Rachel Frith has been active as a Quaker since 1959 in six meetings, serving regularly on committees at the local, regional, and yearly meeting levels. She was a founding member of Sheffield Nether Edge Meeting in 1988 and was on the Quaker committee which initiated Sheffield’s HARC program (Homeless and Rootless at Christmas). Since 2003 she has served frequently as a Friend in Residence at Woodbrooke. Rachel has a French son-in-law and a Nigerian daughter-in-law; has visited Friends in Bolivia, France, and Australia; and hopes to learn more about Quakers from other parts of the world.
Winter, Spring and Summer 2009
Elaine Emily is a member of Strawberry Creek Friends Meeting in Berkeley, California, part of Pacific Yearly Meeting and College Park Quarter. A Quaker for almost twenty years, she has served on ministry and community care committees at the monthly, quarterly, and yearly meeting levels. She often travels in support of individuals with leadings and messages for the Religious Society of Friends.
Elaine has led workshops on "Rediscovering Eldering," "Nurturing the Monthly Meeting," mysticism, discernment, prayer, and healing at Pendle Hill, the Friends General Conference Gathering, Ben Lomond Quaker Center, Powell House, and monthly meetings. She also teaches yoga, Reiki, and Therapeutic Touch. Previously a member of the Friends General Conference Traveling Ministries Program Committee, she is currently following a leading to gather stories from individuals called to eldering throughout the Religious Society of Friends. In January and February of 2008 she traveled within Australia Yearly Meeting with a concern for eldering and nurture of the monthly meeting.
During the 2008 spring term, Elaine served as Friend in Residence at Pendle Hill. She is returning for extended service during the winter, spring, and summer of 2009 to support the education staff and the program of spiritual nurture.
Winter 2009
Ruth Hyde Paine came to Pendle Hill as a resident student for fall term, 1950, after a year of college, feeling a need for more religious focus in her life. She joined North Columbus Friends Meeting in 1951 and was sent by her meeting and Lake Erie Association to the Friends World Conference in England in 1952. Active with the Young Friends Committee of North America, she was coordinator for the 1955 National Young Friends Conference. Through the years she has been active in her nearest monthly and yearly meeting in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and now California.
In the 1970s she was principal of Greene Street Friends School in Philadelphia. Her daughter's health needs led the family to Florida where Ruth worked as a school psychologist for public schools.
Ruth served as a representative to the Friends Committee on National Legislation for Southeastern Yearly Meeting (SEYM). She assisted the growth of SEYM's service project in Nicaragua, "Pro-Nica", from 1990 to 2006. She now lives in a Friends retirement community in Santa Rosa, California near her son, a member of a 150-acre intentional community.
Spring 2009
Tom Davis joined Friends 22 years ago after lifelong affiliation with the Church of the Brethren. He is a member of Santa Cruz Meeting (CA), where he has served as clerk. After earning a M.Div. from Bethany Theological Seminary he taught at three Brethren colleges, farmed for eleven years, and worked as a CPA. Tom is a spiritual director with a passion for spiritual formation, especially prayer, Bible, and eldering. He is a certified teacher of Centering Prayer. He serves on the board of Ben Lomond Quaker Center (CA), and partners with his wife, Joan Rawles-Davis, in offering retreats.
Joan Rawles-Davis grew up near Philadelphia and attended Quaker secondary school and college. She is a member of Santa Cruz Meeting (CA), where she has served as clerk of Oversight, Community Building, and Nominating Committees. In her spiritual life, she is called to opportunities to use her whole being in worship, including through sacred circle dance, and to attend to the sacredness of every day. She serves as a grief counselor for hospice. She has taught high school and college, and has been a school counselor and a social worker with the elderly.
