Processing Grief

Last Saturday, May 25th, 2024, our City Club community lost an honored member, friend, and teacher. 

Since City Club’s inception in 2005, Kevin Townley has been an Honorary Member and a Scholar in Residence who gave back to the community by hosting a monthly lunch talk under the broad umbrella of Western Mysticism. Kevin and his lovely wife, Nancy Wunderlich, celebrated their marriage in the Highland Gardens, and we plan to host Kevin’s celebration of life and honor his legacy on Friday, June 7th, starting at 5 pm, in the same gardens.

Having experienced a similar loss with the passing of City Club Honorary Member Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, we are painfully familiar with the five stages of grief: Shock and denial, anger and sadness, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

A Stoic by nature, Kevin understood the transitory nature of life, lived it to the fullest, and strived to be wealthy by accumulating knowledge over material wealth, which he so generously shared throughout his life. So, we now face the question of how Kevin would want us to plan this event.

I sense that Kevin’s celebration of life would first take the form of helping Nancy to cope physically and emotionally, followed by the community’s continued pursuit of wisdom. In that regard, we are pleased to honor his bestowed wisdom through the offer of the many City Club lunch talks on YouTube and guidebooks he left us.

We would likewise honor Kevin’s memory by initiating a new program called “Elder Lunch” in his name, which would give our members the privilege of having lunch with wise elders like Oak Thorne, Barry Collen, and William Steding.

Although Brother Kevin Townley is no longer with us in this physical realm, his spirit is infused in all his students. Let us process our loss and grief speedily and get on with our task of helping advance human evolution.

— Sina.