Since the mid-1930s Mildred J. Loomis and
others have committed their lives to the Ralph Borsodi and Henry
George movements, homesteading, and community living. Much has
expanded since then to encompose a more wholesome life, free of
polution, with a better communial relationship with our mother
earth. What we hope to accomplish in this on-line resource is
to collect proses, poetry, articles, art and more. Some may have
been previously printed or included in the Green Revolution,
others are current that reflect the movement of today.
If you have anything you wish
to have considered to be added to the collection please forward
by email to: solgreenrev@gmail.com
A Brief Biography
of Mildred Jensen Loomis by True Ritchey
Mildred Jensen Loomis, Decentralist, writer,
editor and co-founder along with Dr. Ralph Borsodi of the School
of Living, over 50 years ago. Born January 5, 1900 on a farm near
Blair, Nebraska, of Danish/English ancestry. Father, Nels Marten
Jensen; mother Anna Truhlsen Jensen. Mildred had three brothers
and two sisters. Surviving are one brother, Dr. Marshall N. Jensen
of Longwood, Florida and her sister, Myrtle Ross of Cory, Colorado,
three nieces and four nephews. Deceased are brothers Harold and
Alton, and sister Enid Wardell.
Mildred Loomis served as Director of School
of Living Centers at Lane’s End near Dayton, Ohio from 1943
to 1968, at Heathcote, MD from 1968 to 1972, at Sonnewald Homestead
near Spring Grove, PA from 1972 to 1975, and at Deep Run near
York, PA from 1975 - 1985. Throughout this period, she wrote various
self-reliance and decentralist topics, and at times, edited the
School of Living journal, known variously as The Interpreter,
Balanced Living, A Way Out, and The Green Revolution. As a speaker,
at many conferences and workshops she gained wide acclaim in the
U.S. and aboard.
Besides the School of Living publications,
her writings appeared in numerous avant-garde periodicals, including
Free America, Christian Century, Let’s Live, The Messenger,
The Anvil, Resurgence, Mother Earth News, and The Whole Earth
Review. Her published books include Alternative Americas and Go
Ahead and Live The former is an exposition and chronicle of the
decentralist movement, while the latter addresses approaches to
healthful, self-reliant ways of living. Two others, Ralph Borsodi:
Reshaping Modern Culture, and Borsodi As I Knew Him, are in preparation.
Loomis was in the process of writing another book about women
in the Henry George movement at the time of her stroke on October
1, 1984.
Loomis’ educational background included
a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nebraska in
1924, followed by a Master of Science degree in Education and
Religion from Columbia University and Union Seminary in 1932.
She taught at Quaker summer work camps and at the Quaker Center
in Pendel Hill. She assisted Ralph Borsodi at the School of Living
in Suffren, NY in 1939 and 1940.
In 1940, she married John Loomis. Together,
they established Lane’s End Homestead at Brookville, Ohio
where they lived in a relatively self-reliant lifestyle until
John’s death in 1968. Throughout this period, Loomis tutored
and instructed people in homesteading, organic gardening, nutrition,
healthful living and decentralist economics.
Throughout her long life, Mildred Loomis
has inspired countless people, not merely by what she said and
wrote, but how she lived her life, practicing healthful, decentralist
principles daily and joyfully.
1985?