Colleen Pouyet
Colleen passed away on the 26th of August at 5:25 pm. On August 31st, her body was cremated at the Auroville Cremation Ground. Two years ago she had suffered a stroke and was in a coma for three days. At Marika’s Home she found a peaceful and caring environment, surrounded by kind people for the last two years of her life.
Colleen Pouyet née Witdiz from Two Banyans, was born in Montana, USA, in 1944. She was raised on a large ranch, where besides farming, about 5000 head of cattle were raised. Colleen had 12 uncles on her mother’s side, who all lived on the ranch, above the horse stalls, in bunks—a pretty rough and raw society and environment. Colleen was learning to ride big horses, shoot, and take apart guns by the age of seven.
After working for some years as a high school teacher in the US and in Ghana as part of the Peace Corps, she eventually found her way to Pondicherry in the late 1960s, where she met the Mother and Jean, her husband-to-be of 55 years. Finally, she had reached a place where individuals strove to create a world “without rivalry and competition”. She was home.
Belief in Environmental Restoration
She and Jean first lived in Hope with Vijay, Denis and Boris Corso and worked with Raoul Mercier in Auro Orchard, learning about watershed management, soil health and biodynamic farming. Those years would come to be the spring-board for the next fifty years of environmental restoration to which Colleen and Jean consecrated their lives entirely.
Their daughter AuroAsha was born in 1972.
In 1973, the family moved to Two Banyans with Mother’s blessings to do dryland farming and reforestation on the most degraded parts.
For Colleen, the growth of Consciousness on Earth, our contribution to the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, could only come about with a healthy and flourishing environment. Her conviction that wild, diverse and protected forests were indispensable tools for spiritual growth and the Auroville experiment was unwavering until the very end.
Colleen observed that Acacia auriculiformis (the flowers of which the Mother named as “Work”) was incredibly efficient in fostering the astounding diversity of flora and fauna thriving in Auroville today, with its unique capacity to maintain its foliage throughout the year. Planted densely in rows, it first served as resilient windbreaks and ultimately, it speeded up the reintroduction of evergreen, climax species on the plateau and their subsequent profuse natural regeneration.
Colleen was humble, a silent, structural architect of the City the Earth Needs: diligent and brave, she never lost faith in the Mother’s dream, never questioned the ultimate Victory, and never succumbed to cynicism.
We are forever grateful for her contribution to Auroville, the dream of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
May her soul rest in peace.
Jean, Auroasha, Seher Jade, Sanjay
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