William
Early morning of Friday 6 September, William T. Netter, one of Auroville’s more eccentric pioneers hailing from Boston, USA, quietly left his body in his ‘trilon’ house at Samasti. After a fall in 2010 his health had generally deteriorated and during the last three years he has been gradually withdrawing from life. He would have been 87 at the end of this year.
Being an artist and designer, William visited India in the end of the sixties with some 'humanity' professors from the New York area . At the time, he attended the 1968 New Year's Day meditation at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, which totally changed the direction of his life. Living and working off and on in Pondicherry and Auroville for years, William finally came to settle in Samasti, in the house built according to his own, quite remarkable design.
From there he did his writing and design work, while intensively studying Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri. This resulted in three guides for the reading of the poem, published by his Aurowilly Designs. The fourth work, his 'Log of a journey through Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri’, depicts through strongly visual imagery his unique way of seeing the poem, and his great love for the Mother.
Those of us who knew Aurowilly from close by will remember the extraordinary sense of humor with which he approached life, and he’ll be sorely missed for that.
William’s remains were buried at Adventure’s funeral grounds on Sunday afternoon, September 8th, with a good number of his friends attending.
Jay MA ~
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