www.DearMinisters.com
www.WeddingGuidance.net
www.carmelitesofsaintteresa.info
http://www.vbc-va.org
Blazing the Quiet Trail ~ a memoir in honour of Lanny and Edith Vee Chilton
"Do that which is needful; serve all; never be a 'pass the buck' person." ~ Landres Daniel Chilton (stated in words and in deeds throughout his life)
They met as actors in the mid 1940s, when Lanny was formulating the first racially integrated theater in Baltimore, the celebrated Greenwich Theater. Edith's love for the arts and openness to all humanity led her to the theater. They married, and continued their love of theater and the arts. Edith acted, while Lanny wrote and directed plays, as well as acted. In the days when it was dangerous and misunderstood to do so, Lanny and Vee Chilton put on plays at Greenwich Theater (at The Baltimore Interracial Fellowship House), sometimes under threats.
The young couple blazed a trail of early anti-racism, not by protesting or making speeches, but simply by living out their sense of racial same-ness and equality at a time and place when this was not a common practice or idea. You can see into Edith's mind and heart by looking at her paintings; a favorite painting is the Three Children in a Sandbox. It was a repose to the song, "Three Kids in a Sandbox." The children are playing tranquilly together. Each one of the three is a different race. Just that. No speeches, no protests. Just play. These children have not yet been taught to pigeonhole people into racial categories. Edith's art shows us a glimpse of a better world, a world that exists in many places, a world Edith and Lanny worked toward throughout a lifetime in quiet and strong ways.
Baltimore's own Verna Lee Day recollects the early days of Greenwich Theater, and how "Deep are the Roots" and other plays were performed despite threats against the theater and the performers... "Lanny and Vee put them on anyway, and no harm came to anyone or to the theatre." ~ Verily, it was a time of quietly weaving and producing an undercurrent of love and mutual reverence for one another with blindness to any perceived outer differences among mankind...
It was not so much simply a "talking" of the brotherhood of all mankind, it was a LIVING of it. It just Was. There was no notion of the so-called low notion of "tolerance" as if some groups or persons are superior and must somehow "tolerate" one or another group. No. It was and is the Divine and Loving notion and Teaching of Oneness of all beings, and the Brotherhood of Mankind. We all of us REVERE one another--we identify with our brother, we do not presume to look down and "tolerate" him. Love One Another, Serve One Another, See and Revere the Divinity in our fellow beings. What a Great Blessing this is to have washed over and through us all those years of growing and learning without contamination of false differences and "we-they" types of mindsets or thinking.
Let us one and all ever celebrate and embrace our differences and not presume to judge, for this is not our calling on this blessed Earth. Our Diversity is our Strength. Let us foster mutual understanding and expansiveness of hearts and minds.
In loving reverence and memory of beautiful and loving parents who gave us one of life's greatest gifts of open hearts and utter un-awareness of any cultural, racial, or religious differences among beings. With a large-heartedness and a Grace of the Holy Spirit, it was always known and understood that, by definition, the very foundation and basis of All Faiths is Love, Pure Love--Agape', Selfless Loving Service, and the Teachings in All Faiths that God Almighty shall persue us - we take one tiny step, or no steps, and God takes ten steps toward us... Through their life and living (thoughts, words, deeds), they exemplified Total Courage and fearlessness in the persuit of righteousness and Truth. They taught us forthrightness, fortitude, and of the Divinity in all. Thank you O beloved Parents for that which is among the Greatest of Gifts to Mankind and Society, including the very essence of liberty, justice, service, and love for all.
They named their first child Channahsorah after Edith's mother, and then Earleen came along!
Also in their lives, Edith Vee was an amazing ARTIST - many of her beautiful paintings are on family and friend's walls across the nation. Lanny got his pilot's license as an adult; he was a PILOT and loved being at air-ports and flying his twin-engine Cessna (in which he had part ownership). A bumper-sticker on the back of his car said "I'd Rather be Flying!" Always having the heart of a Servant, Lanny's devotion and worshipfulness blossomed and deepend over his lifetime, and he spoke and wrote several heart-felt prayers and sermons.
