Our wedding anniversary was a couple of days ago. In the busyness of the last few weeks, winding down supervising student-teachers and dog sitting, it slipped past me, not unaware. Without disclosing which one it is, this a milestone anniversary.
The Prayer of St. Francis is a touchstone in my life and in the family. I refer to it in my writing and presenting. It served as a reading at our wedding and it is used at celebrations of life, particularly in my family.
I remember our wedding day clearly. There were interesting happenings. A friend got off the bus in a town an hour from where we had the wedding. Kathy drove to get him. Although others told us it was bad luck to see each other on our wedding day, we organized going to pick him up. Despite ourselves, the luck has been good as we are together and enjoy each other’s company.
Sitting in the front pew of the church, I heard the organ began to play the wedding song and I rose, shaking like a leaf. When I turned to look at Kathy and her dad, I stopped trembling and understood this was the right person for me.
Kathy and I enjoy music. We attend numerous concerts and our tastes are an eclectic, mix of genres and artists. We had the good fortune to see John Prine before he passed away. He was a singer you could not easily fit in a box with his quirkiness, while singing socially relevant songs. One song we enjoy is this tongue-in-cheek duet with Iris Dement. The night we saw him he sang the male and female parts of the song, adding to the humour.
In spite of ourselves, we found happiness, friendship, and love in our own quirky way.
In keeping with bell hooks and Noam Chomsky, I consider myself a public and dissident intellectual. Part of my work is to move beyond (transcend) institutional dogmas that bind me to defend freedom, raising my voice to be heard on behalf of those who seek equity and justice in all their forms.
I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. My dissertation and research was how teachers experience becoming teachers and their role as leaders.
I focus on leading, communicating, and innovating in organizations. This includes mindfuful servant-leadership, World Cafe events, Appreciative Inquiry, and expressing one's self through creativity. I offer retreats, workshops, and presentations that can be tailored to your organzations specific needs.
I published peer reviewed articles about schools as learning organizations, currere as an ethical pursuit, and hope as an essential element of adult eductaion. I published three poems and am currently preparing my poetry to publish as an anthology of poetry.
I present on mindful leadership, servant leadership, schools as learning organizations, how teachers experience becoming teachers, assessement, and critical thinking. I facilitate mindfulness, hospitality retreats. and World Cafe Events using Appreciative Inquiry.
I am writing and researching about various forms of leadership, how teachers inform and form their identity as a particular teacher, schools as learning organizations, hope, nonviolence and its anticipatory relationship with the future, as essential elements to teaching and learning.
Academic publications can be found at Ivon Gile Prefontaine on ResearchGate
Loved the prayer. I need to say this one every day. Loved the song, had me cracking up. Am sure you were forgiven for forgetting. Sounds like you two had a lot of good years together. I really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing.
Pat
Happy Anniversary! So nice that you found each other along life’s road. Wishing you happiness in all your future adventures. The Prayer of St. Francis will always be one of my favorites.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 
Loved the prayer. I need to say this one every day. Loved the song, had me cracking up. Am sure you were forgiven for forgetting. Sounds like you two had a lot of good years together. I really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing.
Pat
Happy anniversary.
Thank you for sharing this lovely post. Happy Anniversary to you both! Glad you had a good time together.
How beautiful, I am so happy for both of you. Enjoy the rest of your lives together. ❤
Happy Anniversary! So nice that you found each other along life’s road. Wishing you happiness in all your future adventures. The Prayer of St. Francis will always be one of my favorites.
Congratulations! ❤️❤️