Richard C. Mehl died October 31, 2013 at age 73. Richard was born December 13, 1939, in Akron, Ohio, son of Dr. L.B. and Marjorie Mehl. He was a gifted thinker, starting before high school to develop the interests and knowledge of a scholar. He studied mathematics, science, literature, music, philosophy, politics and history. He later extended his interests into psychology and religion.
The passions of his life were social justice and life-long learning. By high school, he had become a socialist who valued individual freedom. He opposed violence and was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, serving his alternative service as a research assistant at Western Reserve Medical Center in Cleveland. He greatly respected Eugene Debs and Martin Luther King, Jr. for their social conscience and activism. Always searching for an antidote to human cruelty, in his later years he found great meaning in the writings of American polymath Ernest Becker, and he became an active donor to the Ernest Becker Society.
He loved the arts as an expression of human spiritual achievement, especially classical music, which he felt was the pinnacle of human aesthetic expression. He put his appreciation into practice by playing the recorder in a Kalamazoo group "Wind Forest."
He met the love of his life in the Kalamazoo Friends Meeting in 1971 and they were married on September 25, 1976. He shared with Paula Allred his love of nature, music, social justice, cats, and entrepreneurial adventures. Richard's interest in the outdoor world of forest, flowers, trees, and astronomy connected with Paula's interests in walking in the woods, camping, bicycling, kayaking. Richard had many practical skills which included woodworking, gardening, and excellent financial management. Many evenings were spent listening to classical music or dancing to favorite 60's oldies, reading poetry, discussing films, laughing at "The Simpsons". He had a clever sense of humor. Throughout these activities of life they were both involved in the human struggle to learn and understand about each other and themselves and spent much time talking together.
In his later years, he worked as a library assistant at Western Michigan University, which gave him ready access to the varied ideas in the books that he so voraciously devoured. In science and philosophy, he valued reason and clarity above all, including the demand for evidence before belief. On the other hand, he was well aware of the influence of unconscious emotion and motivation (Freud) and false consciousness (Karl Marx). In religion, he subscribed to the social gospel of Jesus and its modern pragmatic expression by Tolstoy, and rejected the dogma of official Pauline Christianity and the seductive appeal of mysticism as expressed in Japanese Zen philosophy. He rejected a judgmental "parent-in-the-sky" deity who presides over heaven and hell and an imaginary afterlife. He considered himself an atheist since high school; yet he was fully sensitive to, and appreciative of, the transcendent mystery and majesty of the world. He was always looking for connections - between ideas and between people. He always valued commonalities more than differences.
He is survived by his wife Paula Allred, his sister Nancy J. Morgan, his brother Carter D. Mehl, his sister-in-law Anitra Balzer Mehl, and his three nieces Amanda, Ursula and Sophia Mehl.
A memorial to celebrate his life will be held on Saturday, November 9th, 2013 at Kalamazoo Friend's Meeting -508 Denner Street, Kalamazoo, MI 49006. 3:30 PM.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Kalamazoo Nature Center 7000 N. Westnedge Ave. Kalamazoo, MI 49009-6309 or Hospice of Southwest Michigan 222 N Kalamazoo Mall #100 Kalamazoo, MI 49007 or West Michigan Cancer Center, 200 North Park Street Kalamazoo, MI 49007.
Rich and Paula felt very thankful for having each other and for the kind and loving friends and family that have enriched their life together.
"Let flow your tears, You may find woven into your grief an undersong of terrible holy joy."
-Unknown
(from the online version of the Kalamazoo Gazette). See more at: http://obits.mlive.com/obituaries/kalamazoo/obituary.aspx?n=richard-mehl&pid=167812149#sthash.dpxU2Y60.dpuf
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