MYRTLE BEACH
Meher Center: Baba’s Home in the West
Jeff and I came to Meher Center in Myrtle Beach for our first visit in 1980, and when we left it seemed like we just left our hearts there. We went back to St. Louis, but our hearts were in Myrtle Beach. We felt Baba was calling us to the Center. So much so was this feeling, I woke up one morning and said, “Jeff, let’s get packed, let’s go.” And that’s just the way we did it. We left St. Louis in 1983, and I never went back. Because I wasn’t feeling well after we got to the Center, Jeff went back and packed everything up and brought all our things to North Myrtle Beach where we were living.
We met Elizabeth, Kitty, and Jane in 1980 when we first came to visit. I remember Elizabeth sitting across the room from me. I was sitting on the couch and I just knew, as she looked at us, I was kind of like told, “Oh, yes, this is wonderful, you’ve come, I’m glad to see you, I’ve been waiting for you.” It was like Elizabeth knew it was close to her time to pass on, and she didn’t live long after we saw her. I looked at her and thought of all the work she had done for Baba, first finding and then getting the Center all going, and here I am, my husband and I sitting here meeting this lady. It was so wonderful, being with Baba’s Mandali, I could hardly believe what was happening, but I knew Baba wanted us to be there. I remember looking over at Kitty and all the girls around her that were taking care of her and Elizabeth. They were all sitting around Kitty, they were by her feet and all, and I thought, “Oh, I’d give anything to be able to take care of Kitty and I could sit at her feet and I could take care of her. Oh, that would be so wonderful, oh, those girls, how blessed they are to be able to take care of the Mandali like this.” The experience of sitting there thinking about all this was all so wonderful. Such a beautiful gift actually meeting Baba’s Mandali, Elizabeth and Kitty, and being in their home and seeing how they lived, doing so much work for the Center, and having tea with them; and Elizabeth being a businesswoman, too. I remember thinking how wonderful, how much they had to do.
We began volunteering at the Center, and I was giving tours, washing dishes in the kitchen, answering the telephones, whatever was needed. Jeff and I worked in Gateway on Saturday nights. We just loved being there. We thought that little old place — not as beautiful as the new one they built, but the “old” Gateway — had its beauty in those days. We’d meet all the people coming to the Center. They’d go through that little green gate and come into the Gateway, we would exchange greetings, and they would continue to the Meeting Place for the program. We did that for years and years. It was so wonderful, not only meeting all the people, but being able to give that love and receive that love from others. All of us so interested in Baba. All so taken by Baba’s love. It was an absolutely wonderful time we had.
Then while people were in the meeting, I’d cut Jeff’s hair, or do something like that to have that work done, and we’d eat there, and we always said that the Gateway was our little home away from home on Saturday nights. So it’s a wonderful feeling to remember the little place, for as you know, as Baba wishes, things constantly change. That is one thing about this Earth, everything is constantly changing for our highest good, and we need changes. And by the grace of God we are constantly learning how to live with God.
