In memoriam - Colleen Pouyet

Colleen was born in Montana, USA, in 1944. She was raised on a large ranch, where besides farming, about 5,000 head of cattle were raised. After working for some years as a high school teacher in the US and in Ghana as part of the Peace Corps, she eventually found her way to Pondicherry in the early 1970s, where she met The Mother and Jean, her husband-to-be of 55 years. Finally, she had reached a place where man strove to create a world “without rivalry and competition”. She was home.

She and Jean first lived in Hope with Vijay, Denis and Boris Corso and worked with Raoul Mercier in Auro Orchard, learning about watershed management, soil health and biodynamic farming. Those years would come to be the spring-board for the next fifty years of environmental restoration to which Colleen and Jean consecrated their lives entirely.

Their daughter AuroAsha was born in 1972.

In 1973, the family moved to Two Banyans with Mother’s blessings to do dryland farming and reforestation on the most degraded parts.

For Colleen, the growth of Consciousness on Earth, our contribution to the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, could only come about with a healthy and flourishing environment. Her conviction that wild, diverse and protected forests were indispensable tools for spiritual growth and the Auroville experiment was unwavering until the very end. Colleen was instrumental in establishing, motivating, and energising the newly formed Forest Group, which led to the creation of the two thousand acres of protected forest we have today.

Colleen was humble, a silent, structural architect of the City the Earth Needs: diligent and brave, she never lost faith in the Mother’s dream, never questioned the ultimate Victory, and never succumbed to cynicism.

In October 2022, Colleen suffered a stroke and was in a coma for three days. In Marika’s Home she found a peaceful and caring environment, surrounded by kind people for the last two years of her life.

She passed away on 26 August and her body was cremated on 31 August at the Auroville Cremation ground.