September 2010
It's been three years now since I retired as Admissions Coordinator at Kodaikanal International School. Merrick and I returned to the Lockwood ancestral home just outside off Boston. We are blessed to be in this large, old, New England home bought by Merrick's grandfather in 1910. We find ourselves busy with the house and yard. There are some major issues that need addressing like house insulation, electrical wiring, and painting. Merrick is delighted to have a basement where he has set up a workshop that allows him to do the work.
Soon after returning to Milton I took a course to become a certified yoga teacher. We also fixed up our attic area to rent out. We joined the choir at the Unitarian Church. So slowly, it seems, we are becoming a part of this community.
Our ties to Asia remain strong. Our eldest son, Ian, married to an Indian girl, works in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Our second son, also married, works in China. And we retain Shelton Cottage in Kodaikanal.
11/2010 from Nancy Towle's journal from the African trip
After Kodai Sara Ann got a BS in Physical Therapy; Merrick went to Oberlin and then did a Peace Corps Term in Serra Leone. Upon returning with his pet chimpanzee, Susie, he pursued a MS in entomology. After meeting Sara Ann in DC one summer they became engaged. Soon after they were married however, Susie was given to the Tulsa Oklahoma Zoo. Merrick continued with his PhD studies in grain storage technology at Kansas State University. A bonus was two years in Mysore, India, to do his research. By this time their first child, Ian, had arrived and upon returning from Mysore their second son, Brian was born. Studies completed, they joined International Volunteer Services to Bangladesh. Sara Ann established a Physiotherapy department at Mymensingh Medical College; Merrick worked at a Roman Catholic parish assisting them with grain storage issues and maintaining their power tillers. After their stint as volunteers they moved from a rural setting to the capital city of Dhaka. Sara Ann opened up a home Physiotherapy practice and found a job with Dhaka International School as the secretary to the superintendent, and later as the registrar. Ian was born in Kansas and Brian in Virginia and in 1977 they adopted Maya in Bangladesh. In the following years Merrick was employed by USAID, Asia Foundation, Lutheran World Services and others. His work involved developing a Sterling engine as well as a women’s silk project. Finding funding and writing up proposals for Merrick’s work, took time and didn’t necessarily provide for the expensive school fees and housing. So it was that in ’79 and ’80 Sara Ann connected with Kodai, first as a housemother (then the boys could go to school there). When the Project got approved Sara Ann and the children returned to Dhaka. Brian and Maya went to school at the American Inter-national School/Dhaka while Ian continued at Kodai. Sara Ann became Registrar. In 94 Sara Ann came to Boston to rescue their home from abusive renters. Merrick remained in Bangladesh. Maya attended Northfield Mount Hermon in western Massachusetts, and Brian was at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. Then in’97 Sara Ann returned to Kodai as Director of Admissions until Jan of 2007. In 1980 Merrick and Sara Ann began leasing Shelton cottage, Kodai’s very first house built in 1845. In March 2007 Sara Ann and Merrick retired and returned to their family ancestral home outside of Boston. Since then Sara Ann has become a registered yoga teacher and more recently taken people on two different tours back to India. Her next tour, South India Sights and Sounds, will take place Jan 20 to Feb 10, 2011. They presently live in the family home in Milton. They are looking forward to a Christmas family reunion in Sri Lanka. Merrick likes to work in his workshop making sterling engines and fixing things such as electric generation pumps for rice mills. His interests range from zoology, biology, and entomology to grain science. He has done a lot in agricultural technology. For fun Merrick likes bird watching and photography.
Earlier
I went to India when I was 2 years old. We came
on the first troup ship out of NY. My father was a Methodist missionary.
At 5 I went to Woodstock. Before this I never knew a white person. I moved
to Kodai 2 or 3 years later. My brother had asthma. I liked boarding.
I found it difficult to choose a college. Many expressed this same problem.
I did attend West Virginia Wesleyan but I transferred to Hope College
to get the science
courses I needed. I then went into physical therapy. I married Merrick
Lockwood who got his PhD at the University of Kansas. He did his PhD research
in Mysore and then we went to Bangladesh where we lived for about 28 years.
This year he left for Kodai.een in Kodai for several years now. I have
3 children: daughter Maya (adopted from Bangladesh.)who is finishing college
next week, son Bryan married to Korean girl, eldest son Ian, a photographer
and naturalist who has held exhibitions and teaches about environmental
issues. Kodai School has had good changes. It now has an international
students body. Indians, Koreans, Americans, and Bhutanese are the main
cultures. Tourism has changed Kodai.