In September of 1983, Harvey stopped over in Greece and worked for about four hours with me and three other women-the entire Community at that time. That meeting gave us the "push" we needed to build an RC Community.
The first workshop he led for us in Greece was in, I think, September of 1984. In spite of the fact that my Greek wasn't very good, it was decided that I should be the translator for theory because as a USer I would at least understand what Harvey was saying.
We began the workshop with me shaking away, sitting next to Harvey, who began, "Hello! My name is Harvey Jackins." I immediately translated into Greek, "Hello! My name is Jarvey Hackins." Harvey kept repeating it, and I kept saying it over and over the wrong way. I was shaking so hard I thought my teeth would break.
What struck me was his kindness and gentleness and the way he asked for my agreement that someone else do the translating. As he thanked me for my efforts, he turned to the audience and asked them to support me well, especially on this issue.
It could have been the end of my translating career, but I went on to become the Com-munity's best translator for a period of time (until the native-born Greek membership began to increase and logically take more responsibility for the translating). Being a translator has been one of the most enriching and empowering parts of my re-emergence, and I owe a lot of that to Harvey.
Harvey came to Greece to do a second workshop in September 1986. I was the designated driver to take him to the airport the morning after the workshop. From the moment we left to the moment we parked the car at the airport, Harvey sang one song after the other, with a few pieces of poetry interspersed between the tunes. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was the first song he sang and has always remained my favorite.
Over the years, Harvey supported me with telephone time. Sometimes he would sing songs to me for up to three quarters of an hour, while I did some of the deepest discharging of my life. Just writing this has brought tears and, once again, the realization of how much I miss him.
Margie Doyle-Papadopoulou
Kantza, Greece