HUDSON, N.Y. —Roger S. Makepeace, 70, passed away from complications of Parkinson’s disease at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson, New York, on Feb. 27, 2023.
Roger was born on July 1, 1952, and grew up in Middlebury, Connecticut. He graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in agriculture and a desire to be an organic farmer, an unusual aspiration at that time. For many years, he was in charge of the grounds and landscaping on musician Paul Winter’s estate in Litchfield.
In 1990, after his parents were gone, he searched for his true home and found it in the mountains of North Carolina. With $60,000 he bought 55 acres, a house, a barn, and a tobacco field which he refused to plant. And there he lived happily in Marshall, North Carolina, for almost 30 years.
He loved the community, was an avid contra dancer and a talented photographer, and enjoyed life among the many artists, artisans, musicians, and farmers in the greater Asheville area.
In the late 1990s, Roger became a WOOFER — a Willing Worker on Organic Farms — and spent part of each year “woofing” in New Zealand. He would work on a farm for a while, save up some money, then head for the ocean to scuba dive, or to the mountains, where he took many stunning photos.
In 2017, his sister Anne Makepeace of Lakeville realized something was wrong. Roger was falling often; he was becoming isolated, having a hard time tracking conversations.
A neurologist diagnosed Parkinson’s and Pre-Frontal Temporal Dementia (PFD), although the diagnosis later became primarily Parkinson’s. For a few years, Roger was able to stay in his house on Big Pine in Marshall, with caregivers Anne hired. When that didn’t work out, she began searching for a place closer to her home. But could Roger be happy in assisted living?
This seemed impossible.
Amazingly, she discovered Camphill Ghent, in Chatham, New York, the perfect place less than an hour from her home and located in the beautiful rolling hills of Columbia County. The Camphill movement was founded on the principles of Rudolph Steiner, and its communities are dedicated to including people with and without disabilities, to maximize their potential, “to care for, celebrate, embrace and honor the special strengths and needs of each individual.” The huge windows in Roger’s room looked out over pastureland, grazing cows, meadows full of wildflowers in spring and gardens in summer — a huge organic garden where most of the food is grown, and a flower garden. The kindness of residents and staff, and the feeling of community, made Roger feel welcome and at home at Camphill. And then he fell in love — deeply so, with Kelly Jarrard, a wonderful woman living about 40 feet from him. Their love was mutual and they were together for a year in that beautiful place.
Unfortunately, Roger’s Parkinson’s worsened and his breathing suffered. He went into the Emergency Room with aspiration pneumonia and then into the ICU on Feb. 6, intubated and sedated.
Kelly visited him every day, sang to him, hugged him and stroked his beard. For a few days, he was able to breathe on his own without the ventilator, and they talked and even sang together in the ICU. But his oxygen levels declined, he was intubated and sedated again, and within days he passed away.
Roger lived lightly on the earth. He loved everything in the living world: the bees and birds in the sky, the fish in the sea darting through coral, the animals that walk the earth, and especially the plants that grow upon it, from the tiniest flowers to the tallest trees. He knew all their names, their changing colors, their cycles and habits. On one of the days in the ICU when he could breathe and talk, his Camphill caseworker and her husband visited him. They asked whether he had had a near-death experience when he had to go back on the ventilator. He said yes, and described the experience as light, like living in the light, and that coming back it was dark. May this kind, loving man who left us too soon live on in the light, wherever he is.
Roger is survived by his sister Anne Makepeace of Lakeville, his brother Douglas Makepeace of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and his true love, Kelly Jarrard. Contributions in Roger’s memory can be sent to: Camphill Ghent, 2542 Route 66, Chatham NY 12037. Condolences to Anne Makepeace, P.O. Box 6, Lakeville, CT 06039.
