Robert Jeffery Wolcott

Robert Jeffery Wolcott, or Jeff to everyone who knew him, left his body on December 27, 2008 at 9:30 pm at his home in Salinas surrounded by friends and loved ones. It is hard to describe in a nutshell the beauty and graciousness of Jeff and his life. For most of the past twenty years, he has maintained several residences, one in Santa Cruz, and two other family homes in San Francisco and Salinas.

Diagnosed by his doctors with an in-operable and untreatable pancreatic cancer in the Spring, Jeff survived the maximum time that his doctors had given him. Due to his indomitable spirit he had overcome an earlier diagnosis of diabetes with diet and exercise instead of drugs along with the help and support of his many friends in both the conventional and alternative medicine fields. In his final six months he tried to overcome his cancer in a similar way. When he realized that this was not to be, he found acceptance and set a most inspirational example of dying with love and grace. He never complained and remained kind and welcoming to all of his friends in spite of the extreme discomfort in his body.

Jeff was born in Sacramento on August 13, 1952, and moved to San Francisco when he was a toddler. His loving parents were Carl and Mildred €œMickey€ Wolcott. Jeff participated in the 1967 Summer of Love in the Haight Asbury when he was only 14. He graduated from Lowell High School in San Francisco in 1970, attended San Francisco City College and finished his BA at California Institute of Integral Studies. He has remained close to his old school friends.

Jeff had a lifelong exploration of Spiritual Consciousness and Psychology. He became a student of Advaita non-dual philosophy "Self and God are not separate but One" both with notable living teachers with whom he developed close personal relationships, and as a student of the great teachers of the past: Ramana Maharshi, Nirsagadata, and many others. Among the living gurus that he counted as friends were Nome at the Avadhut which became SAT or the Society for the Abidance in Truth from 1981 until 1992, Douglas Harding of England, Mokshananda in Santa Cruz, and Nirmala of Sedona, Arizona. Jeff earned his Masters Degree in Psychology with the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto. He integrated his passion for both fields with 13 years of participation in the Diamond Heart group 1995 -2008.

Jeff put his training and wisdom to work for the good of the community by counseling Drug and Alcohol Abuse inmates in local jails in Santa Cruz and Watsonville and teaching Anger Management for the Pacific Treatment Association and Santa Cruz Community Counseling Center. He may have felt an extra personal mission in counseling for drug abuse, since his only sibling appeared to have died of a drug overdose in his twenties in a foreign country. Jeff brought a very special quality to his work with his optimistic approach to life and his sincere empathy for those he counseled. Many wrote letters to him from prison, remained in touch and became friends after working with him.

Jeff loved to travel. When he was told he had cancer, he said that luckily he had "done his Bucket List" when he was young. His first trip was to Europe with his friends when he was 16 years old. He later joined the Merchant Marine and saw more of the world. He visited Ecuador and built a house with friends in Guatemala. Bali was a favorite place that he visited over and over. He also returned to Europe again.

His other passion was creative remodeling and landscaping. He learned his skills while converting an old Victorian house into apartment units with his father in the late 70€„¢s and turned them into a vocation before going into the counseling field. He partially remodeled a second house with his father in Salinas, and then finished it after his father died. He remodeled the family home in San Francisco as an ongoing project. It seemed that he was never without some beautification project at one of his houses.

However, Jeff's primary interest and skill was with people. He is someone who could count his friends in triple digits. His happiness, good humor and genuine interest in others drew people to him. He spent part of everyday talking with friends or joining them in heartfelt social activities.

Jeff is succeeded in his biological family by Wolcott, Talbott and Blackwell cousins residing in Northern and Southern California, Oregon and the East Coast, by his devoted girlfriend Karen Young who nursed him through his illness, and by countless friends who considered him a brother.

A Celebration of Jeff's life will take place on Saturday, January 31st from 3 to 6 pm at the Pacific Cultural Center at Seabright Ave and Broadway in Santa Cruz.

Please visit our memorial blog site: robertjefferywolcott.blogspot.com