Hildi Zeller 1927-2012

Hildi Zeller 1927 - 2012

Hildi Zeller was born on March 9, 1927 in Zurich. She was the second daughter, after Berti, of Eugen and Anneli Zeller, and later came a son, Robert. The father was a teacher at the Römerhof school in Zurich. The Zeller family was closely connected with the Oxford Groups, the forerunner of Moral Rearmament (RAM), and Hildi already came to Caux in 1946, in the early days of the conference center. She took part in the enormous cleaning work, so necessary in this palace, abandoned since the Second World War, which involved a host of volunteers from all over Switzerland.

Afterwards, she spent a long time in South Africa where she took care of the children of a family of friends and collaborators of the RAM, and then in the United States in the center of Moral Rearmament in Mackinac where she was one of the cooks of Frank Buchman. Back in Switzerland Hildi helped families working with RAM and often took care of the children at Caux. She once found herself with a large number of them in a separate chalet when two of them caught scarlet fever and all the inhabitants of the chalet with their companions were quarantined.

Throughout her life she has been a faithful friend to many people, accompanying in particular those who were going through difficult phases, helping them to find a meaning to life and to move forward. Hildi has never been afraid to take on demanding tasks. First in the large kitchens of the meeting centers, later in the Caux bakery and in floral decoration. Over the years, she has tirelessly decorated the Protestant chapel of the village with flowers from the garden or from the fields.

She also found her moments of relaxation in the walks she took with her quick step, or by cross-country skiing, in Caux and in the surroundings. She lived for decades at Villa Maria where she took an active part in the life of the community. Later, she was very happy to be able to move into her own apartment in the Chalet de la Patinoire where she could invite her many friends for a meal or tea in a more intimate way. She participated intensely in the life of the village, especially in the traditional "Advent windows".

In 2009, after a fall and a long stay in hospital, Hildi entered the Beau-Site establishment in Clarens. She received a very warm welcome and was cared for with great attention and affection until the end.

In memory of Hildi Zeller Camilla Nelson, Norway

On August 12, members of Hildi's family and many friends from around the world gathered in the Protestant chapel in Caux for a service of gratitude. Here are excerpts from a testimony: My name is Camilla and I come from Norway, but my mother was from St. Gallen and her maiden name was Claire Widmer. Like Hildi's 67 years ago, my mother's family was part of a group of Swiss friends who bought and renovated this beautiful place called Mountain House to help heal a world torn and in ruins after World War II. My parents worked full time for Initiatives of Change, and as a child I spent a good part of my summers in Caux.

There is a quality in this place and in the work that is done here that I have loved and that makes our kind of work unique, and that is the notion that everyone is needed and that everyone can help make the world a better place. It is not only the task of the VIPs to do something for peace, all of us can contribute according to our different gifts and skills.

Over the years, I don't know how many children Hildi has helped to feel welcome and useful by inviting them into the kitchen of the bakery to help her make cakes and tea cookies. Later she took care of the garden, the flowers and the berries, but always inviting and including others in this task; Hildi's presence at Caux gave a sense of eternity that I felt both as a child and later as an adult, and then with my own children. Hildi was always true to herself, greeting us with a big smile and her "Wonderful, woooonderful, won-der-ful" as if your presence at Caux was the best and most important thing that summer. A few years ago, in the spring, I attended a preparation meeting and met a very capable young woman with many degrees and diplomas from different universities who was in charge of one of the sessions the following summer. During a break, she told me that it was Hildi and her garden that really drew her to the ideas of Initiatives of Change and gave her a sense of belonging. It was in this garden, where she spent time with Hildi between sessions, that she had experienced the richest and most meaningful moments for her inner transformation.

I find that this parable told by Jesus to his disciples corresponds perfectly to what Hildi and Switzerland have given us through Caux: Jesus says again: "What is the Kingdom of God like? What can I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in his garden: it grew, it became a tree, and the birds of the air made their nests in its branches." Luke 13:18-19 Staying faithful in the gift of self over the long term... It takes time for a great tree to grow, it needs constant care. You can't run around trying to do everything at the same time. Trust that if I do the task I have been called to, wholeheartedly and to the best of my ability, I can be sure that God will take care of the growth and the fruit, and I can call the birds of the air to come nest in the tree. So as a foreign bird, and on behalf of so many different birds, I would like to say a heartfelt THANK YOU to Hildi and the Swiss for giving us a beautiful tree, where we have been able to nest for so many years, and for taking care of it so faithfully.

This year, when I went to see Hildi's abandoned garden, I cried: weeds and signs of abandonment everywhere, order and beauty gone. A great nostalgia made me want to preserve, to retain what had been, to give up the meetings and to start cleaning and reviving this garden. But alas, I had already done too much weeding in my own garden and thus caught tendonitis... So I returned to the chapel overlooking the garden and once again I had to surrender myself, my life, my work - OUR work - to God at the foot of the tree, at the foot of the Cross.