JULIE M. “WINDSONG” KERVICK

FERRISBURGH — Julie M. “Windsong,” Kervick gently journeyed home to Spirit, with her family and friends around her, on Feb. 21, 2025.

Windsong was born on April 4, 1937, in New York City to a young mother unable to care for her. She was placed in an orphanage, where she lived for a year before she was adopted. In an article written about her life, Windsong said her experience at the orphanage served to make her “a compassionate person who could, firsthand and with clarity, understand what abuse and neglect can do to one’s mind and body.” As an adult, Windsong dedicated her life to assisting others in their healing journeys, holistically.

Adopted by Chester T. and Persis McClennen Lane, Windsong spent her early years in McLean, Va., and Nyack, N.Y., where she studied piano from a young age with Jho Waxman. As a teen she designed sets for school and local theatre productions, performed in numerous musical and non-musical plays and was voted “Most Artistic” upon her graduation from Nyack High School in 1955. The family spent summers on Pleasant Bay on Cape Cod, where she was enrolled privately at a young age with renowned artist Vernon Smith. While further pursuing her art at Skidmore College and the Boston Museum Art School, she studied sculpture and began her lifelong love of pottery. She was an integral part of the community at Shelburne Craft School for many years and a longtime craft seller at the Waldorf Christmas Fair.

After college, she toured the country in a VW bus with her first husband before they settled in Vermont. They parted when their child, Tucker, was two, and Windsong parented her son alone. Being mother to Tucker was Windsong’s pride and joy. They shared a love of adventure and travel and had wonderful trips together over the years. She often spoke of how proud she was of his accomplishments and that he was a great husband to Natalya and a fabulous dad to Zander. Windsong was so delighted to spend time with Zander during the almost-five years of his life journey so far, delighting in the video photo album set up by his parents for her.

While raising her son, Windsong became a respected mind-body practitioner and was a leader and organizer in Vermont’s holistic health movement in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Drawn to working with her hands, she studied massage and Trager Psychophysical Integration, and along with Don Wright, started the Vermont Institute of Massage in 1976. Her body-mind approach was influenced by the work of Ron Kurz, founder of the Hakomi method of body-centered psychotherapy. In 1978, Windsong, Wright and Bea Bookchin founded Pathways to Wellbeing in Burlington, the first holistic health center on the East Coast. It was here Windsong met Paul Kervick, who would become her lifelong beloved spouse and co-creative partner.

During the many years of its existence, Pathways’ practitioners offered massage, Rolfing, homeopathy, naturopathy and psychotherapy for all ages. Windsong invited practitioners of new modalities to the state, organized speakers and holistic health fairs, and offered workshops to the medical and lay communities. Windsong helped found the Vermont Women’s Health Center in Burlington, the first women-run legal nonprofit clinic to perform abortions in the United States. Windsong was the cofounder and director of the Awakening Center in Shelburne, also a holistic healing center. With her husband, Paul, she co-founded the Awakening Sanctuary non-profit educational and healing center for community upliftment at their property in Monkton, Vt.

Windsong had a particular passion for conscious languaging and its effect on physical and spiritual dimensions. She would point out to friends and family the power of words and taught classes on the subject. In addition to pottery, Windsong held a reverence for dance and for many years hosted monthly full-moon circle dance gatherings at the Awakening Sanctuary. Windsong and Paul also became ordained ministers through the Universe Brotherhood Movement and conducted sacred ceremonies, marriages, civil unions and passing to spirit ceremonies.

Windsong was an adventurer and loved visiting different cultures around the world. She was the first woman in the United States to achieve a black belt in the Korean Taoist Qigong practice — Kuok Sun Do — and she solo climbed a sacred mountain in Korea and visited and assisted villagers in northern Thailand. In the Vermont winter, you could find her cutting a hole in the ice in Lake Champlain in February, while practicing Qi Gong breathing until she regulated her body temperature.

Her gardens were her happy place, and she would spend long hours creating beauty not just with plants but with natural fences and trellises and thoughtful placements of stumps, shells, rocks and gemstones. Her and Paul’s crowning achievement on their land at their home in Ferrisburgh was a labyrinth they both created and built together.

Windsong’s favorite word was “yes,” which formed the logo for their Awakening Sanctuary. Yes to life and living one breath at a time. Windsong helped midwife the awakening and healing of thousands of community members and people from around the planet during her 22 years at Awakening Sanctuary and throughout the 87 years of her life. She was a true creator of beauty and love in this world. More recently, she was a key inspiration and support for Paul and a new project in their lives of co-creating a nonprofit low-power community radio station in Bristol, Vt. WVVT (Fireside Radio: the Voices of Vermont) will give voice to and support local communities in creating the world we all want in our hearts. Paul and co-founders, Jim Holway and Jonathan Corcoran, are so very motivated to share this with the world.

Windsong was predeceased by her parents, Chester T. Lane Sr. and Persis McClennen Lane, and her brother Chester T. Lane Jr. She is survived by her husband, Paul; her son, Tucker (Natalya) McLane and grandson, Zander; Paul’s children, Colby (Garth Allen) Kervick, Robyn (Sean Balon) Kervick, Drew (Elizabeth) Kervick; and grandchildren, Turner, Declan, Abigail, Henry, Sam and Charlie; Paul’s sister, Lindsay, and brother, Bob, and his family (Jan, Kris, Tara, Kelly, Jake, Jimmy, Emma); and Windsong’s sister, Dinah (John Ketchum) Lane; brother David Lane; nieces and nephews, Clover, Oakley, Allegra, Hannah, Cory, Rachel; and many great-nieces and nephews. Windsong also stayed close with Tucker’s fathers’ family and will be missed by many McLanes: Gigi, Towner, Katie, Duncan; Bonnie, Jessica and Elizabeth Foz.

A celebration of life gathering will be held later this summer. People may reach out by email to songlight@gmavt.net if they are interested in being notified once a date and location have been decided.

Donations in Julie “Windsong” Kervick’s memory and supporting her life’s passion for creating inspiration and a beautiful world, may be sent to either or both of the following organizations: WVVT – Fireside Community Media in Bristol, Vt., at https://wvvt.org/windsong/ or the Shelburne Craft School at https://shelburnecraftschool.org/donate ◊