(1900-1986)
Mildred Jensen Loomis was a writer, educator, and homesteader, sometimes called the “Grandmother of the Counter-Culture.” She settled at the School of Living soon after it was started by Ralph Borsodi in 1936. After teaching there for several years, she moved with her husband, John Loomis, to Brookville, Ohio. The School of Living was relocated to the Loomis homestead in 1945. She became the editor for the School’s newsletter, named at various times The Interpreter, Balanced Living, A Way Out, and Green Revolution. She also served for nearly 40 years as the School’s Director.
As a speaker at many conferences and workshops, both in the United States and aboard, she introduced decentralist economics, self-reliant living, and what Borsodi had called a “land trust” to numerous audiences. Her published works included Alternative Americas, Go Ahead and Live, Ralph Borsodi: Reshaping Modern Culture, and Borsodi As I Knew Him. A collection of her essays, first published in 1980, was reprinted in 2005 under the title Decentralism: Where It Came From–Where Is It Going? A tribute edition for Mildred Loomis was published in Green Revolution in 1980.
Further Reading
Mildred J Loomis, Decentralism, Where It Came From and Where Is It Going? (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1980).
Mildred J. Loomis, Ralph Borsodi, Reshaping Modern Culture: The Story of the School of Living and its Founder. (Julian, PA: School of Living)
