By Margaret Nally
Published in September 2017
It is the right thing to do. These words rang out to me in an op ed article that Theron wrote on a community concern some years ago. They were the words of a critical conscience on an issue that enveloped the community of the day. But those words ring true and have been a constant in the consciousness, life and values which were a bed-rock of motivation for the life and actions of Theron Kramer.
And these words, It is the right thing to do, which carry great weight today in light of the passing of Theron Harold Kramer, husband, father, grandfather, brother, neighbour, advocate, champion and friend to many.
This phrase is the underpinning of a philosophical stance and gives identity to a choice to live with integrity. That integrity came from a confluence of inner-core values with a life that embodied those values.
From his early post university years where he responded to a job application at the K-W Regional Folk Arts Council to his retirement from the Trillium Foundation there has been a long journey on the same road of intentional and transformational living. This life, noticed and celebrated with many awards and citations, was deeply grounded in the common experience of life lived deliberately close to others
I first met Theron in the early ‘80’s when I was a staff person at Global Community Centre. He was a very engaged Board person who was knowledgeable and critical about world issues of poverty, militarism, and international relief and development.
He remained educated and committed to these issues both near and far all the days of his life. He remained an active supporter of The Working Centre and its community development work. He was the founding chair and a life-long champion of The Multicultural Centre and its work of welcome and integration.
Theron was a consistent and outspoken advocate for Refugees entering this community. Theron’s life was enriched and fulfilled by sound, colour and form. He enjoyed and was a fierce supporter of the importance of the arts in the texture of a community. This global thought and local action marked his working and personal life.
Theron might be described as one who has what is called the moral imagination, the unique capacity to live out of that moral faculty of the mind that enables us to experience the human world around us with sympathy. A sympathy that enables affection, connection and thus action. And this action of the moral imagination led from the internal to many external manifestations.
Theron was never afraid, never ever, never ever, afraid, to raise his voice to speak his truth in many public arenas. You, like me, might have been on the end of a phone-call when he wanted your attention and action on something that mattered in our community. He had a strong voice and a deep sense for what didn’t quite smell right!
Theron had a particular presence in the local media. He was the voice of the community on election night on many TV broadcasts. He gave useful insight to the issues of the day and spared no-one his full and forceful thoughts on inadequate response to human need and a vision of a Region where all citizens were represented and allowed to participate. He knew it was the right thing to do.
The world comes here to K-W and Theron used his place in the community to move towards the gifts and challenges that he encountered. Theron was instrumental in early race relations work with School Boards, Police and other agencies and saw the need for this work to be an ongoing commitment in all social spheres.
Theron is known and celebrated as a person who modeled inclusion in public and private life. He would say it was the right thing to do.
His way of engaging people was on a personal level through life-long friendships but also in the challenge of advocacy in the systemic and political areas where barriers to participation are evident.
He gained and gave much in his friendships. He is known by all as a loyal and dedicated friend to not only many individuals but also to many institutions. He made a commitment that is substantial and would say that in order for relationships and organizations to live, grow and be healthy that loyalty is the right thing to do.
Theron opened space to share generously and abundantly as a facilitator and resource person on community development, refugee concerns, the needs and aspirations of the artists and to community issues. He was a skilled negotiator, listening deeply across division and calling for respect and reconciliation. I have been privileged to watch him in action on many occasions.
Croatian author, Miroslav Volf, describes his vision of inclusion in the following which echoes much of my experience of Theron:
“I open my arms to create space in myself for the other. Open arms are a sign that I do not want to be by myself only, an invitation for the other to come in and feel at home with me. In an embrace I also close my arms around the other. Closed arms are a sign that I want the other to become a part of me, the other enriches me. In the mutual embrace none remains the same because each enriches the other, yet both remain true to their genuine selves”.
Theron’s life demonstrated that difference is not a cause of division but rather honouring difference brings enrichment and unity based on justice and respect for truth. This vision respects borders and boundaries but welcomes the stranger in. It allows for difference and provides for positive and life-giving relationship. The vision of embrace is an aspect of love of neighbour.
And Theron was a very, very good neighbour – present, pleasant, helpful. On the doorstep, in the streets, at the concerts, at the gallery, at the festivals. Being a good neighbour – It is the right thing to do.
Our cities, our social services, our government agencies, our universities have all benefited from the clarity of his thought, his wisdom, his ear to the ground, his pulse of the community, his centeredness in our reality and we are richer for his participation in forming this community.
Theron’s passion for participatory democracy and social justice have taken years of his life but have given life to our days here. He is known and respected across all cultures and faith traditions in our community.
Theron inspired and encouraged us to be informed and in turn, take responsibility for forming this community – in participation, in inclusion and celebration of all that is shaped by intention, by talent, by gift.
In David Stevens’ book: The Land of Unlikeness there is a passage that reminds me of Theron. He states:
“How we relate to the “stranger” the “other” is a key category of ethical and moral thought and often a measure of a community. The stranger, socially and psychologically vulnerable because he stands outside the network of community reciprocity, needs shelter and food as well as recognition and orientation in an unfamiliar place.
However the stranger in turn can offer stories, thus opening up new worlds and the relationship changes and becomes more balanced. Now the stranger becomes host and the host becomes stranger, having to enter new worlds too. Each becomes gift to each other. For positive co-existence to occur, we have to be prepared to enter each other’s worlds”.
Theron has, in his lifetime, called us to engage with the stranger to enter new worlds and hear stories that will be richness for our common life.
Today we gather, in both sorrow and joy to hear and to tell stories of Theron’s contributions to life, and in doing so to recognize, remember and celebrate Theron: It is indeed the right thing to do.
