Maureen

Her Buick roars in at 5:10
There’s a streak up the stairwell, and then —

She’s off in a flash
To the Dome in a dash

And back on the Self once again

A spectacular Self in this case —
Its radiance shines on her face

The San Antone Rose —
She how she glows

As she sets her incredible pace

She’s our Council Chairperson, our Dean —
When it comes to committees, she’s queen

Attorney, professor
(How to address her?)

But the best thing of all: she’s Maureen

She came with the Amherst migration,*
Was signed by our organization,

And with Ellen to urge her
Her specialty — merger —

Produced a sweet unification**

There’s hardly a woman alive
Who could do what she does and survive

The lady from Texas
Who guides and protects us:

The Heaven on Earth Cattle Drive

We ought to admit it — it’s true:
We’re quite an unusual crew

We’re hardy and headstrong
We like rushing headlong —

We give Maureen something to do

But how to keep Bob on the beam?
Here’s management science supreme

To manage her man
She hatched a great plan

She structured a fabulous scheme. . . .

By whom is Bob still most impressed?
He came here at Maureen’s behest

She had him agree
To become a Trustee

The reasoning: Father knows best***

Maureen went to school down at Trinity
Progressing from there to infinity

Her grades have been good —
By now Maureen should

Be well on her way to divinity

Don’t ask of the hours she keeps —
Some reckon Maureen never sleeps

She’s ready and willin’
One in a McMillan****

Evolving in leaps upon leaps

With all possibilities in her
Her specialty’s Mexican dinner

That, plus one look,
Was all that it took

For Robert G. Wynne. . . well, to Wynne her

Such an illustrious lady!
Everything’s light — nothing’s weighty

Maureen has the power
In less than an hour

To make enchiladas for eighty*****

Maureen deserves to be toasted
(We hope she won’t mind how we’ve boasted)

It’s always such fun
To see three in one:

The hostess, the hosting, the hosted

This Sidha from Old San Antone
Is the finest that we’ve ever known

Perhaps not the lone star
But truly our own star

Through her, think how much we’ve all grown

There’s so much to our marvelous Dean
Relative, Absolute, and between

Life’s nature, we know,
Is always to grow,

Evolving toward more and Maureen

* This refers to the World Peace Assembly held in the summer of 1979 at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. This was the first World Peace Assembly to be held in the US — the first major gathering of people who practice the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs, including Yogic Flying, coming together for the purpose of creating coherence in the nation’s collective consciousness.

More than 2,500 people participated. This number was well over the threshold, in theory, to create a positive influence throughout the United States — the square root of 1% of the population at the time was approximately 1,500.

During the last week of the assembly, Maharishi held a series of telephone calls from his headquarters in Switzerland. He told the assembled group that they had in fact created an upsurge of coherence throughout the country, and that great changes had taken place as a result — an assessment that later empirical research would dramatically confirm. If the group were now simply to dissipate, Maharishi said, there would be a sharp decline in national coherence, with potentially undesirable results.

It was vital for America to maintain that level of coherence in the nation’s collective consciousness, Maharishi emphasized. Toward this end, he called for the formation of a permanent national coherence-creating group, a permanent group of at least 1,500.

In the closing days of the assembly, Maharishi gave an inspiration to all the assembly participants at Amherst to go immediately to Fairfield, to join the group there and create such a group right away. He also called for building the Golden Domes as the home for group meditation practice in Fairfield — the site of the first national Super Radiance program in the world.

In Amherst, the course participants held long meetings to consider how this could be accomplished. Many were professional people, or parents, or students. Almost everyone had responsibilities to return to. Many simply could not leave these responsibilities so quickly. But of those who could not, many offered financial support for those who were free to go.

Within two weeks, 800 course participants from the Amherst assembly had arrived in Fairfield. The University’s Fieldhouse and the basement of the Student Union were converted into group meditation facilities. Literally overnight, the size of the group in Fairfield jumped from 300 to 1,100. They had not achieved 1,500 — but they had a solid beachhead.

The overriding question for each of the new arrivals was how to support themselves there. Some enrolled as students at the University. Others joined the University’s administration and staff. A few were able to relocate their business activities. But many just came, with little resources.

Dr. Gregg Wilson, one of the TM-Sidhi program administrators for the United States and one of the University community leaders who coordinated this move, said this about that time: “More than 800 people came immediately, many of them uncertain about how they would make a living in this small rural town. It was tremendously inspiring. They just came on the conviction that this was the necessary thing to do for the country at that time.”

** Refers to Maureen’s marriage to Bob Wynne, a new faculty member in the business department. Before coming to MUM, Maureen had been a corporate attorney in Texas, specializing in mergers and acquisitions.

*** Refers to Bob’s father, John Wynne, who had served as vice president at MIT and became a member of the board of trustees at Maharishi University of Management, where he helped oversee the development of the MBA and PhD in management programs.

**** Maureen’s maiden name was Maureen McMillan.

***** For many years Maureen organized an annual birthday party for Bob (December 18), creating a Mexican feast for scores of people.