Longtime Washington, D.C. sangha member Vivi Spicer died on
Monday, Jan. 26, at her home in Silver Spring, Md., after a lengthy
battle with breast cancer. Vivi was a devoted student of the Vidyadhara
and of Shibata Sensei since the early 1970s. She was a regular fixture at
Vajrayogini feasts and fire pujas until her husband, Peter Turnbull,
suffered a devastating stroke in 2005. After that, until his death in
2024, Vivi devoted herself to Peter’s care, helping guide him to a
degree of recovery far beyond what medical professionals had deemed
possible.
Vivi was disciplined, elegant and generous, and was able to maintain
the warm and welcoming home environment that she and Peter had
established. She continued to welcome kyudo students to practice in
her backyard on a monthly basis, as well as managing the D.C.
Shambhala Center bookstore. Professionally, Vivi helped manage one of
the largest collections of works by Edvard Munch in the world. She will
be deeply missed by her many friends, colleagues and neighbors.
Vivi and Pete were one of 5 couples graduating in the Class of '71 from East High School on May 17, 1971.
Vivi and I met in elementary school and then attended high school together-I remember her distinctly: very very bright, a no non sense kind of person. She had beautiful thick blond hair, clear blue eyes- not needing makeup like some of our classmates. Vivi was a true natural beauty.
Peter also went to East High School with us…and was the nicest guy in the whole world. They came to couple of our reunions back in the early years.
I wish I’d stayed in better touch with both. The world has lost 2 really fine souls…
Jessica Eason Robinson
I'm not even sure how Vivi and I got connected about maybe 10 yrs. ago. At the time, she was still working for an older woman who owned a very extensive collection of prints by a well known Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch. At the time, I was doing temp work and had some days doing the front desk for a social service agency that worked with kids in foster care and their birth parents. The agency had several large volunteer groups, (mostly women,) who met weekly in space the agency had, to make quilts. Each young client (the foster kids) received a handmade quilt for either a single bed, or a full-size bed if they were teens, and a lovely patchwork drawstring bag to carry their clothes in from one placement to the next instead of a black plastic garbage bag. I was explaining in emails to Vivi the joy this gesture provided for these youngsters in their otherwise destabilizing transitions. When she heard about the volunteer quilters, how they also held Spring and Fall auctions to raise money for child support re new socks, underwear and toiletries through their supply shop, Vivi got really excited! She offered to donate 3 quilts she had inherited (and never used) to such a worth project since she had no one to pass them on to in her family (no kids of her own.) So I offered to liaise with the agency/ volunteers, gave Vivi the shipping info, and she sent them out UPS for the next auction. Everyone was thrilled, Silver Spring to Tucson! Though I didn't attend the auction, I'm sure Vivi's quilts are well-loved by patrons who purchased them at the other end.
An entertaining aside: Vivi was an excellent writer, very careful about use of words, clarity of her expressions and so on. Rarely made a grammatical or other mistake! I was so impressed. Could hardly match her punctiliousness. However, in one email, she commented about never having visited the (American) West, nor the "dessert"(sic)! I just couldn't help entertaining both of us with a comeback, something like, I was sure she had enjoyed plenty of excellent "dessert" in her time! Anyway, she was a wonderful correspondent, very generous with her care of Peter and sharing the discipline of Kyudo with the students in DC area. She, in fact, sent me a large art book of the print collection she had curated for her elderly employer, Edvard Munch, as I recall. The book had been produced as a catalog for a major exhibition of this private collection a few years earlier. I believe during Vivi's time with the collection, it was being given to one of the larger museums in the USA. She helped oversee packing and shipping, so she wrote, something like that anyway. Very fond memories of Vivi.
Despite our different lifestyles and approaches,
Somehow, we were able to be constant friends
For so many years.
Now, re-reading her email messages,
I notice things that I had somehow missed.
Very tender expressions of love.
May this Warrior Woman find a life
In the obstacle-free land of Sukhavati.
She has done enough.
I've known Vivi the past 35 years...and others know her much better than I. But...I could say a few things. Viv's husband Peter died near a year before she, and she spent near the last 20 years looking after his care. I would come once a month to their home, and spent time with Peter....which got initiated because of the relationship I had with Vivi. I think Peter's stroke back then near 2005 may have even happened near when she was on a vajrayogini retreat at Karme Choling, serving as choppon. Vivi was eager to be mindful of ritual details, and...appreciated when she could grab even a few minutes in the last 20 years to practice, which she was otherwise looking after Peter. She also made time, near weekly, to have kyudo run in her backyard....and many of her kyudo students showed up to say the final good byes that we had for her locally. Vivi came from the south, had a sense of manners many of us never had, and hated some versions of modern electronics (cell phones & zoom) like the devil. In the 90s, I recall that in our Dharmadhatu or Shambhala Center newsletter, she ran something of a friendly news column, helping the local sangha know about little details of interest that were going on in the community. I don't know what to attribute my own less than excellent relationship with Vivi in only and just the last year, and was thankful to be reminded AT her sukhavati that her and my many years with her were long, for which I was grateful. I wasn't able to see her in those last days, but am glad I brought chocolate chip cookies with me when I went to see her, and even though I don't know if she had any (though I saw her take similar in her waning days), I know she was offered them, which I am happy for. Perhaps we are all only one of a kind...but Vivi was particularly so...a very dedicated practitioner, and full of devotion of the right kind.
