Poets in Memoriam
Peggy Heinrich (1929–2021)
Jerry Ball (1932-2019)
Ann Bendixen (1942-2019)
Jean Hale (1928-2018)
Edith Shiffert (1916-2017)
William Henry Peckham, Jr. (1938-2017)
Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)
2015 HNA Poets
Teruo Yamagata (1932-2015)
D. Claire Gallagher (1941 – 2009)
Peggy Heinrich (1929–2021)
(From Nicole Heinrich). Born and raised in New York City, Peggy described herself as a lifelong writer. As a young girl, she wrote limericks and plays for her family. After receiving her BA in English from Hunter College, Peggy worked for a publicity agency in the Empire State Building. She and her husband, Martin, had two daughters, Ellen Nicole and Jean. Peggy was an attentive, open-minded mother who shared her love of learning. Living between Gramercy Park and the East Village in the 60s opened doors to many writers, artists, and social thinkers.
Peggy and her family moved to Connecticut in 1968, where she joined a group of lively poets who became lifelong collaborators and friends. After Martin passed away in 1976, Peggy turned to her writing as a way to process her grief. Four years later she met Gil Gjersvik, a graphic artist and painter. They lived together enjoying their creative endeavors until his death in 2001.
Peggy wrote and published articles in the Smithsonian, Americana, and The New York Times. She was an editor of Connecticut River Review. She wrote a children’s book, a libretto, and co-authored a nonfiction book, The Soul of Fire: How Charcoal Changed the World. Her poetry appeared in scores of journals and has been anthologized widely. She published two collections of her longer poems, Sharing the Woods and A Minefield of Etcetera.
Peggy began writing haiku and tanka in the 1980s and was a member of Grand Central Station Tanka Café, Ichi Tanka Gang, and Yuki Teikei Haiku Society. Her haiku were featured in A Patch of Grass, and her book, Peeling an Orange, with photographs by her son-in-law John Bolivar, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. They collaborated again on Forward Moving Shadows: A Tanka Memoir. Margaret Chula, past president, Tanka Society of America wrote, “Whimsical, humorous, poignant, and wise, the poems in Forward Moving Shadows span the full range of tanka expression. I admire the honesty and courage of Peggy Heinrich’s poems.”
In 2009 and 2010, she won the top prize for the Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum English Haiku contest in Japan.
after many months
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behind me
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Peggy moved to the West Coast in 2007 to be near her family and leave the icy winters behind. She immediately felt at home in Santa Cruz, CA, and became active in the local poetry world. Most of all Peggy loved being with her daughters, son-in-law, grandson, and friends.
She was a world traveler, loved theater, opera, and improv. She tried her hand at book making, ceramics, folk dancing, crossword puzzles, spoon bending, qi gong, and dowsing. She was a competitive tennis player, a prolific knitter, an avid reader, and fluent in French. She earned her SCUBA license in her 50s, a black belt in karate in her 60s, and became a practitioner of Reiki and Reconnection Healing in her 70s.
Peggy was intelligent and insightful, with a wry, playful sense of humor. She wasn’t afraid of being herself and appreciated authenticity in others. Peggy would light up a room with her smile and was deeply loved by many. Her poetry reflected her emotional bravery exploring love, loss, and the changing seasons. She passed away peacefully at the age of 92 on September 8, 2021, in Santa Cruz, CA.
From J. Zimmerman
With Peggy Heinrich’s passing, YTHS lost a special, long-term member and friend. We are grateful for her generosity with her haiku and tanka poetic talents, and we will miss her joyful soul at our meetings and parties. She contributed immensely to the exposure of haiku and to the support of YTHS, particularly by teaching and reading haiku at events in Santa Cruz and at a fundraiser for victims of the 2011 Japanese tsunami.
I am also grateful to Peggy for helping me learn about tanka. She was the keystone of our “Tanka Gang” with Patrick Gallagher, especially with her greater experiences on differences between haiku and tanka. The tanka workshops that I taught as fundraisers for YTHS only came about because I had learned so much from Peggy.
flute melody
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~Peggy Heinrich (All This Talk, 2020 YTHS Members’ Anthology)
YTHS has also honored Peggy with her own Haiku Poets’ Page.
To Nicole and Jean, daughters of Peggy Heinrich From Patricia Machmiller
Last Visit
I finally got to see your mom today. I found her in the beautiful courtyard garden where she lives. She even recognized me—which took me by surprise since it’s been over a year. We had a lovely visit; she was, as always, full of sweetness and light. I gave her a haiku book that I had edited and within minutes, she pointed out a typo that I had missed!!! Her memory might be a little dim, but she can still read and discern and appreciate. While I was there, one of the staff came out and started a music player and turned on a machine hidden in the shrubbery.
bubbles floating through
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Jerry Ball was truly a Renaissance Man. He was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, during the depression. In 1940 his family moved to San Francisco where he grew up. He thought of himself as a Californian though he was not a native. He went to Lowell High School and then San Jose State, where he majored in philosophy and mathematics. During the Korean War and after college he entered the army, spending his time in Colorado Springs. Following his army tour he studied philosophy at the University of Minnesota. Eventually he received his master’s degree in
mathematics from California State University Hayward, whereupon he took a position at Chabot College in Hayward where he taught humanities and mathematics courses for 36 years.
During his tenure at Chabot College, and eventually Las Positas College, he wrote poetry and developed an admiration for haiku. It was in 1977 that he joined the Yukuharu Haiku Society with Kiyoshi and Kiyoko Tokutomi. This group, later known as the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society (YTHS), emphasized kigo and three-line form. He was the editor of Geppo for four years and also president of YTHS in 1981-82. He planned and developed the Haiku Retreat held at Asilomar, Pacific Grove CA for YTHS, which began in 1984 and has gone on every year since. He was also the co-founder of Haiku North America, which he and Garry Gay developed jointly. He was president of the Haiku Society of America. He wrote numerous haiku chapbooks, poetry books, and academic books related to the subjects he was teaching.
Jerry was honorary curator of the American Haiku Archives located at the California State Library in Sacramento where he currently has several of his books archived; his personal papers will be archived there as well.
under the grayest clouds
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Wherever he went, Jerry loved to gather people who enjoyed poetry together. When he and his wife moved to Seal Beach CA in 1996, he discovered there was no haiku group so he began the Southern California Haiku Study Group. He conceived and developed the Haiku Pacific Rim conferences, which took place on five different occasions: in 2002 at Long Beach, CA; 2005 at Ogaki, Japan; 2007 at Matsuyama, Japan; 2009 at Terrigal, Australia; and 2012 at Asilomar, Pacific Grove, CA. The conferences included poets from all countries in the Pacific Rim, including New Zealand, Australia, Philippines, Japan, Canada, and the United States. When he moved back to Northern California in 2006, he began a haiku study group in Walnut Creek, as well as another poetry group that studied longer poems.
His wife, Sandy, was often his inspiration for haiku, tanka, and long poems. They met while they were both at Las Positas College (formerly Chabot College Valley Campus). Jerry started there in fall 1974 as a member of the original faculty. Sandy and Jerry married in 1984 and were together for 37 years.
In addition to being a recognized haiku poet, he wrote other forms of poetry, was an extremely gifted educator, enjoyed traveling and collecting ancient artifacts, was an enthusiastic supporter of all the arts, especially opera, was an amateur photographer, acted in the theater when he had the chance, played, coached and refereed soccer, and followed baseball, rooting especially for the Oakland Athletics. There wasn’t a subject he couldn’t talk. about in some depth. He was a modern-day renaissance man.
selling umbrellas
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the first working day
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Jerry’s facility with language was unparalleled, and he was well-known for his sense of humor. Anyone who was around him for a half an hour would get the benefit of his quick wit.
Jerry passed away at home on August 14, 2019 at the age of 86, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He is survived by his wife, five children, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
spring twilight
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—Sandra Ball, with excerpts from the American Haiku Archives. YTHS has also honored Jerry with his own Haiku Poets’ Page. Susan Antolin, Debbie Kolodji, and Patricia Machmiller have made a 5 min video of Jerry for the 2022 HNA Conference. You can view it by clicking on the image below.
Ann Bendixen (1942-2019)
Ann Bendixen was a long-time member of YTHS. She died July 3, 2019, at the age of 77, surrounded by the love of family and friends, grateful for a life well-lived. She left with a “glad heart.”
Ann grew up on a farm in Iowa. She graduated from the University of Iowa as a medical technologist. She then raised four children while living in New Mexico, Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio. She was very active as a leader in both community volunteer and arts organizations. And she was a small plane pilot.
She began studying Chinese brush painting with Master Pei-Jen Hau after moving to California in 2000. She also studied Chinese calligraphy with (Shu-Jen) Marie Hu and was introduced to writing haiku poetry by Patricia Machmiller. The practice of all three art forms allowed her to connect her profound appreciation for the natural world with her deep observational skills and to practice art within amazing communities of fellow artists. She felt honored by the support and teaching she received from members of both the American Society for the Advancement of Chinese Arts (ASACA) and the Yuki Teiki Haiku Society (YTHS). Ann served as president of ASACA and traveled twice to China for exhibitions there. She was also recording secretary for YTHS and travelled to haiku conferences in Japan and New Zealand.
A collection of Ann’s Chinese landscapes and haiku was published in 2010 as Reflections of an Old Pine Tree. Her artwork was also featured on the covers and inside both Wild Violets, the YTHS 2011 Members’ Anthology, and Butterflight, the 2017 Two Autumns anthology published by the Haiku Poets of Northern California.
Ann was an adventurer; she always experienced joy in learning new things and encouraging others to do the same. She will be buried near her parents near Spirit Lake in Iowa.
contentment
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she died before winter
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sheep encircle
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paper kimonos
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a trumpet
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Note: these poems by Ann were first published in YTHS Members’ Anthologies.
Jean Hale (1928-2018)
Jean Hale, beloved Yuki Teikei Geppo editor, died on November 8, 2018. She served twice as editor: 1987–1988 and 1993–2009. In addition to her editorial skills, we will miss her sharp wit and wry sense of humor.
the crows
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Edith Shiffert (1916-2017)
The well-known poet and scholar, Edith Shiffert, a long-time friend of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society died recently at the age 101 in Kyoto. The New York Times has published an obituary. Edith was very kind to many haiku poets visiting Kyoto. The photograph below shows her with YTHS poets on a 1997 visit to the tomb of Buson, whose work she translated.
Left to right: Kiyoko Tokutomi, June Hopper Hymas, Edith Shiffert, D. Claire Gallagher, Alex Benedict, Minoru Sawano (Edith’s husband), Alice Benedict, Lynn Leach, Patricia Machmiller. Photo by Patrick Gallagher.
William Henry Peckham, Jr. (1938-2017)
Bill Peckham, long-time member of YTHS since 1998, passed away at the age of 79 from acute leukemia. He wrote lyric poetry, sonnets and haiku, and enjoyed attending our annual retreats at Asilomar as well as many of our monthly meetings. He also was a member of the Mensa Society.
Bill grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY and began his career in computer programming at IBM in that area. In 1972, IBM transferred him to the California branch as he was one of their top programmers. His wife, Joan, and daughter, Jennifer, joined him. While in California, he had a second daughter, Barbara. In his free time he enjoyed fishing, target practice and being with family. He retired from IBM after 25 years. Notably Bill was very active in his church: he led a homeless meal program; always volunteered in the nursery on Mother’s Day; and sang in the choir for many years. He also was a member of the West Bay Opera Chorus. He was proud of 24 years of sobriety, volunteered on the 24-hr AA hotline night shift, and loved to work with the Al-anon programs focusing on the needs of children living in alcoholic homes.
He started writing long poetry in his sixties, but once he discovered haiku, it became his favorite form. In his later years Bill experienced failing health and struggled with memory loss. Despite his challenges, he inspired many of us with his positive attitude, determination to stay involved, and sense of humor. He loved his family, enjoyed time with his grandchildren, and continued to be active in his church, all the while keeping daily contact with his sponsor. He was a man of exceptional brilliance who was committed to community service, acquired a strong faith in his higher power, and touched many lives with his big heart and generous spirit. Here are two of his haiku:
hazy moon—tongue-tied
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water lilies bob
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On Jan 27, 2018 several YT members attended the Celebration of Life for Bill, held at Trinity Church, Campbell: Betty Arnold, Toni Homan, Patricia Machmiller and Carol Steele. Patricia and Betty shared their memories of Bill and alternated reading a series of his haiku. They were warmly received by Bill’s family, pastor and friends.
Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)
It is with great sadness we report the passing of Jane Reichhold. She was a great friend to YTHS and to the world of haiku. In 1991 when Yuki Teikei needed someone to take over the editorship of Geppo, Jane very generously volunteered; she served as editor until 1993.
Jane was born Janet Styer in Lima, Ohio. Over forty books of her haiku, renga, tanka, and translations have been published. Her latest book by Kodansha USA, was Bashō: The Complete Haiku. Another recent book was A Dictionary of Haiku, Second Edition, containing about 5,000 haiku which is available through Amazon.com. As founder and editor of AHA Books, Jane also published Mirrors: International Haiku Forum, and she co-edited with her husband, Werner Reichhold, Lynx for Linking Poets from 1992–2014. Lynx went online in 2000 on AHApoetry.com, the website Jane started in 1995. For many years she and Werner resided near Gualala, California.
Jane was a creative, exuberant, and prolific writer; here are a few of her many haiku from From the Dipper . . . Drops, Humidity Productions (Gualala CA, 1983):
no guests today In the spring sunshine
a fly swatter lies across the strangeness of his perfectly
the Sunday papers normal thumbnail
In my garden Caught on a grape leaf
the apples on this still bent tree enough raindrops to water
are still not mine. a sparrow
floating islands carry the sum mer’s heat
their own clouds of mist swallowed up by the gap
migrating whales in the watermelon
Friends of Jane shared these haiku:
shocked by her death legendary golden rose a friend I longed to know— their love for each other on a broken stem mid-summer fog Altair and Vega lingering fragrance Carolyn Fitz Patricia J. Machmiller Eleanor Carolan
2015 HNA Poets
At every biennial HNA meeting there is a session memorializing poets who have died since the last meeting. This year there were many names of people well known and dear to YTHS members. After the formal presentation there was an opportunity for audience members to call out names of poets who had earlier passed away.
The presentation was backed by an evocative cello solo written by Hillary Tan, one of the meeting organizers. Jim Kacian has placed the memorial on line. Watch it below.
Teruo Yamagata (1932-2015)
It is with profound sadness we report that Teruo Yamagata, born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1932, the President of the Yukuharu Haiku Society of Japan, and a long-time member of Yuki Teikei Haiku Society passed away on February 16, 2015 in Tokyo. As an engineer for IHI, Yamagata often traveled to the Bay Area where he meet with Kiyoko and Kiyoshi Tokutomi, founders of YTHS. He had the privilege of studying English under R. H. Blythe in 1948. He was awarded the Yukuharu SOSHUN Prize in 1977. He touched many lives in the haiku world, both in Japan and America. An article about Mr. Yamagata, that appeared in Above the Clouds, the 2013 Members’ Anthology, written by Patricia Machmiller, can be found here. YTHS has also honored Mr. Yamagata with his own Haiku Poets’ Page.
D. Claire Gallagher (1941 – 2009)
D. Claire Gallagher, extraordinary haiku poet and friend to many in the haiku community, passed away at home, surrounded by family, on Friday, July 17, 2009. Surviving her are her husband Patrick Gallagher, also a haiku poet, and loving children and grandchildren.
Claire became interested in haiku in 1991 after reading Wes Nisker’s commentary on haiku in his book Crazy Wisdom. Later she attended a meeting of the Haiku Poets of Northern California (HPNC) and quickly became active in that group, the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, and the Haiku Society of America, and remained so till the end of her life. She served for some years as HSA Regional Coordinator for Northern California. She was co-editor of Mariposa, the haiku journal of HPNC, from its inception in 1999 until 2007. She served on the editorial staff of the Red Moon Anthology.
Claire was a frequent attender and contributor to local and national haiku conferences. Her haiku were published in numerous journals and anthologies and won or placed in many contests in the USA and abroad. Among her honors were a First Place in the 2007 HSA Harold Henderson haiku contest and Second Place in the 1998 HSA Gerald Brady senryu contest, as well as top honors in the HPNC San Francisco International contests, the Snapshot Press Calendar Awards, the NLAPW Poetry Contest, the British Haiku Society’s Hackett Award Contest, and the Yuki Teikei Society’s Tokutomi Memorial Contest. As winner of the Virgil Hutton manuscript contest, her chapbook How Fast the Ground Moves, was published in 2001 by Saki Press. A collection of her haiku, The Nether World, was published in 2009 by Red Moon Press. Claire contributed significantly to the organization and content of the Yuki Teikei’s San Francisco Bay Area Nature Guide and Saijiki, and the book is dedicated in her memory.
Claire’s career included incarnations as a potter, educator, radio journalist, technical writer, and volunteer coordinator for a nature conservation agency. In addition to reading and writing haiku, which contributed to her living “more mindfully and more heartfully,” among the joys and talents that enriched her life were hiking and travel, gardening, ikebana, collage, Chinese brush painting, and time with her family and friends. She was always keenly aware of the world of natural wonders around her, and she delighted in sharing her excitement and knowledge with friends and family, most especially with her grandchildren. YTHS has also honored Claire with her own Haiku Poets’ Page.
