Alumni Updates: Class Years 1950-59
Below are archived updates for alumni graduating in the 1950s. Visit the Recent Alumni Updates page for current news.
Lillie (Marcie) Kocher '57 (BS) My M.A in Clinical Psychology, specialized in psych testing under Dr. Anne Anastasi at Fordham Univ. At the Psych Corp I helped develop new tests, then interned at Chicago's Inst. for Juvenile Psychology and studied at the Univ. of Chicago. Marriage and children came next, during which I was briefly a school psychologist, 8th grade teacher, arts and diversity educator, Sunday School teacher for brain-injured and developmentally disabled people, and Health Programs Chair of Oak Park Illinois' Community Welfare Council. I experienced and emerged from domestic violence, then studied adult ed courses in TA with Morrie Haimowitz, and gestalt, psychodrama and other aspects of the human potential movement. There I taught "Psychology for Self- Understanding" and "Group Communication Skills". I took Bioenergetics Training under John Bellis and the Encounter Group Facilitator Program at Oasis; began a private practice; wrote and illustrated "Unlimited Possibilities: An Introduction and Guide to the Human Potential Movement", participated in AHP, countless workshops and Jack Gibbs' TORI Communities for many years. I created a TORI newsletter in the SF Bay Area, where I became a bodyworker and fitness instructor and trained in Anna Halprin's Living Dance Approach to Life Arts at Tamalpa Institute. Anna - now 90, still dancing + teaching - worked with Fritz Perls, Moshe Feldenkrais and others, and pioneered dance/movement/visualization to find and express the self's inner depths for self-healing and authentic connection with others. She taught collective creativity, expanded approaches to choreography and community rituals to heal current issues. I've led women's rituals and danced in her worldwide "Circle the Earth" peace dances over 25 years. I've also practiced and taught peer Co-counseling, done 12-step addiction, intimacy and body-mind-spirit work. After Outdoor Ed courses at Dominican Univ. and co-founding a Women's Outdoor Leadership Program connected to Women in the Wilderness and the Sierra Club's InnerCity Outings, I led experiential and environmental ed groups in CA and NY and was a NPS seasonal ranger in Colorado. I briefly mentored international students at CCNY's Writing Center, then directed a Domestic Violence Education and Prevention (DVEP) program in Yonkers and Mt. Vernon, NY, school systems for two years and coordinated/taught Rape Crisis volunteers and accompanied affected youth in court appearances for two more years. Since then, I've created, coordinated, developed and directed programs for: Maritz Travel, Community Adult Ed, WildCare Rehabilitation Center, The SF Bay/Delta Estuary Project, Hemophilia Foundation, California Trout, Oceanic Society Expeditions and the American Cancer Society. Now retired from the latter, I'm in private practice to help develop a peaceful world. I offer professional counseling, education and mentoring, belong to PeacexPeace and other online peace collaborations, the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance and the Center for Domestic Peace. I look forward to working internationally and to our establishing a U.S. Department of Peace to expand use of our growing conflict prevention/resolution and peace-building skills. (11/10)
