Honoree Biography

Our 2008 honoree is Jon Roe.

Jon grew up in a small country town in northern New Jersey. He studied Aeronautical Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, which in 1961 led to a job with Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford. He was fortunate to spend his entire career at Pratt taking an early retirement in 1993 after 32 years with the company.

For 15 years he followed a conventional middle class path of working hard, raising a family and enjoying the rewards they bring; but in his mid thirties Jon stumbled across the world of metaphysics. He found the ideas intriguing and set out to learn more, but with no real expectation that there was much to them. For ten years he read books and took classes. To his pleasant surprise he found that most things did check out and, more importantly, they formed a philosophical and psychological foundation for a belief system with which to navigate life. Along the way he found he was changed by the ideas and exercises becoming healthier, happier and more self confidant.

By his mid forties Jon was looking for a way to share what he had learned to help others make similar changes in their lives. He first became active helping Bev Titus and friends produce the 1985 and 1986 Celebration of Life weekend retreats. This showed him that the engineering skills he learned at Pratt could be used with a group and there was a place for the left brained list maker among right brained holistic people.

A transcendent experience in the summer of 1986 led to the arrival of what would become The Door Opener. The magazine started as a 16 page newsletter and grew over the years with the partnership and support of Bev Titus. The magazine provided a bird's eye view of spiritual/holistic activity across the state and being analytical by nature and training Jon used this vantage point to spot trends, needs and problems. The magazine also provided a statewide network of friends and associates.

In 1989 he and Bev Titus supported Pam Bell in forming the New Age Guild of Connecticut in an effort to bring people together. Community building has always been a theme, perhaps from the experience of growing up in a small town. The Guild was unique in that it brought both metaphysical and holistic practitioners together; later groups would be primarily for practitioners. The Guild also played a big role in the repeal of Connecticut's Fortunetelling Law.

When Jon retired from Pratt & Whitney in 1993 he looked for where his efforts might have the most impact, as The Door Opener was not a full time job. This was the year the Eisenberg study was published showing how widely alternative medical practices were being used and how much money was being spent on them. This report would be a tipping point in the acceptance of holistic health and Jon decided to put his efforts there. Consequently he joined New Haven's Connection For Health Network, the first state practitioner group, which was already publishing a directory and doing education in their area.

As he was not a practitioner it seemed more appropriate for him to take the role of supporter rather than the leader of these organizations. This was also a better fit for his skills. By taking what he learned from one group to other groups he hoped they could avoid mistakes and build on others successes. With this philosophy he served on the board of The Connection For Health Network (1993-2002), Connecticut Health Institute (CHI) (1993-1994) and the Greater Hartford/Connecticut Holistic Health Association (1994-2005).

Along the way he was involved in publishing a number of directories and newsletters as well as helping to produce holistic events, including the 1999 Gathering of Holistic Physicians, the 1999 Publishers Holistic Expo and three Vernon Holistic Healthfests.

At the end of 2005 Jon turned the care of The Door Opener over to Dory Dzinski and took 2006 off to rest, read and reflect. That was long enough and last year he launched Conscious CT, an experimental website targeting 15 towns east of the river with the goal of building community, supporting area businesses and practitioners, and developing ways to help new people find and benefit from the holistic community. The website and Jon are both works in progress.

Jon lives in Vernon where he has been married 45 years to his wife Janet. They have two children and three grandchildren.