By Joy Belluzzi, Certified Advanced Rolfer™

 

 

 

 

In 1978, I had the profound honor and gift of working for Dr. Rolf as her personal secretary. It  was  during  that  time  that  I met her son, Alan  Demmerle.  Unlike his older brother, Richard, who had followed in his mother’s footsteps and trained as a chiropractor and Rolfer, Alan followed the path of his father,  Walter, and became an electrical engineer. (Walter Demmerle died suddenly of a heart attack in 1947, when Alan was thirteen.) Alan received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and Columbia University, respectively.  He had a successful career working for Westinghouse, serving briefly in the Navy, and then working at the Naval Research Lab, NASA, and spending the remaining twenty-two years of his career as the Branch Chief of the Division of Computer Research and Technology at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, DC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shortly before Alan retired from government service, he was encouraged to become involved in the administration of the Rolf Institute® (now the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute®).  Inspired  by  the   possibility to actively support his  mother’s  work,  he ran for the position of  President  of the Board of Directors. He won the election and served in that office from December of 1987 through the summer  of 1992. (The position of president and the process of election has since been modified.) This time period proved to be a particularly difficult and challenging moment in the history of the Institute,  and Alan helped to manage this conflict.

Ultimately, there was a major split in the organization with some faculty leaving and forming the second iteration of the Guild for Structural Integration. Although it was a painful process for all involved, Alan would later say that “ultimately my mother’s primary interest was in widely disseminating her work,” and perhaps  this was a manifestation of that desire?

Alan was a man of integrity, keen insight, and intuition. Surrounded in his early  life by his mother’s diverse intellectual and metaphysical interests, Alan also embraced both the spiritual, metaphysical world and the physical, intellectual world that he mostly lived in. He listened to and followed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

his own moral compass, and he was not averse to addressing things as he saw them. I had the good fortune to be married to him for thirty-five years and knew him to be devoted to and proud of his children, Andrew, Frances, and Justin; and his grandchildren, Kyle, Elisabeth Grace, and Maya. He was incredibly skilled at building and renovating (undertaking this at several homes, “with his own two hands” as he liked to say), and he was an avid sailor, woodsman, and conservationist.

Alan was a rock in my life. He was someone you could always count on to do what he said he would do, and to be there when you needed him. Although he often seemed serious, he had a wonderful sense of humor, and occasionally a soft heart. Plus, he was one of the few people I’ve met who never complained about his mother!

A year before Alan passed away, he took it upon himself to write his own obituary, and I’ll close with a quote from that. “Some people found Alan to be somewhat temperamental, perhaps even moody. Through it all, Alan regularly claimed to be especially lucky that his life developed as it did. Lucky with his health, his career, his marriage to Joy, his children’s health and personalities, and his place in life. Moody or not, he claimed to be happy and lucky. He died, he would claim, comfortably situated in old age.”

I miss him every day!

Further Remembrances

Thoughts from Dean Rollings, Certified Advanced Rolfer

Our gratitude goes out to Alan Demmerle for the many contributions that he made during his life.

Alan became actively involved with the leadership behind Rolfing SI at a time when the fate of his mother’s lifework was facing numerous challenges. The notoriety of the work brought with it a large following of people and organizations, many of which looked to see how they personally could benefit. Different philosophies as to what the work should be, how it should  be taught, how it could be incorporated into other organizations, or what the school should be and the research that was needed to expand the work were only a few of the pressures facing our organization at the time. As you can imagine, having a number of Rolfers,  with their own ideas as to what that should be, became a most unpleasant time. Alan’s background at  NASA  and the NIH, qualified him well for the tasks he had ahead of him. It was also during this time that Alan fell in love and married Joy Belluzzi, Ida’s personal secretary and a Rolfer, further assuring his commitment to his mother’s work.

The majority of us were pleased to see Alan become the Rolf Institute president, and in that role he brought stability and direction. He did indeed have many difficult times, but also many wonderful achievements as the organization matured to what it is today. He continued his interest and contributions throughout his life, and with his help, the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute is here to stay.

Alan and I sailed many a mile together and had many an adventure. I will miss my friend.

 

Thoughts from Robert Toporek, Certified Advanced Rolfer

When I first became a Rolfer I started  by living with Richard Demmerle and his family. I was as green as could be and had no real idea of the magnitude of the family. From time to time Alan Demmerle would come by for a visit with his family. I would not say that we formed a long and lasting relationship – for the most part we hardly ever really talked – but over the next four years as Dr. Rolf’s self-appointed right-hand person I would again from time to time cross paths with Alan.

One day Dr. Rolf needed a new personal secretary, and as Joy Belluzzi lived around the corner, I asked her to take      it on. When I told Dr. Rolf I found a new person and her name was Joy, she said, “I hope not.” Nonetheless, there could  not have been a more perfect person to help Dr. Rolf through the final phase of her life. A few nights after Dr. Rolf passed, Alan, Joy, and I went out to dinner and had our own little private celebration of  Dr. Rolf’s life. We told stories, laughed, and shared our love and respect for her. It was the first time that I had spent quality time with Alan. His love and appreciation for his mother was clear, as well as the challenges of being her son and all that came with it.

Over the past forty-plus years I have had many more opportunities to interact with Alan. The work he did behind the scenes to support Rolfing SI was substantial, and that he did  it  without  any  fanfare  or need  for  acknowledgement  speaks  to one of his greatest attributes. One unmistakable thing about Alan was his love and support – for Joy, for his children and grandchildren, and for the work his mother ushered into the world.

 

Thoughts from Jan Sultan, Advanced Rolfing Instructor

Alan Demmerle was always in the background of my journey with Ida Rolf. He was her ‘other’ son, and was not involved with the immediate circle around Dr. Rolf in the early days. In contrast, her son Dick Demmerle, who was a chiropractor, was much more present. Even as Alan was distant, there was an aura of respect for him as a working scientist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the late 80s, Alan stepped into the arena of the Rolf Institute, to lend his mind and commitment to the continuance of his mother’s legacy. Dick Stenstadvold invited him to run for the Board of Directors; Alan accepted, and won the seat in an election.

That point marked the beginning of my personal involvement with Alan, and I found him to be practical and possessed of a sardonic wit. He was very sharp, astute to nuance and subtle shades of meaning. He was a lot of fun to talk to, and held a solid neutral ground as an observer.

I was chair of the faculty during some of the time Alan was President of the Board, and we had interactions in our respective capacities. He always supported the development of Ida Rolf’s work, as well  as the clarity of the political function of the Board of Directors. When he left the Board in around 1992, after the split with Dick and Emmett Hutchins [who left to form the Guild], we remained friends and would occasionally have a meal and social time together. His interests ranged far beyond the Rolfing moment, and he was always very human and accessible. I will miss him, and have great respect for him.