Welcome from Rev. Don Chatfield

Don was born in Phoenix, Arizona where his father served in the Air Force. Both his parents were from Kansas City, Missouri where the family returned. Don’s early years were spent surrounded by grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. He has fond memories of live jazz concerts at the Nelson Atkins Gallery and his first baseball game (Kansas City A’s vs. Boston Red Sox). He remembers helping his grandfather prepare communion at church and watching his mother practice organ for Sunday services. Don loved fishing with his dad and uncles in the lakes and streams of Missouri. When Don was nine years old, his father’s job was transferred to Ponca City, Oklahoma. His parents were dismayed by the lack of opera, ballet, and sports, but Don loved the newfound freedom of riding his bicycle to the movies and countryside.

On a retreat at 14 years old, Don sensed a strong call to ministry. He told his pastor, “It’s a call to something non-traditional.” Don signed up for the high school debate team to develop research and public speaking skills for ministry. He made it to the state speech tournament, held right before the senior prom. Don went on to collegiate debating while he majored in rhetoric and persuasion, reaching the semifinals of the national debate tournament. During his senior year in college, he served as a student pastor in Oklahoma City, preparing him to serve two churches in Kansas City, Missouri as a staff minister during his Master of Divinity studies. It was during this time that Don fell in love with skiing while leading a youth retreat at Welch Village, Minnesota.

Don’s studies led him to Drew University where he met a lovely pastor’s daughter, Karen Bender, and they fell in love on a weekend ski trip to Killington. While dating, Don served as staff minister at a Methodist Church in New York and Karen worked as a book editor in Manhattan. Don wanted to engage faith with public policy, so he applied for environmental studies at the University of Arizona. Don and Karen were married at his church in New York and, after a Bahamas honeymoon, they moved to Tucson where Don finished another master’s degree. Karen became a technical editor and Don became a consultant with a firm that assisted communities in the Southwest develop policy visions for the future. Don then accepted a position in community development with a rapidly growing suburb of Tucson, where he wrote environmental and public arts ordinances. He continued to provide pastoral counseling and to fill-in at area pulpits.

Don completed his Ph.D. in Santa Barbara and was recruited to serve as executive director of a Tucson nonprofit serving the homeless and working poor. There he developed programs to train the homeless in construction skills while building 30 affordable homes each year. Karen joined a regional behavioral health agency as proposal manager and began developing cultural competence training. Don then joined a west-wide nonprofit organization focused on collaborative conservation. Don also served as Associate Pastor at a Methodist Church in Tucson, where he led the contemporary worship service with a rock band and video boards. Feeling called to a larger vision of spirituality, he began studies for interfaith ministry. Once ordained as an interfaith minister, Don and Karen opened La Cholla Center for Integrative Spirituality, offering meditation classes, retreats, and study series.

Don completed a master’s degree in professional counseling and became a therapist providing addiction treatment services. Karen became a board member of the Coalition on African American Health and Wellness and planned a statewide mental health conference for the LGBTQ+ population. Don and Karen continued to offer meditation, spiritual studies, and retreats through La Cholla Center. They enjoyed vacations to western ski resorts and Mexican beaches. Don accepted the position as executive director at Osage Forest of Peace, a contemplative interspiritual retreat center near Tulsa. There they founded the School of Spiritual Direction to train spiritual companions. Don built an annual calendar of workshops and retreats and coordinated weekly services. Don and Karen arrived in Vermont on July 8, 2019 and were welcomed at a community picnic on July 14. They both love Vermont and being part of the All Souls Community.