The mission of Boulder Hot Springs will live on despite the death of the charismatic woman who saw the facility’s promise and made it the center of a spiritual healing philosophy she developed.
Anne Wilson Schaef, 85, died Jan. 19 at her home in Rogers, Arkansas. The author of 18 books and founder of a mode of spiritual healing called “Living in Process,” Schaef attended Jefferson High School and, in 1989, assembled a group of partners that bought and set out to restore Boulder Hot Springs, an endeavor that continues to this day.
“She was keenly aware of the important place Boulder Hot Springs had in Montana’s history and continually worked toward making [it] a place of healing for all who came here,” Peter Sidley, Schaef’s longtime business manager, assistant and one of the members of the limited partnership that owns the resort, said by email. “Those of us who are still around to take care of the old place have the same beliefs about this place that Anne did and we absolutely plan to carry on the mission of Boulder Hot Springs.”
That mission, as outlined on the facility’s website, includes maintaining at Boulder Hot Springs an “ever present” environment “of healing, recovery, community and connection with the Creator and all creation.”
“Our mission has not changed upon Anne’s death,” Sidley wrote. “While we miss Anne very much, we have a great staff and ownership group who continue to keep BHS afloat.”
The ownership group, Sidley explained, includes “long-dedicated” supporters who have helped maintain and renovate the sprawling facility, which was in an advanced state of disrepair when Schaef and her supporters acquired it.
“She and the rest of her extensive support team got the pools reopened right away and had hotel rooms ready within a very short time after taking ownership of BHS, and this group has continued, to this very day, maintaining and renovating the pools, the bathhouse, the east wing, the west wing and the entire facility,” he wrote.
The labor of love is ongoing. “We are continuing the renovation of the west wing,” Sidley wrote. “The ground floor is now finished and we are nearing the completion of the second floor. Further down the road — likely not in the next 12 months — we are planning to work on the soffits and gunnite on the outside of the building.”
When asked what Schaef’s legacy might be, Sidley demurred.
“Anne often commented how there was something wrong with the whole legacy thing,” he explained. “At times when we would hear about a President’s legacy or a great person’s legacy she would say that the focus was on the wrong place with that, like that was about ego and self-centeredness. She was focused on participating in her life and doing what she could to make the planet a better place and not focused on how people saw her after she died — or, for that matter, while she was alive.”
