Margo Patricia Floerke

Floerke—Margo Patricia Floerke, 68, on December 17, 2018, in Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua, following a fall. Pat was born on December 6, 1950, in Chicago, Ill., to Mary Lou, called Jill, and Walter H. Floerke. She received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Oberlin College and a master’s in social work from the University of Minnesota.

She was an active attender and leader at Catawba Valley Worship Group under the care of Charlotte (N.C.) Meeting, where she was a member, and was instrumental in holding the small worship group together. She initiated singing before meeting and helped with the purchase of Quaker song books. She also initiated lively and informative forum programs after worship on a variety of topics, including Bible Study and Quaker history. Friends found her a true asset to the worship group and a good Friend to all attenders.

In 1987, she felt led to join Jubilee House, an intentional community working to provide shelter ministries in the Statesville, N.C. area. After some years Jubilee House moved to Central America in an effort to make sustainable changes in the root causes of poverty there and show a positive American face. So in the summer of 1994, Pat packed up and moved to Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua, where Jubilee House established the Center for Development in Central America (CDCA), which seeks to improve lives with healthcare, sustainable agriculture, economic development, and education.

Her primary work at CDCA was through the Nueva Vida Clinic, which had been established to help internal refugees relocated after Hurricane Mitch. She provided free counseling services, particularly focusing on children and family therapy. The community loved and respected her, and many former patients returned to express their appreciation. In Nicaragua she served as clerk of Ciudad Sandino Worship Group, under the care of St. Petersburg (Fla.) Meeting in Southeastern Yearly Meeting. She introduced the practice that continues to this day even in her absence, of sharing at the rise of meeting what had grown out of worship.

Although she missed her family and f/Friends in the United States, she felt at home among the people of Nicaragua and loved living there. She appreciated the honesty and transparency of the culture, where poverty is not hidden from view. The community was her larger family of people to love, and they loved her in return and nourished her soul. She returned periodically to visit and to update Friends on the work being done at CDCA. Friends will remember her for her extraordinary listening skills, her relationships with the community children as she shared their growing up, her willingness to jump in and help, and her having morning coffee ready. Pat is survived by her sister, Kathy Floerke, of Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua.

Correction: An earlier version of this milestone incorrectly stated the meeting where Patricia was a member. She was a member of Charlotte (N.C.) Meeting, not Charlotte (Va.) Meeting.