Bernard Wheatley, Hermit

The man depicted above is Dr. Bernard Wheatley who, after the deaths of his family, chucked a flourishing career to live as a hermit on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

Read a long and fascinating article about him here.

In 1957 Dr. Bernard Wheatley - an African American physician from the Virgin Islands - made a pilgrimage to Kalalau Valley. Distraught after the death of his wife and son in a car accident, he kept questioning the meaning of life and other ontological problems until the answers finally came. In a remarkable religious conversion-like revelation he realized that life is eternal. He abandoned his medical practice, sold all his worldly possessions and sought a quiet, secluded place where he could earnestly seek truth without distraction. He arrived on the remote Island of Kauai and after seeing Kalalau from a ridge-top lookout in Kokee, he knew that he had found his home.... He passed on December 3, 1991 at the age of 72. His ashes were spread in Kalalau.

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Comments

In the right hands, this would be a good basis for a movie script. Sort of like "Old Man and the Sea".

Posted by KDP on 04/10/13 at 12:36 PM

He lost his family, how sad. I hope he found some peace in his seclusion.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/10/13 at 10:39 PM

can't find anything in the article about him losing his family. It says he found God and went nutso and was found wandering naked in a park, then we went hermit.

Posted by mikeUK on 04/11/13 at 06:29 AM

mikeUK--that pull quote came from a different source:

http://thegardenisland.com/news/island-history/article_8405c3e9-9c16-5e21-b0f0-242060d44937.html

Posted by Paul on 04/11/13 at 11:01 AM

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