Heather Belinda Chatfield Ammen
Heather Belinda Chatfield Ammen passed away on Wednesday, June 17 surrounded by family and dear friends. Witty, sharp, and full of love until the very end, when asked what she wanted in her obituary, Heather responded:
“Be authentic in your life, and if you don’t know what that means, check out YouTube.”
“In lieu of flowers, send love to the first person that annoys you. If you feel that went well, do it to the next person too.”
“Goodbye everybody. Live a full life with as much love as your heart can open to.”
Heather leaves behind a legacy of profound compassion, joy, prolific artistry and wry humor. She is deeply missed.
Tribute:
Heather Belinda Chatfield Ammen January 16, 1963 – June 17, 2020 Her last message to us all was, “Goodbye, everybody. Live a full life with as much love as your heart can open to,” which is exactly what she did.
Heather was extraordinary, something easily said yet rarely so true. In her humility, so many never knew the breadth of her talent and her passion for life. She was devoted to her relationships, creative endeavors, and healing work; these were part of her spirituality.
She deeply touched the lives of thousands through her gifted healing work spanning many forms of Western and Asian medicine. She was a prolific artist as a painter, potter, fiber artist and seamstress. On her last evening, she decided to complete a painting for a friend with her own footprints. Those were her last steps.
Heather was a culinary alchemist; she loved her large woodland & medicinal plant garden; she delighted in dancing.
Heather’s connection with her husband, Jonathan, was a lively collaboration, a playful meeting of two strong personalities. As a mother, friend and partner she was loving, generous, and fun. She was the kind of compassionate, insightful confidante one turns to in the best and worst of times.
Heather studied medicine in China, traveled in Asia, Europe and the Caribbean.
She asked that her ashes go to the ocean at her favorite beaches in Rhode Island, and Salt Cay in the Turks and Caicos islands.
Heather passed away from cancer. In addition to her husband Jonathan Ammen and son Breylen, she leaves behind four siblings, Laura, Jennifer, Jessica and Arthur; she was predeceased by her sister Gwen.
She requested that “In lieu of flowers, send love to the first person that annoys you, and if you feel that went well, do it to the next person, too.”
A Celebration of Life will be held at a future time when we all can safely be together.
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What an absolutely sweet loving gift to all of us! I’m sorry I did not get to meet you in person but after reading this lovely description of you, I feel I already have met and known you, for a very long time. Whatever you done in this lifetime, continue to do in your next lifetime, and give ‘em hell, and lots of love and hugging.
Jonathan and Breylen,
My heart and love go out to you both. No words can convey the loss of one so dear as Heather. Nor can they truly convey the joy she had in life, laughter and love. She lived life as fully as possible. May that fullness nourish your hearts as you grieve.
With love,
Larry Park. Jonathan and Breylen. A beautiful picture and beautiful words. She was a beautiful and true friend that filled a void in my life. I will miss the talks we had she truly inspired me and made me understand myself and how to love my life. Her memory will bring a smile to my face. May are paths cross again.
Dear Jonathan and Breylen,
My heart goes out to you. Heather was a wonderfl, insightful, and joyful person. May her memory always be for a blessing.
Sending you love,
Deanna
Dear Jonathan and Breylen,
Such a marvelous loving tribute to Heather. A deep bow. There’s such a roundness to it, full and ripe. I loved and appreciated her so- her deep caring, great heart and strong optimistic beliefs, indeed, her radiant presence itself was truly healing. I am grateful for having known her and the experiences with her over the years.
May you two have immense comfort of heart.
And may Heather be soaring, completely unfettered and in deepest peace.
Thank you Jonathan. Such a beautiful tribute. It made me cry and think how valuable it is to send love to the next person that annoys us. I will do that. And think of Heather.
Jonathan and Breylen,
My thoughts are with you during these difficult times. She was truly an
amazing Mother, Wife and Healer. Her contributions on this earth were many. Thinking of you both.
RIP my dear friend
Dear Jonathan and Breylen
My wife Nancy who has seen Heather for years mentioned to her that I was about to get a steroid injection into my shoulder for bursitis. Heather said “I wouldn’t do that.” So I went to see her and was educated about the complexity of connective tissue
Heather named my impatience with the pace of recovery but did not judge me for it and was enormously creative and loving through my successful treatment which ended just before she stopped working. I am so grateful to have encountered such a wonderful healer and being and am so sorry for your pain in losing her. May she be completely free and may you find as much comfort as possible. Thank you for the wonderful remembrance.
Dear Jonathan, thank you for sharing this beautiful tribute to your beautiful wife. I wish I had had the chance to know her better, and to learn from her huge heart and creative loving spirit. I’ll take note of her wise words … about loving the next person who annoys you and living a full life with as much love as my heart can muster. My condolences to you, Breylen, and all who knew and loved her… will be thinking of you all and sending love.
Jonathan and Breylen,
What a wonderful tribute to Heather.
I am deeply grateful to have had the privilege of being treated by Heather for 25 years. She was an extraordinary Healer who helped me in so many ways through the years. Her love of nature, beauty and light permeated everything she did. When I walk outside my front door I see the healing plants she gave me flourishing in my garden. More recently, discovering her artistic gifts and love of color has been a joy. When it is safe, an exhibition of her beautiful paintings will be arranged to share with the world.
May she rest in the peace she gave to all of us and rest in the power of her love of life.
Such an honor to know her.
Dear Jonathan,
I didn’t know Heather, but your beautiful tribute makes me feel that I did a little. She sounds so remarkable and loving and fun. I pray that you and Breylen and her loved ones will each find the comfort and support you need, however you need it, in each moment. May you feel the love of community around you. I will be thinking of you and sending prayers for the journey.
From your former acupuncture student,
Heather’s lessons to us all, often slipped into a casual
Conversation or through her own example, are the beautiful, compassionate legacy she has left us all. Please hold them dear to your hearts as I know I will. Hugs to you both.
What a beautiful tribute, & what a legacy Heather leaves.
I’m honored to have spent a little time with her on Salt Cay.
Jonathan & Breylen, love & hugs to you both during this difficult time.
Dear Jonathan and Breylen: I recall a playdate pickup some years ago – Heather collecting Breylen from a day of play with Nicholas. She entered the house, full of positive energy, in November, in her bare feet. I remember observing this spontaneity and authenticity – a real free-spirit – and immediately felt at ease with her. These are the qualities I will remember when I think of Heather.
I will be thinking of you both, wishing you comfort and love.
With my warmest regards,
Kimberly
Heather was such a special flower, a unique light. I only got to spend a few days in her presence, but reading your tribute, I feel as though I have known her a lifetime. I was so impressed that even in her weak moments she was so strong. I am hugging you, Jonathan and Breylen, in your time of loss. I am thankful to have known Heather, a truly free spirit.
To Heather, where ever you are, I have been reading this to you.
The world is a flower. Gods are flowers.
Enlightened ones are flowers. All phenomena are flowers.
Red flowers, white flowers, green flowers, yellow flowers, black flowers,
all the different kinds of the colors of flowers, all of the different kinds
of love’s shining forth.
Life unfolds from life and returns to life.
Such an immense universe! Oh many lives! Flowers of gratitude, flowers of sorrow, flowers of suffering, flowers of joy, laughter’s flowers, anger’s flowers, heaven’s flowers, hell’s flowers. Each connected to the others
and each making the others grow.
When our real mind’s eye
opens this world of flowers, all beings shine,
music echoes through mountains and oceans. One’s world becomes the world of millions. The individual becomes the human race. All lives become the individual – billions of mirrors
all reflecting each other.
Heather, there is death and there is life, there is no death and no life.
There is changing life, there is unchanging life.
Flowers change color, moment by moment.
Such a vivid world! Such a bright you! … Heather, you were born out of these flowers, you gave birth to these flowers.
You have no beginning and no ending, you are bottomless and limitless,
even as you are infinitesimal dust …
Heather, you are, the flower. You are love.
All beings shine out of their uniqueness,
all melt into the oneness of colors. You are one, you are many,
only one moment, only one unique place, only the unique you.
Beside you there is nothing: you dance, appearing in all.
From nowhere you came, to nowhere you go. You stay nowhere. You are nowhere attached. You occupy everything, you occupy nothing.
You are the becoming of indescribable change.
You are love, you are the flower.
from ‘The Wheel of Death’ 1972 Roshi Philip Kapleau
My condelnces to Jonathan and Breylen and the wonderful, extending family you created with Heather.
I am only now able to bring myself to read this. When I first attempted to, I cried just seeing Heather’s smiling face and couldn’t go on. Even now, it is so difficult for me to believe that I will never see her loving eyes, hear her impish laughter, smell and taste her latest amazingly creative culinary creation which she always miraculously concocted out of practically nothing, or share a quiet conversation or a joke which would leave us both in hysterics. The love she leaves behind is a testament to the remarkable woman she was. She was one of a kind. She was my oldest and dearest friend. She still is. I love you, Heather.
Dear Jonathan and Breylen and all who love Heather,
Asking for advice
You were guided by the light
And touched me with conviction
Coaxed me with sincerity and humor
To see what wasn’t seen
And feel what surrounds.
Your loving presence on earth and in the universe blesses us.
Dear Jonathan and Braylen, I am only finding out this evening that Heather has left us. I am heart broken. She has been there for me for over 25 years – sometimes I wouldn’t think I “needed” to see her for acupuncture for over a year but she always welcomed me back and always healed me. I have passed along Heather’s name to so many friends and was just trying to do that this evening when I found this information. I feel like I know you both a little although we’ve never met. Heather and I always shared stories about our families and travels. I send you my condolences and love.
Dear Jonathan and Breylen,
I am so very sad to learn of Heather’s passing! I was thinking that it had been a little over two years since my last appointment with her. We texted sporadically from time to time since. I drive by your road regularly and always think of her. She was a remarkable healer and an amazing human being. Knowing her changed my life. I have missed her very much since she stopped working. I cannot imagine the profound and infinite loss her death means for the two of you. She loved you both so much and spoke of you often in our sessions. Breylen, she was so proud of the man you have become. Thinking of your both as you figure out some way through this life without her.
My sweet, fun cousin. My heart aches. I am so glad that I knew you as a little girl. I still remember playing tag, swimming at Uncle Carl’s or the beaches off the coast of New England, playing in that really cool closet of yours with you and your sisters Jennifer and Jessica. I loved you so much. I’m sorry for your family’s loss. I wish I could have been of some comfort to you. Love you to the moon and back little one.
So sorry Johnathan and Breylen, Laura, Arthur, Jennifer and Jessica
To her loving family, I am just so saddened and taken back by learning of Heather’s passing.
Out of ‘the blue ‘ I thought of her this morning. To be honest I had not thought of Heather in years. I knew her from herbal school 15 years ago. We had a very lovely connection.
I said, I need to look her up and to my amazement I found her obituary.
I’m just so very sorry. She was one of the most truest and gentle souls I was blessed to know.
May peace be with her soul always. Hearing her last words puts a smile on my face. God bless you Heather.