From Oswald.
I’m sure that each of us has a story about how Fredrick touched us in one way or the other. At our November Kedjiwaan Gathering at the Menucha Retreat and Conference Center – the last time I saw and spoke to Fredrick – we all told stories about either our opening, or something about our Subud journey we wanted to share.
My story concerned the different Subud enterprises that I had been a part of and how each one of them helped me to find what I needed for that time in my work life. One of those Subud enterprises was Branchflower Software.
In 1991, we moved to Bellevue and became a part of the members who practiced the latihan on the eastside. Sometimes we did latihan at the Blanchflower’s home in Redmond. When we had moved to this area, I fully expecting I would continue the work I had started in the Los Angeles area, selling used technology. That wasn’t happening and I was pretty depressed about it.
One time after latihan I mentioned this to Fredrick and he offered me a sales job with his Branchflower Software company. His product was a contact management program for small businesses. I was given the task of training and sales and started to go to conferences with Fredrick’s son Stephen.
I didn’t make a lot of sales, but I did learn the software business and gained confidence in my abilities because of Fredrick’s confidence in me.
Later Fredrick worked with a partner to create a product configuration software addon for a major manufacturing software company creating the first such product for the new Windows platform. Out of his work I was given the opportunity to sell an entire manufacturing software suite for the same company. I never sold a single one.
However, what I did gain from both of these experiences was the confidence I needed to next be able to work for Microsoft and many other software companies for the next 20 years. All of that success I owe to Fredrick’s faith in me.
One last thought on Fredrick’s work on enterprise. His desire to leave an enterprise that would provide funds for Subud continued to his last days where he was working on 3 different marketing websites that he hoped would eventually produce profits he could contribute.
For more details on Fredrick (and Melanie’s) life, please scroll down to see an interview that Paul Nelson did with them that was published May 28, 2015.
For some of Rachman Cantrell’s pictures of Fredrick, please see this link.
photo below by Isabel Gates.
