Beverly Colville Gorsuch

Gorsuch, Beverly Colville. Passed away on April 5, 2022 just 8 days short of her ninetieth birthday. Bev was born in an Iowa farmhouse during the Great Depression. Her chronology is that of a courageous, forward-thinking, and deeply spiritual woman. Bev spent two years studying Home Economics at Iowa State, transferred to the University of Iowa to complete a BA in Sociology, and then went to Yale University where, unable to be ordained as a woman, she graduated with a Masters in Religious Education. She met her husband, John (Jack) Phillip Gorsuch at Yale. They moved together to Seattle where Jack was the Rector at Epiphany Episcopal Church. Bev worked in various roles in service of disadvantaged populations.  

At age forty, Bev returned to school to get her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Washington. This was followed by extensive post-graduate training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. She was in private practice in psychotherapy in Seattle for many years and was a founding member of The Northwest Alliance for Psychoanalytic Study. 

In the early 1980's, Bev and Jack brought together their professional skills and experience in order to teach and write about the spiritual life and founded the Center for Spiritual Development in Seattle. Together, they wrote the book -- An Invitation to the Spiritual Journey ---- published by the Paulist Press in 1990. In 1991, they left Seattle, first to live in a community with Hindu-Christian roots located in Northern California, and then to Bellingham, Washington. In both places, Bev worked as a spiritual teacher and mentor. They moved together to Wisconsin in 2014 when Bev began to develop dementia, in order to be closer to their daughter Meg. 

Bev’s husband Jack predeceased her (2017). She is survived by her loving daughters Anne Gorsuch (Hal Siden) and Meg Hopkins (Jim Best), her sister Carolyn Eaton, late brother William Colville, as well as grandchildren Hannah Siden, Ellie Siden, and Connor Hopkins. Should you wish to make a donation in remembrance of Bev’s life, the family suggests a gift of time or money to a charity of your choice. 

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