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FAMILIAR FACES 7th Edition (Part 3)
Dear DWS Alumni! Welcome to this special edition of Familiar Faces. In this three part series, we will be featuring several pivotal school leaders. Each of these extraordinary individuals were instrumental in establishing Detroit Waldorf School.
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Photo captions: Marianne with her Kindergarten students, ca 1966.
(below) Marianne at twenty-three, 1958.
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Marianne Buergin
Founding Teacher, 1966-1981
Written by Astrid Buergin Brient
Marianne Kindler was born in Germany, in a small rural village near Stuttgart where her parents were farmers. Marianne was one of six children and has an identical twin sister, Renate.
During the second World War, Stuttgart and nearby villages were severely bombed. Marianne and her family were very lucky as their farms and houses stayed intact. During this difficult wartime, Marianne had a traumatizing accident. She lost half of her righthand index finger while cleaning an oat mill. Being in the hospital during the air raids, without her family, was the most harrowing experience in her life.
After elementary school she went to a household school where she learned and excelled in handcrafts which she used abundantly in Waldorf education. Both she and Renate had an insatiable curiosity for the world outside of their little village. They read all the available books and their curiosity led to the desire to go abroad.
To finance her voyages, Marianne looked for a job in Stuttgart. One day her mother found an ad in the newspaper from the Christian Community Seminary looking for a household help. They were Anthroposophists and soon introduced her to the Waldorf Education. Marianne also worked in a factory polishing glasses and as an au pair in Switzerland, England, and eventually in America.
Marianne and Renate lived in New York City earning their livelihood as waitresses at The Brass Rail. The customers were fascinated by this amazing waitress who was seen everywhere until they realized that there were identical twins working there. The Brass Rail is also where a long lasting and very important friendship began; Dina Winter also worked as a waitress before she started her opera career in Europe.
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Photo: Marianne with her first Kindergarten class, 1966-67. Charles Gagliardi, top left; Astrid, top right, Rolli Vortriede, 2nd bottom right, Karen Davis, middle row left.
Marianne, after having earned enough to be able to pay for her studies, decided to go to Los Angeles to the Waldorf Institute to become a teacher. During her studies, she took over a class and began her successful career, which would last for the next forty years. At the Highland Hall School she met her future husband, Theo Buergin. Their daughter Astrid Kora soon came along.
In 1965, Dr. Rudolf and Amelia Wilhelm, the founders of Detroit Waldorf School, asked the Los Angeles Waldorf Institute if they had teachers capable and interested in starting a school in Detroit. Marianne and Theo were recommended. After meeting Rudolf and Amelia, they were enthusiastic and decided to take on the challenge and venture to Detroit.
Marianne started the kindergarten in the Central Methodist Church. This church didn't have a garden to play in. Instead, there was a big open-air terrace on the top of the building for outdoor recreation. One day, Marianne saw a boy throw a wooden toy down on to Woodward Avenue. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.
A year later, the kindergarten moved to the Liggett School in Indian Village. In addition to setting up the kindergarten, Marianne did public relations, taught Waldorf education to parents and interested educators. With her handwork skills, she filled the preschool with puppets and animals, sewed costumes for the whole school, tore down walls, and painted classrooms.
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Photo: Marianne with her daughter Astrid, ca 1979.
Eight years after Astrid’s birth, Marianne and Theo’s son, Benedict, was born. In 1973, Marianne decided to go to Stuttgart, Germany, for 3 years to study eurythmy. Amelia and Rudy Wilhelm helped her finance her new project. Theo spent his sabbatical year with them. They lived a few yards from Marianne’s twin sister and not far away from her native village. The children made acquaintances with their German and Swiss relatives.
With new enthusiasm, Marianne returned to Detroit. For the next five years she taught approximately 250 children annually.
In 1981, the Buergin’s decided to return to Europe. They moved to Reutlingen, Germany a small town in the Black Forest. Theo taught math and physics in a Waldorf high school. For the first time in her life, Marianne stayed at home for a year and took care of her family. However, it didn’t take a long time before her talent was discovered and she replaced a local teacher. Before she realized it, she had a full-time job teaching Eurythmy and English in the lower grades. Additionally, she helped start a Waldorf School in the nearby mountains, Schwäbische Alp.
Benedict and his wife Alexandra had two boys and Marianne became the perfect “Oma”, a new creative occupation. Marianne and Theo both loved art and visited many museums in Europe. Their home was full of colorful paintings and sculptures.
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Photo: Marianne at eighty-five with the dolls that she is still making, 2020
Theo, surrounded by his family, passed away on Dec. 10th, 2010.
Marianne now lives together with her twin sister, Renate, in an anthroposophical retirement home in Stuttgart. She often looks back fondly on the wonderful people and the wonderful time she had at the Detroit Waldorf School.
Photo (below): Marianne in 1979.
Thank you to Astrid and Benedict Buergin for sharing these family photos.
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She had a smile that could light up a room of the most surly students; and she had a frown that could freeze the moment in time for some recalcitrant young scamp. I don't remember that she ever raised her voice; I don't recall her needing to. - Paul Gierlach
It was a pure joy to be in Marianne’s hand working classes in the Teacher Training courses. One moment that truly stands out is when she began knitting at top speed with her EYES CLOSED, never making an error. I decided then and there that I would learn to knit that well too. Her classes were like a huge dose of well being in a stressful first year of teaching and training. - Francina Graef
No matter the task, Marianne would step in with gusto, while maintaining her enviable stylish appearance and tidy French twist. Her knowledge of and skill with handwork inspired many of us to learn the value of craftwork and strive to become adept ourselves. When eurythmy teachers were challenging to find, off she went to Europe with Benedict in tow to become a eurythmy teacher and returned to develop the program at DWS. Her energy and grace, her passion for the arts and education, was a gift to all who met her. - Frances Altwies
Theo and Marianne were such vital and vivid characters in that important chapter of my life at the school; no one who knew them could remain untouched or unmoved by the experience. The fact that Marianne had an identical twin sister was almost more than the planet could contain, it seemed to me. I only wish I could have seen the two of them together. (I also know that Paul Gierlach has an identical twin, also almost impossible to reconcile in my imagination!) - Flora-Jane Hartford
I remember visiting their house on a weekend, as we had been invited out to have a little holiday. Theo thoroughly enjoyed sitting and talking, but Marianne never sat down. I don't know where she found the energy, but she never stopped - whether it was cleaning, fixing, painting, or creating something for the house, she was a whirlwind that seemed to create its own limitless energy. To this day I have never met anyone with the same willpower, drive, and inexhaustible strength. - Alan MacNair
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Do you know other alums who might like to join this group?
Can we feature you in an upcoming edition?
Contact: Claudia Valsi, DWS Alumni Outreach Volunteer Coordinator
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