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Bodhisattva Dedicated to Relieving the Suffering of Others

Edward Martin Lightfoot ’96

October 20, 2024, in Olympia, Washington.

Edward Martin Lightfoot arrived at Reed in 1991 and majored in biology. While in college, he struggled with then-undiagnosed symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia, which prompted him to request a year’s leave from the studies he loved.

While living in Seattle, Edward made and sold pottery, specializing in affordable plates, bowls, and cups. After a period of homelessness, he lived in Olympia for 17 years, all the while refusing to take antipsychotic meds because their side effects included serious brain fog that left him unable to think.

Edward practiced Zen meditation and other rituals, which gave him some structure for his existence through worsening psychotic episodes. He strove to live as a bodhisattva, dedicated to relieving the suffering of others, and was often spotted giving coins from his scant SSDI income to people on the street.

Folks in Olympia remembered Edward’s loving spirit, including the manager of Mailbox of Olympia, where Edward got his mail because he was paranoid about the letter carrier who delivered to his building. The manager choked up when speaking about “Marty,” the name Edward went by because he thought a version of his middle name would appeal to a possible girlfriend more than “Edward” or “Ed.”

Edward’s family scattered his ashes 49 days after the date of his death (as specified in Buddhist doctrine), in a place he loved and wrote about, Seattle’s Ravenna Park ravine, across from the house where he was born and grew up.

Appeared in Reed magazine: March 2018

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