Evarts G. Loomis - Move To California

Move To California

While in China, he was impressed with the way the buildings fit into the landscape, and he was already familiar with the healing power of nature. He had seen in his mind a sanitarium located below a triangular mountain peak, and he and Verna began to search for a beautiful setting for their healing center. In 1952, they felt guided to purchase Friendly Hills Ranch in Hemet, California, beneath the spectacular - and triangular - Tahquitz Peak. They began inviting patients to their home for group discussions about what was going on in those patients' lives that might be contributing factors toward illness. They also began forming a non-profit foundation and a board of directors.

Lacking money to construct a center, they eventually purchased Meadowlark, a property once owned by movie magnate Louis B. Mayer. In 1958, America's first holistic medical live-in retreat welcomed its first guest. The following year, Evarts inaugurated a series of three groundbreaking inter-professional conferences to explore the nature of the healing process. Those invited included physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, ministers, scientists, sociologists, business people, an artist, and a spiritual healer. In 1960, Evarts and his family made a trip around the world in search of teachers and advisors to guide his visionary work, since he could find few in the states with whom he could talk about holistic medicine. Twelve years later, he began a major shift from administering drugs to practicing homeopathy, and in 1973 he inaugurated a preceptorship program for medical students.