Frank Eaton: A Laborer of Love

Frank Eaton was one of the early caretakers at the Meher Center. In the caretaker role between 1943 and 1948, he lived at the Center and took care of the large property that was still being developed for Meher Baba’s visit.

What a time, what a position and what a story to find oneself in! I was inspired to know more about this man who had this desire and good fortune. But wouldn’t this association of will and disposition have to be orchestrated by a larger force in the universe? I braced myself at how little I knew about him. There are so many lives that went into the creation of the Meher Center, heroes that are not forgotten but who have merged into the collective history of making this a place of true pilgrimage. Unique as they were, their love still permeates through the atmosphere at the Center, for where else would such love go?

Frank first heard about Meher Baba from Darwin Shaw in Schenectady and started going to Baba meetings. There he first learned about the Center that was going to be developed in Myrtle Beach and volunteered right away to go down and help with putting the place together. While working at the Center, Frank lived in a tiny cabin called the Coop. The beach was his shower and food was preserved in an ice box that floated on the lake. Frank helped with any and everything that was needed: building the beach road, the famous drainage of the swamp project that was led by Darwin, the mosquito eradication project, cutting and hauling trees. You name it and he probably did it.

When Frank married in 1948, Baba told him that he could not live on the Center anymore because he was married. He continued to live in Myrtle Beach and took on a teaching job. In 1952, Frank met Baba in the Lagoon Cabin and Baba said, “At last Frank has come. Frank we were talking so much about you; you worked so lovingly at the Center and I wanted to see you so much. I am happy. Very happy.”* Following that was Baba’s invitation for him to attend The Three Incredible Weeks darshan in India. It was there that Baba told Frank that he could return to the Center as a caretaker while living off Center with his family. And he did just that, gave up his livelihood and remained His caretaker for eighteen years: from 1954 to 1972.

Everyone who knew Frank remembers his sincerity, devotion and an unassuming sense of duty. The Center was a part of him just as he was a part of it. All the elements in his life aligned so that he could remain there and serve. Through the financial difficulties of supporting a family with three children and a wife on meagre caretaking wages, he had his wife Irene as a rock behind him. Though it was not always easy for her, she was strong, willful, practical and driven: a piece in the puzzle that kept him going. His three children practically grew up on the Center and have wonderful memories of a very dedicated father who chased away trespassers, hunters, fishermen and wild animals; sometimes all at once to keep the Center safe.

One of Frank’s jobs was to get on the phone with Elizabeth Patterson every morning, from the Original Kitchen (where the phone is still), and take orders. Now it was not really the orders themselves that were the stuff of fun, but Elizabeth’s paranormal ability to know exactly where Frank was at all times. This turned into a cat and mouse chase throughout Frank’s career where Elizabeth would seem to materialize every time Frank took a break while he was supposed to be working. And there she was, another player in this divine placement to keep him on his toes at the Center.

His children would attest that Frank was very quiet about his inner relationship with Baba. His son George remembers him meditating a lot, just going inwards without sharing too much externally. “But my father had qualities that reflected his relationship with Baba: He was very dutiful and very loving. He was definitely the father of hugs and kisses.”**

I am reminded of Rumi when he said, “The place where you are right now, God circled on a map for you.” So when you are at Meher Center next time, and walk by the Coop cabin in the heart of the Center, you may remember the man whose life was chosen to be churned into a labor of love for the Avatar.

*Glimpses of the Godman, by Bal Natu, Volume 3, pg. 39
**Waves and Waves of Love, by Carolyn Ball, pg. 174