Lisa Allen arrived in Eugene in the spring of 2024 with husband Dan in tow. The two met at The Juilliard School where music distracted them from the political dissonance of their hometowns: Lisa from deep-blue Berkeley, and Dan from dark-red Wichita. Their forty-five-year marriage is a poster child of the Braver Angels way: speaking freely with respect, learning from each other, neither side teaching the other, weaving together larger perspectives, and all without killing each other. (Yet.)
A retired music educator, Lisa is passionate about life, our country, and the world. Leveraging her deep background as a Juilliard-trained musician, elementary music teacher, choir director, mindfulness educator, and student of non-violent communication, Lisa founded a forest preschool among the northern California redwoods at the outset of the COVID crisis. As vision-holder for the school, called “A Wilder Harmony,” Lisa defined the school motto as, “Expanding our capacity for life” nurturing emotional stability within this rapidly changing world. The small school setting served as a pilot program for a larger vision that has grown to encompass collective healing within the background of American polarization.
Lisa, still leaning toward the blue side, has lived in a veritable rainbow of locations, including Paris, New York, Oklahoma, Missouri, New Mexico, Idaho, California, and now Oregon. She and Dan are delighted with life in Eugene: a perfect place to indulge their love of hiking, nature, skiing, creativity, community, and drizzly grey winters. They enjoy spending time with their daughter in Portland, son and family in Boise, and extended family and friends in San Francisco.