Tom Ryan was the caretaker of the Feathered Pipe Ranch for 33 years, originally coming to the Ranch in 1975 for a part-time job–and as the story goes, he fell in love and stuck around. Tom has been around the retreat center longer than almost anyone else at this point, and preserving his stories have been a priority to us. If you haven’t yet, check out the interview I did with him two years ago on our Feathered Pipe Roots page under the Community tab of our website. It’s titled “More than a Job.”

These days, Tom lives in a gorgeous house that he designed and built, just above the Ranch property on Old Hippie Lane and he keeps busy as a property manager, dog dad to his new two-year old lab puppy, Bodhi, and resident elder in the summers.

If you’ve been to the Ranch, you’ve probably seen him at meal times, making everyone at his table laugh with stories of his life of adventure and serendipity. At the ripe age of 82, Tom’s sense of humor is vibrant and a bit mischievous, which keeps us all entertained—and there’s a softness and simplicity to his wisdom that I have found incredibly supportive and helpful in my own journey.

Tom tells stories about going from Navy communications specialist to hairdresser to pipe fitter to caretaker of the Ranch. We talk about the Law of Attraction, what it’s meant to him to be given the gift of fatherhood and how he shows up to this role.

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