Julia Flynn Siler

By Julia Flynn Siler

In late March 2007, Satsuki Ina, a Bay Area therapist specializing in the treatment of community trauma, headed to Medford, Oregon, on a mission.

Her destination was the Rogue Valley Manor, a hilltop retirement community founded by three Protestant churches. Accompanied by a San Francisco church official named Craig N. Palmer, she arrived on a rain-swept Monday afternoon, a few weeks before Easter.

A long drive led up to a 10-story apartment building. They stepped into a light-filled reception area brimming with lilies—a traditional Christian symbol of purity. Ina was struck by the contrast between their dark undertaking and the ethereal setting. Turning to Palmer, she said, “This looks like we’re in heaven.”

At the reception desk, Ina and Palmer asked for a resident named Dick Wichman. The receptionist asked if they meant Franz. In a nod to his German heritage, Wichman had dropped the nickname Dick and let the Rogue Valley Manor staff know that he preferred to be called by his baptismal name.

The receptionist asked them to wait, explaining that Wichman was “in the chapel right now” but would be there shortly. Eventually, an old man, bald, with bright blue eyes, and wearing a dark purple shirt, approached, smiling and using a walker. Wichman had been expecting them.

Riding an elevator up to his apartment, they were met with a spectacular view of the surrounding green landscape. The 94-year-old had lived alone there since the death of his wife four years earlier.

Wichman insisted that Ina and Palmer enjoy looking toward Roxy Ann Peak in the Western Cascades while he sat with his back turned to the picture window. On the walls and shelves were dozens of photos from his days as a pastor in which he appeared with his arms slung casually over the shoulders of Chinese boys.

The therapist has one word for the experience of at long last meeting and confronting the predatory former pastor, whom she and Palmer hoped would finally apologize to his victims.

“Chilling.”

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