Enso House ready for next reincarnation

A South Whidbey nonprofit organization that has provided compassionate hospice care for over a hundred guests is now facing the end of its own life.

Ann Cutcher, the longtime executive director for Enso House, is retiring for good this time, and the Tinyblue Foundation, which owns the property, is currently searching for another nonprofit organization that can make best use of the home and steward the land.

Board members plan to hold a celebration of life ceremony 3-5 p.m. on Sunday, June 8 at Enso House, which is located at 6339 Wahl Road in Freeland. To RSVP, email director@ensohouse.org or call 360-331-4699.

Shortly after the turn of the century, Cynthia and David Daiku Trowbridge were searching for a place to retire and stumbled upon the sprawling five-bedroom home on 20 acres. But it was just the two of them, and they foresaw a bigger purpose for the property, which would become Enso House.

In 2001, the couple established the Tinyblue Foundation and purchased the home. A student of the nearby Tahoma One Drop Zen Monastery, David had a connection with Zen Master Shodo Harada Roshi, who suggested it would be a good opportunity for the monastery to serve the Whidbey community by providing hospice. Cynthia had a background in hospice care and thought it was a brilliant idea. The action would also benefit Zen students to have experience caring for the dying.

“In terms of Buddhism and death and dying, there’s a central acknowledgement that attention to dying and death brings us quite immediately into the present,” Cutcher said.

A retired internist doctor from Tuscon, Arizona, Cutcher came on as Enso House’s medical director, executive director, trainer and supervisor for caregivers, outstaying her originally planned six months on Whidbey by over 20 years.

When it came time to decide a name for the place, they turned to a tapestry in the home that was painted with the Enso symbol, a continuous circle drawn in one brushstroke.

“We were thinking it should be called Bed, Bath and Beyond,” David joked.

Roshi’s students in Japan, monks and laypeople among them, were assigned to Enso House in six-month rotations as part of their spiritual training to be present with death.

“That’s not something that most of us get to see, outside of medicine,” Cutcher said. “And there’s something quite powerful about it.”

With no mortgage to pay and a staff of dedicated volunteers, it was a uniquely low-budget operation that relied on donations from the community and the good hearts of caregivers.

“We’re all realizing that the circumstances that made this possible were highly exceptional,” David said. “Various forces of the universe came together at just the right moment.”

People who weren’t able to stay in their own homes came to die at Enso House, surrounded by friends and family members. A total of 110 guests peacefully passed away over about two decades, the majority of them Whidbey residents. Guests and their loved ones paid what they could by donation.

“It was small enough so that we needed very few rules and regulations,” Cutcher said. “We were really able to approach each day in a new way, each situation in a new way. We were the opposite of an institution.”

Cutcher said the nonprofit has been on palliative care for the past couple of years, as an unsuccessful search was made to find her successor. Nearly two years ago, when the last hospice guest was preparing to depart, the idea was that Enso House would become a place for caregivers working on Whidbey to live. But there continued to be a lack of caregivers after the COVID-19 pandemic, especially when the Zen students stopped coming over from Japan.

“We’ve tried a lot of methods of resuscitation and it hasn’t worked, I think partly because we’re all aging and our volunteers who were the heart and soul of Enso House are as old as we are,” Cynthia said.

She added, “I am grieving. I know it’s the right thing to do at this time, but I do find myself grieving.”

The Tinyblue Foundation remains open to suggestions about the property’s next reincarnation. Other nonprofits have toured the space in the past month, but none yet have found it to be a perfect fit. The preference is to find another organization with a mission to enrich the community that is willing to accept the responsibility of maintaining and sustaining what it takes to keep the property operational.

“Right now we don’t know what that is, but we still have faith,” David said.

He acknowledged that it’s possible the property could be used for affordable housing or farming at some point.

With its large event space, Enso House has hosted a lively bluegrass band, a proper English tea and a birdhouse auction.

“We’ve had a rock and roll band with a drum set and two electric guitars here, motorcycles coming in the driveway and big kegs of beer being brought in,” Cutcher said. “It just does whatever it needs to do.”

As Cynthia pointed out, there’s been so much joy and laughter in the space, despite what some may think about hospice.

“People sometimes had the impression that it should be a sad place, and for the most part, that’s not what’s happened. And I’m so grateful for that. It’s been a wonderful place, and that’s what I wanted. That’s what I hope it continues to be. That’s my prayer,” she said, her voice breaking.

The gathering next month will truly be a full circle moment, with the Trowbridges’ daughter returning to play the harp, something she did at an event that was first hosted to introduce Enso House to the community.

“It was a rich experience for all of us and all our volunteers,” Cynthia said of Enso House. “It’s been one of the highlights, other than having children and now grandchildren.”

And as for Cutcher, nearly two years after announcing her retirement in 2023, she will finally be able to do so at the end of August. She hopes to return to Tuscon and pick up a new hobby with her free time.

Photo by David Welton From left, David Daiku Trowbridge, Cynthia Trowbridge, retiring Executive Director Ann Cutcher and board member Mark Wicks have all been closely involved with Enso House over the years.