Birthdate: March 5, 1944 URS: April 17, 2024
Kakuli Razina Akshara Inayat Judy Ballinger (née LeTourneau) left her body at peace on April 17th 2024, at the age of 80. She was a dedicated worker in healthcare; nature and travel fed her soul. She was a beloved mother, grandmother, and daughter.
She was born March 5, 1944 in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, where her parents met and married. They moved to Richmond, California, in 1945, and her father was employed at Standard Oil Refinery (now known as Chevron) as a chemist. He was also a grower of prize-winning chrysanthemums.
Kakuli studied at UC Davis, where she met her future ex-husband Howard Ballinger. Together they raised two daughters; Jana Ballinger and Robin Longshaw. Howard became a physician, and they joined a busy, bilingual rural community health clinic in California’s Central Valley, serving many farm workers and families for a number of years. Eventually they turned the practice over to a State rural health agency.
Judy’s college year abroad in France had sparked her wanderlust, and over her lifetime she toured the Galapagos Islands, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, walked across England, visited Japan, Thailand, Peru, India, Ireland, Mexico, and South America, Morocco, and other places around the world.
She was a teacher and a nurse before becoming a mother in 1969 and again in 1974. She was a devoted stay-at-home mom to her two daughters, who followed in her footsteps as Girl Scouts.
Kakuli worked as an R.N. in emergency departments and in doctors’ offices until she was in her 50s, when she joined the Peace Corps and spent 2 years serving in Guatemala. When she got home, she retrained in Jin Shin Jyutsu acupressure and then later as a doula.
For her final job before full retirement, she worked for a couple of years as a registered nurse at a teen drug and alcohol program—inspired by her longtime sobriety. She had been a very active member of AA since 1982.
In 2007, she was diagnosed with breast cancer but after treatment was cancer-free for 14 good years. She was diagnosed with stage-4 cancer in 2022.
Through it all, nature fed her soul and she reveled in the trips she was able to make near and far, to Muir Woods, Monterey, and Yosemite National Park, and around the world.
Judy is survived by her former husband Howard (a.k.a. Abdul Shafee), by her daughters, a grandson Caleb Longshaw, her sister Martie Kellenberger of Massachusetts, and son-in-law James Gilman (Jana’s husband). She was preceded in death by her parents Robert LeTourneau and G. Elizabeth LeTourneau nee McCreight, her brother, Gerald LeTourneau, and a son-in-law Kenneth Longshaw.
Blessings to her for her onward journey.
I first met Judy in the late 1970s at an event at the Mentorgarten in San Francisco. Over the next couple of decades, we met up at many Ruhaniat activities and annual DHO meetings, and even roomed together one time at Lama Foundation. In the spring of 1992, she asked me to be her guide, as her original initiator had left the Ruhaniat. I was honored. I offered her the dual name Akshara Inayat that year.
Kakuli was a healing professional, first as a Registered Nurse and member of our Dervish Healing Order. In the mid -1990s, she found herself at a crossroads. Already interested in world travel, she courageously joined the US agency called The Peace Corps (in her 50s!). She was sent to Guatemala in 1996, to serve two years in the Community Health Project, where she worked with women and children in remote villages on various health and mortality issues.
In the years following her Peace Corps service, Kakuli expanded her healing work to become a certified massage therapist, including acupressure, a certified birth and postpartum doula, and practitioner of Jin Shin Jyutsu.
Having moved away to Nevada, I encouraged her to seek out more local activities in recent years with Murshid Mariam Baker, which she did. It was Murshid Mariam who bestowed her newest name, Kakuli Razina.
I will miss Kakuli, friend of nearly 50 years. She was a woman of courage and humor in the face of many challenges, and as Murshid Saul posted a few days ago, she gave decades of selfless service. One of the last things she said to me, laughing on the phone last week was, “I want to see what comes next and I am ready to go!”
Thank you for everything, as you fly onward, beloved sister, Najat
Bless Kukuli’s life!
I remember meeting her & we talked nursing for a long time.
What a beautiful life she led, helping others with the heart of The Servant of the One. Her life & accomplishments are many & I’ll remember her as I gaze at the star nation. Condolences to all who loved her dearly & will miss her upon this earth.
Ya Salaamo ~Beautiful Light~
I met Kakuli in the lodge at Stewart Springs near Mt. Shasta at one of my very first Sufi gatherings; DHO. She commented on a book I was reading about HSP’s (Highly Sensitive People). And when she told me she was an introvert I liked her right away.
I’m going to miss Kakuli in our Friday morning Visioning Circle. She was a source of kind strength and brought forward the wisdom she received in her practices, blessing us all with vivid beauty. I treasure the impressions she’s left on us.
Ya Salaamo Kakuli ~ Beautiful Secret~