Vinette Davies was first introduced to Santa Fe's beauty through family.

"My sister was living here and we used to come for visits and we fell in love with the town. I had also become disillusioned with the traffic and high-rises that were spouting up in San Diego," Davies recalled.

Serendipity played a role in Davies' move to Santa Fe when in 2005 an apartment became available in the same building where her sister lived. Leaving California after 40 years also prompted a domino effect: Davies' sister in-law and daughter, who came with Davies' granddaughter, also found apartments in the same complex.

With her close-knit family intact, the 79-year-old finally had time to do some soul searching.

"When my husband, Chuck, died 1999, I was totally lost. All of my adult life I had been a wife, mother and chauffeur to my children. But with my husband gone and my children grown, I didn't know who I was as person. It wasn't until I got to Santa Fe that I began explore my options," she said.

Davies was drawn to Santa Fe's burgeoning field of holistic medicine. Her father, Richard Hendricks, had been a chiropractor, so she was familiar with the world of alternative medicine. Earlier this year, she graduated from the Barbara Brennan School of Healing in Miami.

"I became a student again at the age of 75. I traveled regularly to attend classes in Miami and completed my training doing my student practice locally," she said.

During her training, a whole new level of consciousness became apparent. "The universe, including the world we live in, is composed of energy. We humans swim in an ocean of energy, which is called the Universal Energy Field. Every individual also has its own field of energy that is unique to each person. Healing someone, on a physical, emotional or spiritual level, draws energy from the Universal Field. As a healer, I facilitate the entraining of that energy by being a clear channel," she explained.

Davies was born in 1931 in Wichita Falls, Texas, to Richard Hendricks and Mary Adams. She was the second of two children born to the couple. In 1943, the family moved to California where Davies lived intermittently until she moved to Santa Fe. She and her husband where married for 47 years and had three children. Davies also has six grandchildren. Chuck Davies was an electronics engineer whose work took him to Spain and England where the family lived for nine years.

Vinette Davies graduated with a degree in music from the University of California in Santa Barbara in 1952 and has continued to use classical music as a way to stay centered.

"I love the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Benjamin G. Britton, John Adams, along with many others. When I become immersed in listening to music, I don't think about anything else. For me it's a form of escapism," she said.

Now that Davies has completed her studies as a healer, she hopes to open her own practice in town. But she's not trying to market herself in a big way: "I'm taking a low-key approach. I want to be open to whatever comes next. I'm very happy, and in all the places that I have lived, this is the first time I have a true sense of being rooted. Santa Fe is an amazing community."

Ana Pacheco's weekly tribute to our community elders appears every Sunday she can be reached at 474-2800.