Ganasini Ananda Devi: ‘a dyed-in-the-wool teacher’

This section includes announcements of important events in our lives–births, graduations, engagements, marriages, and deaths. If you want to share an event with your community, please send a photo and a written piece to [email protected].

Peggy Ann Iris, known to many as Ganasini Ananda Devi, passed away peacefully at home in Whitethorn, surrounded by loved ones on February 18, 2025. She was a beloved mother, grandmother, sister, wife, and daughter to family, and a cherished friend, mentor,  neighbor, and teacher to countless others. She is sorely missed and the impact of her loving presence in our lives is cause for celebration and gratitude.

Peggy was born a little sister in Port Washington, New York in 1954. After completing high school and attending some college in New Jersey, she moved to Eugene, Oregon where she completed her studies in early childhood education. During the late 1970s she followed a job listing for a teaching position at a rural school in California, becoming one of the first credentialed teachers at the Beginnings Inc. Skyfish School in Briceland. 

In 1985 she and her husband Jan Iris welcomed their son Bryce into the world and their small homestead on Elk Ridge. She and Jan created and ran Wild Iris Forestry and inspired the foundation of the Institute for Sustainable Forestry.

Throughout Ganasini’s career she taught at Skyfish School, Whale Gulch School, independent study, and regularly taught parenting classes. She spent more than a decade devoted to learning, teaching, and practicing yoga with Standing Wave, through which she adopted the name Ganasini.  Ganasini was a dyed-in-the-wool teacher, with a profound ability to listen and co-learn. She acknowledged and embraced everyone exactly as they are, and never missed a moment to connect and “share the love”. Later in life and long after Jan’s death, she married Mike Baker of Shelter Cove and created a home with him in Whitethorn, where she embraced flower growing and her deeply joyful role as Reiko Jean’s grandma. She was a proud camp host at the Needle Rock house for the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park. Needle Rock was a deep source of peace, and her favorite place in the world.

Ganasini is survived by her husband Michael Baker, brother Howard (Patrice) Golde, her son Bryce Iris (Leah), her stepdaughters Cybelle (Todd) and Jessi (Orion) Immitt, stepson Daven Schanche (Lisa), and her granddaughter and step-grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her first husband Jan Iris, her Father and Mother, Bernard and Mildred Golde, and her chosen father, Manuel “Manny” Santanella.

A memorial celebration of life will take place at Beginnings, Inc. in Briceland on Saturday, April 26th at 1:00pm; all are welcome. If you’d like, bring a dish and something of honor (a picture, flowers, anything) for the altar. Beginnings was a place close to Ganasini’s heart; please consider making a donation in her honor. Donations can be made at https://beginningsbriceland.org/donate/ or sent to Beginnings Inc.; Post Box 1090; Redway, California 95560.