Living Springs
Slawomir Gromadzki
MY UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE AT LIVING SPRINGS
In 1988, while I was still living in Poland, I received a wonderful invitation that would become one of the greatest blessings of my life. Bill Dull, the founder of Living Springs Health Retreat in Putnam Valley, New York, visited Poland and invited me and two other young Polish Seventh-day Adventists to come to America for one year of health and medical missionary training.
I gladly accepted his invitation, although I had no idea what extraordinary experiences were waiting for me. Looking back, I can honestly say that my time at Living Springs was one of the happiest and most unforgettable periods of my life.
During my stay, we had the wonderful opportunity to learn about natural health and participate in the practical work of helping guests who came to Living Springs seeking better health. Our training included healthy nutrition, hydrotherapy, massage, exercise and other natural approaches to improving health.
What made this experience particularly special was meeting people from different backgrounds, listening to their personal stories and sharing my Christian faith with them.
LIVING SPRINGS 1990 GRADUATING CLASS: UPPER ROW: Dan Hamelin (Canada), Slawek Gromadzki (Poland), Robert Kuczek (Poland), Shadrach Samuel (India), John Pauls (Colorado). LOWER ROW: Alina Ciupa (Poland), Heather Erho (Canada), Irene Tan (Malaysia), Ruth Zollinger (Living Springs Education Director). NOT PICTURED: Laverne Proctor (Bermuda), Hua Ping (Malaysia).
One of my most memorable experiences was meeting Patrick O’Neal, a well-known American film and television actor. He came to Living Springs hoping to overcome his smoking addiction after being diagnosed with lung cancer. I had the opportunity to give him a massage, and during our conversation I shared the remarkable story of my conversion to Christianity. I never imagined that a young man from Poland would one day have such a personal conversation with a Hollywood actor.
These encounters made my time at Living Springs much more than an ordinary training course. I was learning not only how to help people physically but also how to encourage them spiritually. I discovered how meaningful it could be to combine practical care with genuine Christian love.
Living Springs also had a vegetarian restaurant, health-food shop and outreach centre at 116 East 60th Street in Manhattan. Its purpose was to introduce people to healthier living while offering opportunities for spiritual encouragement and Christian fellowship.
I also remember I was told that some famous Hollywood actors visited the Living Springs vegetarian restaurant, including Paul Newman and Mel Brooks. I found this particularly fascinating because I had never imagined that such well-known celebrities would be interested in visiting a Seventh-day Adventist vegetarian restaurant. It was another example of how this health ministry could reach people from all walks of life, including some of the most famous personalities in America.
Because Living Springs played such an important role in my life, I decided to collect as much information as possible about its fascinating history, the people who founded and supported it, the Manhattan restaurant and health shop, the reasons for its closure, and the establishment of the new retreat in Alabama.
Another important part of this history is the remarkable missionary work of Bill and Lois Dull in India, where their dedication to helping others continued for many decades.
Above all, I wanted to preserve the memories and stories of this wonderful ministry and the dedicated people who made it possible, so that their work, sacrifices and Christian love would not be forgotten.
More than 35 years later, I still look back on my time at Living Springs with deep gratitude to God for giving me such a wonderful opportunity.
LIVING SPRINGS NEW YORK
Living Springs was founded by Bill Dull in 1975 as a Seventh-day Adventist health and lifestyle retreat in Putnam Valley, New York, at 136 Bryant Pond Road (45 miles north of mid-Manhattan).
Living Springs Retreat, 136 Bryant Pond Road, Putnam Valley
The ministry later expanded its work into Manhattan, establishing a vegan restaurant, health food shop and Lifestyle Centre in April 1993 at 116 East 60th Street.
Vegan restaurant, health food shop and Lifestyle Centre were at 116 East 60th Street
During the 1980s and 1990s, Living Springs combined practical health education, plant-based nutrition and Christian outreach through its New York City centre and residential retreat. The outreach conducted a nine-month medical missionary health educator course and was planning to establish a city evangelism training course. It was associated with the Country Life restaurants and also operated as a residential preventive medicine center with a focus on vegan diets, spa services, and health education. A City Center Outreach provided the community with spiritual and physical support through a restaurant, medical office, hydrotherapy facility, cooking schools, etc.
Living Springs was not just a restaurant but also a center offering residential programs focusing on weight control, smoking cessation, and other health-related issues. The restaurant was largely staffed by volunteers, reflecting its mission to promote healthy living and veganism. Living Springs New York reached many people from all different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
Vegan restaurant, health food shop and Lifestyle Centre, 116 East 60th Street
CLOSING LIVING SPRINGS
Regretfully, after many wonderful years serving the community, Living Springs was unable to receive tax exemption status. They fought the good fight, but to no avail. Sadly, their petition was denied. The financial burden was too great, and Living Springs New York was forced to close its doors.
The most revealing document is the May 8, 1995 appellate judgment: The court acknowledged that Living Springs was operated by Seventh-day Adventist lay members. However, it considered the facility’s primary activity to be health and lifestyle services for the general public rather than religious worship or instruction.
One factor was that guests were not required to attend religious services or participate in religious instruction.
This is an important irony in the story: Living Springs wanted to serve people regardless of their religion, but that inclusive approach was among the factors considered in the denial of its religious tax exemption.
It was a great disappointment for all involved, and for years potential and previous guests continued to visit the old property only to be disappointed to find it was no longer active.
The organisation’s own account says that the resulting financial burden eventually forced the New York ministry to close. The court records confirm the prolonged tax dispute, although they do not independently establish every financial circumstance of the closure.
It took five years to sell the New York property. Nevertheless, hope and encouragement were found in the words of Ellen G. White, “Above the distractions of the earth He sits enthroned. All things are open to His divine survey, and from His great and calm eternity He orders that which His providence sees best”.
LIVING SPRINGS RETREAT IN ALABAMA OPENED IN 2010
Unwilling to give up the dream, the Living Springs Board of Directors assigned Bill Dull the task of finding a new home for the retreat where they could continue their health ministry. After a very careful search, the board decided on a property in a quiet country setting near Roanoke, Alabama.
The search then began to see who would run Living Springs Retreat in Alabama. Living Springs’ president Herbert Poholka would have been the logical choice; however, at the time he was a full-time pastor with the Greater New York Conference.
The board gave Bill Dull the responsibility of finding that special someone to build and run Living Springs Retreat, Alabama. Don and his wife Sheri accepted the challenge. Don and his wife Sheri came and supervised the building of the Living Springs Lifestyle Center, Industrial Building and Training Center. Sheri also founded the Supper Club, one of our main community outreach programs. On July 4, 2010, Living Springs Retreat Alabama officially opened under their administration.
Eventually, Don and Sheri felt God was calling them to different areas of His ministry. In God’s perfect timing, their decision coincided with Herbert Poholka’s retirement from the Greater New York Conference. He and his wife Nora accepted the invitation to serve the Lord at Living Springs Retreat, Alabama.
Since its opening, Living Springs Retreat has been blessed to have Barbara O’Neil, Health Director at the Misty Mountain Health Retreat in Australia, host one of their sessions and also train the workers.
Living Springs Retreat embraced her philosophy that “our body can heal itself”. Living Springs is currently run by its president and health lecturer, Herbert Poholka and supported by several volunteers.
ANSWERING THE CALL TO INDIA – LIVING SPRINGS OVERSEAS MISSIONS
In December 1974, Bill and Lois Dull travelled with their three children from Fiji to India, where they began teaching medical missionary work, nutrition, hydrotherapy and healthy living.
From 1975, they conducted seminars lasting three to five weeks in different parts of India, training Adventist pastors and church workers.
The Dulls later returned to the United States and became closely involved in Living Springs Health Retreat in Putnam Valley, New York, and its health ministry in Manhattan. However, their missionary involvement in India continued alongside their responsibilities in America.
In 1995, after Living Springs New York was closed, they established an orphanage in Erode, southern India, followed by another in Kolkata, where they also developed educational and missionary training programmes. Their work eventually expanded to include schools, health centres, midwifery training and support for disadvantaged children.
In June 2019, Bill was still speaking publicly about their missionary work, while Lois had helped train Indian midwives. Their organisation continued supporting educational and healthcare projects in India into 2025, more than 50 years after their first arrival.
INTERVIEW
In an interview titled “Answering the Call to India,” published in the Winter 2003 issue of OCI Reports, Bill and Lois shared their remarkable experiences, explaining how they believed God had called them to India, provided the money for their journey and guided them through many difficulties:
EDITOR: What inspired you to become a missionary to a field as difficult as India?
BILL: 28 years ago we went to Fiji to teach medical evangelism at Fulton College. At the same time a friend of ours received a call to go to India to teach medical evangelism. He didn’t have enough money, and we helped him with $250. While in Fiji I began earnestly praying for this man. One night as I was praying for him, the Lord impressed my heart that he didn’t go to India and that He wanted us there instead. The impression was so strong, I couldn’t believe it! I stayed out all night walking and talking with God. In the morning I woke up my wife, “Honey, I think the Lord wants us to go to India.”
LOIS: I couldn’t imagine what would it be like to go to India and I said, “Well, if that’s what we’re supposed to do, that’s what we’ll do.”
BILL: Lois has always been willing to go, and it’s made our life easier. The same morning I shared my experience with John, a missionary from Canada. He looked at me real strange, “Bill, I just received my $1,200 that I had loaned out a long time ago. If God wants you to go to India, I’ll give you the $1,200 to help with your travel.” The next day I found out that for our family of five it would cost $4,560 to go to India and then to America. Well, I thought, maybe I made a mistake. Meanwhile, I wrote to the man who was supposed to go to India and to Pastor and Sister Watts, who gave him the call. The man returned the $250, saying that his wife became very sick and he was not able to go. Elder Watts, President of the South India Union at the time, encouraged us, “Please, come!” I spent another night under the coconut and banana trees pouring out my heart to God. Again, He gave me a strong conviction that He wanted us in India. Sabbath afternoon, our family and John’s went for a walk. John stayed behind and was reading the Review and Herald. He read an article by Elder D. R. Watts from the South India Union making an appeal for workers to come to India and help the medical evangelism. He could see us walking up on the side of the mountain. He began crying and calling out to me. I went running down the side of that mountain, thinking he was hurt. “Bill,” he said, “God does want you in India, and I’m going to pay your way. I got word that a piece of property I had, sold.”
Editor: What was your impression of India?
LOIS: The first place we went had a bare room with board beds, a few blankets and cow manure floors. They wanted me to help with the cooking, and I learned a lot from the cooks about Indian cuisine, and I encouraged them to use less oil, salt and spices. We did our laundry by hand and had no electricity. Our children played with the goats and the local children. They all got lice, but enjoyed themselves. They were real missionaries. Always happy and sharing.
Editor: What have been some of your mission activities?
BILL: When we first arrived in 1975, the Union organized different places for us to go to conduct 3- to 5-week-long seminars on medical evangelism. Most of the pastors in India have been through one of our seminars. Then in 1995, in Erode, we opened our first orphanage to train children. Later, we opened a second orphanage in Kolkata, which included a seminary training school that the orphanage children could attend when they were older.
Editor: Why train children?
BILL: We saw the situation in India and thought that if we were going to have good workers, we needed to train them from the time they were children to give them a different view of what it meant to be a Christian. Once they’ve worshipped idols for years, it was very difficult for them to change their philosophies and be really dedicated. We felt that the best thing we could do was to train children to live unselfishly for Christ.
Editor: What kept you going through the challenges you faced in India?
BILL: I spent a lot of time talking to the Lord. We experienced absolute miracles while training our students in hydrotherapy. A man had diabetes, and his legs were rotten. Any doctor would have amputated them. The Lord blessed and got his blood sugar down through diet and restored his legs through hydrotherapy in two weeks time.
LOIS: Actually, when you are there, and God is doing such mighty things, it pulls you up. All those experiences were wonderful. I ran out of energy several times traveling, but the Lord really did bless.
LIVING SPRINGS AND COUNTRY LIFE — TWO ADVENTIST RESTAURANT MINISTRIES IN NEW YORK
During the 1980s and 1990s, two separate Seventh-day Adventist health ministries ran vegetarian restaurants in Manhattan, New York.
One was Living Springs, established by Bill and Lois Dull, which was already active by 1987 and continued its work into the 1990s. The other was Country Life, a vegetarian restaurant managed by Larry Fleming, who was also a Seventh-day Adventist. Country Life had a restaurant at 48 Trinity Place in Manhattan’s Financial District during the 1980s. It was known for its vegetarian buffets, wholesome natural foods and emphasis on healthy living.
Although both ministries shared the same Seventh-day Adventist health principles, they were independent organisations with different leadership.