Is this a season of death? My time of life? A coincidence of grouped occurrences?
The first of the cluster was Tim Whyte, George's house renovator in Lively. He had a sparkling personality, raised a passel of 5 smart children, had a marvelous singing voice [I surmised] & was a staunch church-goer in Lancaster, Virginia's black community. He was a brilliant problem-solver when it came to building, and we adored him. Cancer of the stomach.
Then was Rick Bunning, our realtor for selling 3675 & buying 101-426. I blogged about him before. He died in May.
The next was a woman I met in the context of Imagination Market. She was radiant, funny & beautiful, Les Senesac. She worked for Imagination Market after I bowed out of running it. She died of a brain tumor. I hadn't seen her in years, but a bright star went out, that's for sure.
After that my mother's oldest living friend, Ruth Emerson Cooke, passed away at 101. Faith, my mother, & Ruth went to Vienna together in 1932. They studied modern dance with Mary Wigman & hung out from time to time with the Olympic American hockey team. Faith's brother, John Garrison, was on the team. Ruth married Alistair Cooke, & divorced him circa 1945. John, her son, was my classmate at Putney. Ruth spent her lifetime devoted to liberal education in a variety of institutions. She was a frequent visitor in my life, in many phases.
Finally, Eloise Feigal. Ellie married my uncle Gene & was a fixture of my life in Maui. She had been failing with worsening atrial fibrillation over the past 3 years or so. She died on July 17 of a stroke, having just been diagnosed with kidney cancer. She found a better, less painful way out. Ellie was an accomplished pianist, a mother of 5, married to two doctors [in sequence], was an avid reader, knew braille & worked with it professionally, & was a travel agent, back in those days when we had such things.
Good bye, my dear. I'll miss you & I love you. That's it for now.
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