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Friday, September 21, 2001

a life celebrated

I went to a funeral today for a woman I'd say I hardly knew. Yet I felt as though I had known her well and cared about her. Last week, Alice McNear Carlson passed on from cancer. By all reports she was full of life and love right until the very end. It was a deeply moving funeral ceremony this afternoon but it was joyous and touching and I could barely keep from crying. Relatives and friends rose and spoke of the greatness of this remarkable woman and you could tell that there was no bit of exaggeration and plenty of overwhelming love and respect and gratefulness towards Alice.
Alice was the godmother of my friend Laura and the two of them had a special bond. But Alice also somehow made special bonds with everybody else she met as well. And I don't think she really set out to do so, it was just her nature.
I probably spent less than a few dozen times in her company but she had a profound impact on me. She shared her love of art which her brother (Everett McNear) was most passionate about creating; she shared her love of nature and animals; love of the big bright moon hanging overhead on a starry night (she claimed the moon was hers); love of her relatives and friends and their lives; love of travelling around the world. She was dignified, polite, cheerful, spunky, generous to a fault, involved, hip, cool and beautiful. She always served tea and cookies.
I will miss her, in the way that you regretfully miss someone you hardly knew but wished you knew better. The way you miss someone that you know darn well made the world a better place.
Here is a poem that Alice wrote and it was on the cover of the service program:

The sun throws its iridescent light upon the restless turbulent sea. Waves tumble and break upon the rocks, tossing the spray, leaving a waterfall as they depart to rush a sandy shore. A light rain falling, a faint rainbow in the sky, I sit transfixed; the waves assault my rock. My tears have joined the vastness: and I am free!
-Alice McNear Carlson

Posted by Jeremy at 10:40 PM