Beverly Vevienne Goldson, July 11, 1945 to forever

My mother lived from July 11, 1945 to May 27, 2010, but the accounts of her death are slightly exaggerated.

Mom cut a path through life.   She was never content to merely be, she was restless, seemingly tireless, and always always on her way somewhere.  In all things she was (how to put it?), uncontainable.  One might as well try to bottle the wind as try to limit Mom.

In the end we’re only human, and must succumb, somehow to our own frailties.  But people who live as my mother did, who refuse to simply let life happen to them but instead must happen to the world, don’t just die.  Such lives, such lights are not simply extinguished.  They leave in their wake the ripples of countless gifts of time, acts of kindness, unintended slights, a few carefully aimed insults, and unintended consequences (one can’t cut a path through life without doing some damage), and heartfelt apologies.   They leave lifelong friends, implacable enemies, devoted admirers, adoring family.

My Mom was such a person.  She sang, she danced, she taught, she suffered, she persevered, she inspired.    She raised us on a diet of imagination, bicycle rides, song, books, ambition, mangoes, plantains, and ‘chicken again!??’.  She traveled the world on a budget of imagination, and determination.   She could, and did, make friends anywhere, everywhere.  In her wake she  leaves children who don’t know how else to live but to move through the world with purpose, who cannot merely let life happen to them, who don’t know what other example to set for her grandchildren.

In the end just a woman, but what a woman!

CG

Make a gift in her name to:

Family Violence Prevention Fund
383 Rhode Island Street, Suite 304
San Francisco,  CA  94103-5133
Phone: 415 252-8900

Web Site: http://www.endabuse.org/section/support_us

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