In Memoriam

So, in 2005 I left the Big Evil Law Firm and started working at Do Gooder Legal Aid. In September I left Do Gooder Legal Aid and now work for the government, doing similar sorts of stuff.

I found out yesterday that the executive director of Do Gooder Legal Aid died this week. My first reaction was "But I just saw her three months ago. She was fine!"

She wasn't fine. She hasn't been fine for decades. She had cancer for 22 years, it started metastasizing (sp?) a decade ago and the latest recurrence started a year and a half ago. This is not fine.

But she was such a trooper, just kept working (more than) full-time throughout everything. Piecing things together from the obit, it sounds like she was working full blast until about three weeks ago and her last time in the office was about a week ago -- finalizing the hiring for my replacement, it sounds like.

Man. I didn't even think of her as sick, not really. You'd think the chemo headscarf would have been a clue, but it just became part of the fabric of the universe. She wrapped a scarf around her head and went to chemo once a week and otherwise just kept chugging along as if nothing was wrong. That was just supposed to continue forever. Well, no. It doesn't work that way.

Grant her eternal rest, O Lord, and let the perpetual light shine upon her.