Remembrance

Aras and I attended a gathering of about 15 of Vaiva's colleagues from her days at the Education Ministry today for tea and cakes.  We began by showing the slide film I made nine years ago for the one-year anniversary.  It had six chapters, of which the one on her work in Lithuania was of the most interest.  They recognized the others in the photos.

I attended the Quaker funeral for Bill Stafford,  my mentor at Merrill Anderson.  After an initial round of prayers, the friends of the deceased take turns telling stories, remembering what was important.  This was a bit like a Quaker funeral.

 Because it was all in Lithuanian, I only caught the sense of it.  Vaiva was an energetic and hard worker, had remarkable leadership qualities, was a joy to work with.  Many in the room had also attended a.p.p.l.e. seminars, which had career influence for them.  There was a bit of laughter too, but I don't know what the jokes were.

Afterwards I went to Vaiva's grave with Arunas Pliksnys, Alvydas Puodziukas, and Vaiva's boss, Education Minister Cornelius Platelis and his wife Zita. We walked in the dark through the cemetery, though the moon was out. They left lit lanterns on the grave.  Photo below: