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:
