New to this site? > Remembrances
In Memory of Maryal (Deems)
Jonathan:
DEEMS is gone. I'm sad and I'm sorry. Just reading her posts all these years endeared her to all of us. She must have been a wonderful teacher and a dear friend to all who were privileged to meet her and get to know her. I missed her the last while. I wanted to let her know that I enjoyed the book she recently recommended for discussion. Hail and farewell, great soul.
pedln:
Dear Susan, I did not know your mother well, but always thought of her as a friend. We first met at the 2002 Book Festival in DC. Then later, when I was baby sitting the grandkids in Bethesda I invited those in the area to come for coffee, and was so pleased when your mother came – on her one free day, after I’d given her the wrong street and address. Talk about perseverance.
I loved hearing about the antics of the Jack Russels, and about the little red car as it rolled along those sandy beaches. Maryal gave some of us a really whing-ding of a ride. It was at the SeniorNet 20th Anniversary and we were going from the hotel in Arlington to the Jaleo Restaurant in Arlington. I don’t remember who all was in the car, but we had the best tour of DC and saw so many places never seen before.
There’s a book on my shelf – Break, Blow, Burn – about poetry and Maryal led a discussion of it one summer. I never did get to participate, but read from the book every so often, and am always reminded of Maryal, and know she would have made that poetry sing.
mrssherlock:
No one could ever forget Deems for her wit and her warmth. We will be lonely without her posts to look forward to. She has touched our lives. We were blessed to have her here.
ginny:
It's unbelievable to me that Maryal is gone. She left so quickly, and left such a void behind. You learn a lot about people discussing books with them. She was such a combination of wit and kindness, generosity and true knowledge, always blowing our socks off in this or that discussion. After some of us had bloviated all over the place, she'd come in with her quiet statements that nobody else could have known and which changed entirely how we looked at books and a lot of other things.
What wonderful memories we have of her in the discussions, what fun she was in person. How we laughed, I seem to remember laughing all thru The Ancient Mariner and especially Julius Caesar, but we learned at the same time. I think Susan's wonderful care of her mother speaks volumes about both of them. We sure will miss her.
My sincere sympathy, Susan, in your great loss.
Gumtree:
How privileged I feel to have met Deems if only through cyber space.
In my first online discussion she endeared herself to me by making me feel welcome, perhaps even special, and by giving my first tentative contributions more than due attention. I loved her for her wit and humour, for her learning and the open, selfless way she shared her wealth of knowledge with any who wished to learn.
She was warm and generous and she was also such fun, a woman who found humour in the least likely things - like the fact that she and I were on opposites sides of the globe and as it happened, lived our lives 'exactly 12 hours apart'.
I can still hear her chortling over our quips on that score. I feel that I have lost a true and dear friend.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version