MrsB passed away on March 6, 2023.
She was a remarkable person, and remained active until shortly before her death, studying chess books, doing art projects, reading, watching her favorite baseball team: The Astros, and keeping up with current events.
She was the last of her immediate family and with her passing, the ending of an era that started with her parents lives in 1900 and continued well past a century later.
US History is cataloged by dates of wars: WW1, WW2, Korea, Vietnam but her life was dedicated to peace, tolerance, acceptance, equality and social justice. She was not afraid to stand up against what was wrong, and she was not afraid to stand up for what was right.
Her life spanned historic times:
- When wood burning cook stoves meant chopping wood daily, to microwave ovens.
- When ink wells and pen nibs and cursive writing were how letters were written, to electric typewriters, word processors, and when text messages became the method of our times.
- When distance and costs meant travel and communications had limits, when making a long distance call was extraordinarily expensive and you placed your call through an real person operator, to zoom and video conferencing.
- When people thought more of about each other and cared for strangers, a meal ready for anyone to join in, through times of great hunger and deprivation which stalked the USA during the Great Depression and watched its creeping reemergence.
- When society determined your limits, based not on who you were but how you looked, to seeing the possibilities of better futures for everyone, to seeing social barriers lessened, but not eradicated.
She never stopped moving forward, making life better for everyone. Bringing joy where she could and comfort when joy was in short supply. She never stopped hoping for a future where everyone had enough, where there was place for everyone to call home. Where there was education available to anyone who wanted to learn more. Where our human potential could be expressed in its unlimited variations. Where tolerance was no longer needed because we accepted everyone no matter their race, creed, gender, or national origin.
Her legacy are the words and stories in this blog. They catalog not just her life but the lives of all the others who have written stories to share with us.
But her story does not end there.
We are now The Elders and it is our stories that continue the threads started so many years ago. It is our memories of her generation that remain to be told. It is the story of our own lives that remains to be shared. It is the funny times, the sad times, the happy times that are common to all of us. These are the stories that remain to be written.
And so shall the be.
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| Marion A Bigelow June 15 1922 - March 6 2023 |
