ALISON MURIE: Now Immortal

From Raven Murie

We're sending sad news: our mother Alison died on May 29 after a brief
illness. All three of us were there with her. This is the second massive
tree to fall in the past 16 months (Martin died Jan. 28, 2012) and it only widens the gash in the
landscape.

Knowing her preferences, we held no memorial service or funeral, so
there is no single forum for sharing memories. It's a stretch to find
the words to say or write at a time like this. But we are a family of
words: readers and talkers who naturally would welcome your Alison
memories. Equally, as people who occasionally wrestle with the work of
writing, we'd understand if the words don't come at all. We just want
you to know what has happened.

Here's a link to what we wrote for the Yellow Springs News obit:

http://ysnews.com/news/2013/06/alison-gass-murie

Sadly,
R, N, J

Janet:  hedgehog@siscom.net
Norah: triadpages@yahoo.com
Raven: ravenmurie@gmail.com

Bit of a blunder here.  I took a photo off the 'Net but since I never knew Alison in person, only in print (which was wonderful), I pulled in some stranger.  The photo at the heading now is from Raven who certifies it IS Alison!

This is Raven's comment:

Mother wasn't eager to have photos taken, but she tolerated our tendency to snap photos at family gatherings. This photo was taken about a month before she died, at a family gathering celebrating my birthday. . . The mysterious thing leaning against her chest is the head of a walking stick she carved  for herself. It came with her whenever she left the house. 

We do have younger photos, going back over the decades. Daddy had and used a camera all the time we kids were growing up, so there are many pictures of all of us in our prime. But we didn't want to publish an image no one would recognize as the present-day Alison Murie. It's a bit comical sometimes to find an obit of someone who died at a ripe old age accompanied by a photo of the deceased taken well before the first wrinkle showed up. Vanity? Severe lack of images? I'm sure there are reasons.

Thanks, Raven.  This looks like a well-earned and sharp-eyed face.  I expect Martin Murie was glad to see it every morning.  

Prairie Mary