Donel,

There is no need for embarrassment. You are just beginning to see how important one person impacts the lives of so many, as you have for us! We are so thankful for your presence in our lives and the richness you have added to our being. You are a great role model of how to best live in this crazy world.
Have a great day!

ZOT

Hello Donel, Jeffrey here, friend of Janet and Erin. Long time reader, first time blogger.

I've been reading and hearing of your adventures of this past little while and have been moved by the grace of your dancing. I'm one who has a tendency to focus more on the dirge than the polka and your writings have been enlightening and uplifting. As Janet knows, I believe the glass is not only half empty, but the scotch has been watered down. At best. Watching a dancer show off the joy of the dance even during the hardest moves is a wonderous thing. It is a reminder that we all must dance even though we might not like the song, and since we are dancing anyway we might as well enjoy it. Thank you.

And thank you also, and more importantly, for helping teach the dance to Janet and Erin. They are two of the very special people in a group of very special people which seems to surround you. They are a gift and I can see that the gift can be traced back to you. The last line in the musical "Les Miserables", before the big finale, is "to love another person is to see the face of God". You have shown many people that face. That is a glorious legacy.

(Okay Janet, time to go get the Kleenex (tm) and wipe your nose)

Thank you for all you do and all you've been. May the wind always be at your back, may your days be wonder-filled, may your scotch be twelve years old, and may the jukebox always be playing your favorite dance song.

Jeffrey B. Stiglitz....Dancer

Dear Don and Marilyn,
Thank God for the internet and blogs to keep us connected. I have just read your blog and the update on your health. How like you to have this wonderful attitude toward your death and how grateful I am to be able to read your thoughts.

You, after all, were the reason that Tom and I joined Woodland Hills CC almost 30 years ago....because of your thoughts and the way you expressed them. We had never heard a minister that good. How disappointed we were when you left, but by then we had a toehold into the group and so stayed. That church was a wonderful addition to our family's life and so we have you to thank for getting us connected there.

We remember fondly the visits to Bellingham and our stays with you when Matt was an undergrad at Western Wash. Your home remains in my mental imagery as one of the most beautiful views of that lovely coast that I've seen. Matt, whom you baptized at WHCC, is now in graduate school in Denmark in International Relations. We just returned from visiting him in Uruguay where he was working on a project and he, I'm pleased to say, remains committed to working for economic justice for the third world.

I don't consider myself much of an artistic type or I would send you off a song or drawing to offer solace. However, as a retired librarian I send "bibliotherapy", a poem that, to me, captures your gift of response to life. How grateful I am that I was able to be a recipient of that response and to benefit from your words.

from STEPHEN SPENDER

"I think continually of those who were truly great
Who, from the womb, remembered the soul's history
through corridors of light where the hours
are suns, endless and singing.

Whose lovely ambition was that their lips, still
touched with fire,
should tell of the spirit clothed from head
to foot in song.
And who hoarded from the spring branches
the desires falling across their bodies like
blossoms.

What is precious is never to forget the essential
delight of the blood
drawn from ageless springs
breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth,
Never to deny its pleasure in the simple
morning light, nor its grave evening
demand for love;
Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother
with noise and fog the flowering of the spirit.

Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields
See how these names are feted by the waving grass
and by the streamers of white cloud
And whispers of wind in the listening sky:

The names of those who in their lives fought
for life,
who wore at their hearts the fire's center.
Born of the sun they traveled a short while
towards the sun
And left the vivid air signed with their honor."

You belong in this cadre of greats, Don, and I am grateful for your presence in my life. Thanks to you for sharing your final journey with us and thanks to your family for sharing you with us. I will continue to be in touch through the blog.

Jean Kilmurray
Ojai