Yesterday morning I was at the cemetery on a damp New England fall day, leading funeral services for Ann. She was 84 years old, a progressive Democrat to the core, who kept taking on new fights because there was so much need to do so. She went into the hospital concerned that she might miss the thank-you dinner for Congressman Barney Frank she'd sold so many tickets to. Sadly, she never came out.
Ann wanted a very simple service. She didn't like to be fussed over....a few words at the graveyard, friends singing a verse or two of her favorite hymn, and it was done.
When I invited folks to share a memory about her, some (the Republicans) remembered how she'd sit down, took at them with an expectant look on her face, and crook her finger at them. "You. I want to have a little talk with you." And they went, and sat, and listened to what they'd done she didn't like, and WHY she didn't like it. She had good reasons and good arguments. But they adored the mischievous twinkle in her eye and her smile and her fairness.
One man told a story during the service that I keep going back to. When he was a teen, he loved to work at the little seafood "shack" they owned on the beach, because Ann was always a great teacher and listener. She was gruff, but tender-hearted. And no fool.
Story continued beyond the orange tangle.....