Dear Harvey,
When you asked me to read
the collection of “Nancy Stories” you’d
received in letters and e-mails, you warned me that the reading
was likely to make me feel sad. You couldn’t have been
more wrong.
I read the collection of documents
on a busy holiday weekend, with the hub-bub of visiting family
and my own children milling
about. And, in the midst of all that chaos, I felt calm, centered,
and peaceful. I felt ennobled, full of admiration for us, the
human race. I was inspired by how magnificently one person
can live the life given to her, following her own joy, and,
yet,
always serving the G-d that called her his own. I knew, after
reading, that I will always have within me now a voice, calling
me to be my best, to do my darndest, to follow the higher,
truer path, as Nancy tried to do.
I also
knew, instantly, that Nancy’s story was a lesson
to me about the way I raise my own children. Nancy nurtured and
kept the values of her Orthodox life and she molded that life
around what she wanted to achieve. I hope that I can remember
the joy Nancy’s rendition of a good life brought to those
around her, and support my children as they follow their own
paths.
On second
thought, Harvey, I do find myself feeling a bit sad. I am sorry
that I missed
the opportunity to know this wonderful
woman directly, rather than through these writings. I know
that I am the poorer for having not known your determined,
generous,
and faithful daughter. She seems to have planted seeds for
those qualities in those around her, a priceless gift to
all who received
it.
Denise Guerringue
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