Ann: To celebrate her life, her daughter-in-law Margo Lyerly will be sharing some memories. Margo? Thank you so much.
Margo: Good morning. It’s my pleasure to be here representing our family. My mother-in-law was a person hard to describe. She was a powerful, large-and-in-charge type of person, committed to whatever she believed in, totally 100 percent committed whether it was the Hunger Project or A Place Called Home, or New Directions. She had a passion for everything she was committed to and especially in recent years the monarch butterfly. She created a beautiful garden in the back of her home that overlooks the Pacific Ocean and had some beautiful fountain artwork, you know, garden art and just created an amazing sanctuary there, which our family totally enjoyed and all the people that worked for her or anyone that came to visit. Faith sent them right down to the butterfly garden all the time.
And so in her memory we would like to dedicate – and it’s being installed today – all of the garden art from her monarch butterfly garden. It’s really beautiful. We had it cleaned up and you’ll see it when you go to New Directions in the butterfly garden area. I believe that’s where they’re putting it. My mother-in-law taught me so many things about being present in life and really appreciating the beauty that’s around us each day and just her level of commitment to the things that she loved was so powerful. I think it’s gonna affect all the generations of our family.
She’s also left a gift to New Directions and so for many years to come her support will be there for everyone.
So in the last part of her journey, she became – she really surrendered in a way and became totally at peace with life. And it was such a gift to me because in the world that we live in we get so busy and we’re so connected to our devices and the media, this and that. But it’s really important to just look at the little things and be still each day and appreciate the love of our family. Like the people that took care of my mother-in-law, Kim and Christina and the gardener. I mean it was a family and she really just showed her love and appreciation in such a deep beautiful way. And I think that was, you know, her public life was one thing but in her private life I believe that was one of her greatest accomplishments.
So, anyway, thank you and enjoy your breakfast and have a good one.
Ann: Thank you so much.
