Pictures From the Celebration For Lisa
Susi Ecker kindly sent me some pictures, mostly of Kiki, from the Celebration for Lisa that took place in April. Enjoy!
Lisa In The Kitchen
Lisa always knew where to take the band for a great photo: here it’s the kitchen at Johnny D’s in Somerville.
L-R: Laurie Sargent, Mike Denneen, Carl Coletti, Patrick Newberry, Manny Verzosa, Johnny Cunningham, Tom Dube, and Mike Rivard, circa 1989.
Things About Lisa
The following was sent by JW and is posted on his behalf.
“the idea of having to write this is difficult to wrap my head around. it’s completly absurd.
there are people who become part of my life. it is not based on the time i’ve known them, but how they leave their mark on me.
their imprint.
with everyday forward, whether i am in contact with them or not, they have become a part of who i am, and a part of
me they will always be.
lisa will always be.”
these are things that always, ALWAYS make me think of her:
prefab sprout
aca joe = aca lisa
nesop
being patti smith to her robert mapplethorpe (i wouldn’t let just anyone photograph me in a speedo)
whenever i trip or do something klutzy
leica cameras
chinese food. she never failed to have it stuck to her face.
things about lisa i love:
the fact that she was so often the ‘third wheel’ to her coupled friends, but ultimately she’s the one who got it right. (so she learned from all our mistakes or we taught her well, you decide).
eating with her always ended up with her spilling something on herself, or having food hanging off her face. (see chinese food above)
glasses always too big for her face
she embraced her inner freak as well as mine.
she’s a mother who unconditionally loved and made her daughter her world.
she’s the epitome of an unconditional friend.
Gift of November
The following are the lyrics to “Gift of November”, written by Robert Cowie and performed at the celebration for Lisa last Saturday. The song is also available for download as an mp3 here “Gift of November“
Gift of November
Verse 1
Photos of farmers, bulls, bunnies, and barn-cats,
And songs of the seasons and songs of the sky
Darkened horizons, obscured without reasons
We question and wonder, but can never know why
Chorus
We will cry, and we will remember
And we will press on after such a strong start
We will raise up, your gift of November
And carry your love in our hearts
Verse 2
Easter egg colors, and stones in the water
And talking with kittens and cousins named Lu
A bath and a story, an auction on Ebay
A home full of beauty so old yet so new
Chorus
Chorus
Verse 3
Photos of first steps so fearless and fragile
A poem and a vision, so hopeful and true
A mother, a daughter, a sister, a lover
A wife and a friend with so much left to do
A wife and a friend, we’ll keep sweet memories too
A wife and a friend, oh Lisa, we love you
Lisa — A delightful friend, now gone
Jo Ann Ott sent these thoughts and pictures that I post here on her behalf.
Our friend, Lisa Garner died this morning.
Anne Cowie, Lisa’s sister-in-law, called to share the news, which has left us in a state of shock.
She has a wonderful family, including her daughter Kiki and husband Ron Cowie. We are so sad this has happened and there are so many of us who will miss her.
A delightful woman with such creativity and love, Lisa touched our lives. At a time when we were trying so hard to have our baby, she gave us hope through stories of her own struggle to conceive and give birth.
For many summers, we traveled to Rhode Island to the Fish House and stayed with Anne and assorted friends. Lisa and Ron lived nearby so we always got to spend time with them and looked forward to it. During the summer of 2006 while pregnant with Seger, we stayed at the “Compound” before heading up to Cape Cod. The morning we left to drive to the Cape, Lisa and Kiki climbed into bed with Jo and me, and Lisa told us her story of giving birth to Kiki. Flipping page by page through an album she assembled of photos Ron had taken to document Kiki’s arrival, I was struck by the wonderful love and support Lisa got from Ron and Anne as she labored. Lisa was brave when she gave birth to Kiki. I remember thinking that I hoped to be that brave when our child was born. We also talked of the loss of her mother and shared stories of being motherless daughters. Now sadly, Kiki is one of us.
Our son Seger was born on March 7, 2007, and Lisa was among the first to congratulate us. She and her family were coming to meet Seger for the first time this Spring. She had just recently said to Anne how excited she was to be coming and how she was looking forward to meeting him. We are unbelieveably sad that she never got the chance.
Lisa will be missed.
Celebration For Lisa
When in March I heard that Ron was going to wait until April to have the celebration for Lisa so that there would be flowers and buds in the paddock it was a cold and overcast day and it felt like Spring would never come. But last week temperatures jumped into the 60s and Saturday was bright, sunny, warm and full of possibility the way that spring days can be in New England. Just as Ron had predicted, the trees were budding, spring flowers had emerged from their beds and the grass in the paddock was green with random daffodils punctuating the lawn.
We gathered in the paddock between Ron, Dee and Larry’s houses where Linda, Lisa’s mother is also, making a wide arch around the flower bed and a easel with two photographs, one a portrait of Lisa and Linda and another of a raven taking off by Keith Carter that Ron had given Lisa for their wedding.
Remembering Lisa
Read at the the Celebration of Life for Lisa Garner – April 19, 2008
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Beth. Lisa and I were great friends for over 20 years, and were roommates for 7 of those years. We were extremely close and I loved her very, very much.
Ron asked me to speak on behalf of Lisa’s friends and this is by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do. How does one even begin to pay tribute to one so precious, so unique, so indescribably wonderful as Lisa? It was absolutely impossible not to adore her which is why she had so many devoted friends.
I’d like to quite simply take a few minutes to share some of the things that Angelica & Thomas, Alejandra & Isabella, JW, Cinde, Allison and I – loved about Lisa and will always remember, and a handful of select stories that always make us smile. Chances are you’ll see your Lisa in our stories and memories. (more…)
The Secret Light
There is a light behind light. It is a secret light. It is not seen with the eye. It is not processed by the right, or the left hemisphere of the brain. It does not register on oscilloscopes in overheated labs in Rochester New York. You cannot be taught to see this light by someone with several degrees from institutions of higher learning. This light is playful and shy and will hide from you if you chase it. If you try to flog it into the most expensive equipment in the world it will just laugh at you and dance away in a cold spring breeze over the prairie. If you become very serious and study everything that is understood by the grand spider priests of science, it will mock you and show up only after you have quit and your camera is back safe in the bag. It can wait for a thousand years. It will watch as we poor humans discuss and network and plan and execute and cajole and push and burn and dodge and reboot. It is not found on old silver plates or Lica’s collecting dust in small Manhattan shops where only private shooters go. Do you know what it is waiting for? I do. It is waiting for a special kind of person. A person that doesn’t see with her eyes. It is waiting for a person that says “I will know you on your own terms, I will know you with the thing that you want to be known by.” The secret light can only be seen with the one thing you will never think to look with. It must be, and will only be seen by the gentle heart of an artist that allows the wisdom of the universe to speak in its own language. A foreign language that is tuned to the frequency of a specific soul. It is a song played infinitely, for all time and when a person hears it she can never again be lost. How can you be lost when you know you are always home, and you always know you are home because you can see the secret light. My friend Lisa could see it. I’m not sure I ever did except maybe through one of her photographs. Old men at counter underneath, looking looking. Ancient grey greens, and a spooky blue of a night street somewhere, haunting the mind madness of a place caught in time. Moving relentlessly moving inside the picture house of images created by a gentle heart. Little toes that cry warm tears, but love never really goes to sleep. Love will be there always, I promise it will. I know for sure because, if a heart can see the secret light then that heart is immediately now and forever everywhere all at once for forever time and beyond. My friend Lisa could see the light always. I watched it dance on her eyes. She saw it dance around her babies shoulder and off her husbands arm. I’m not sure I ever saw it clearly but I watched as Lisa saw it. I watched her listen to the light as it showed her what was good and beautiful in a life, here with us the living, the ones left. Just know this, there is a secret light and it is part of things that are magic and not rooted to a time or place. Not bound by mass or density. Bound only by love and truth. If you ever get lost and find yourself not believing anymore, do yourself a favor. Look at one of Lisa’s pictures but don’t look with jaded sad eyes that have seen too much of a world in pain. Look instead with your heart. Ok I know it’s hard but here try this. Close your eyes and think of things. Think of pictures. Think of pictures of people you love. Think of times when you spirit smiled. Let go now. Let the light the secret light that my friend Lisa could see make a picture for you inside the doorway to the secrets, inside you heart.
Sleep, Sleep, dream, dream
I’ll tell you one more tale; the secret light is inside you too right now. It knows us all, forever and always. Just trust, just this once. Let the light dance with you, inside your heart, just this once
For my friend Lisa
D.R.Schervish
Lisa’s Malaprops
I always thought of Lisa as a regular Mrs. Malaprop, but now can only think of a few examples. Maybe other people can add some others.
Melchner – The street 2 blocks down Summer street that was actually Melcher
Gestapo – Lisa once called the delicious cold tomato soup this instead of Gazpatcho. This one had us howling for days.
Lake Supreme – who knew that this was an alternative for the superlatively named Lake Superior? Lisa did. (Thanks for the reminder Heidi!)
Book Project for Kiki
Hi Everybody
Beth Breslauer and Angélica Brisk (loft mates) are putting together stories about Lisa for Kiki. Please share with us any stories or memories or descriptions of Lisa that you would like to share with Kiki. Beth and Angélica will be putting together one book for now and one for later when Kiki is a teen. There will be a section of this blog specifically dedicated to this project. If you have other ideas please share.
Lots of love to all
Angélica and Beth
In Memory of Lisa Garner 