JEANIE E.
.....GODDARD

JEANIE GODDARD

Dearest of Hearts! Oh lost and by the wind grieved! It is a bright and sunny Sunday morning, and I cannot bear to take in the news about our Nancy. Her brave spirit was ready for the fight, but her body was not. How happy I am that she slipped away in her sleep without having to face all the tricky decisions of surgery after surgery and pain after pain that have consumed her this last year. How dear she was to all of us and how I rejoice that her illness brought us all together in this extraordinary e-mail way. As a literary soul, Nancy probably would have preferred that we send one another beautifully crafted notes and sonnets, but I have treasured every e-mail I have received from all of you. Suzanne captured the Bread Loaf years perfectly, even though she did leave out the buttercup protest--when they tried to mow the meadow, Nancy and I staged a protest at lunch to save the buttercups---we, alas, lost. I, too, am thinking about Huretta.

Much Love to All,

Jeanie

 

Subject: January Party for Our Nancy Tennessee

Dear Hearts All--

While I know that there might be a D.C. memorial service for Nancy after Thanksgiving and a family service in Chattanooga, John, Susan, and I are also planning a celebration for our Nancy in Boston after the holidays--after all, she deserves as many sendoffs as possible! We are hoping to serve all of her favorite foods (John's volcano cake---a cake invented for Huretta's b-day, Jeanie's lobster, scallop, and shrimp pasta that Nancy loved to scarf down on Christmas Eve, the blueberry muffins from the New Year's Day Brunch, Susan's specialties et al, et al), open all her favorite wines, drink her favorite coffees and teas, read poems and passages, rage against her political foes, play Jo Stafford tunes (John's idea!), and tell Nancy T tales long into the night. Even though we know traveling north in January can be dicey, we wanted to extend an invitation to you all and to anyone else you might know who is not on this email. We'll have a specific weekend nailed down soon, and we'll contact everyone. This summer, I plan to do a road trip to the Bread Loaf meadow and the Larch well to scatter some of Nancy's ashes---I would love company for that event as well. Somehow Thanksgiving is the most appropriate holiday for Nancy's passing---our gratitude that her suffering has ended and our thanks for knowing such a spirit can temper our sadness and loss.

Much love and greetings to all,

Jeanie Eaton Goddard  

Nancy and I staged a protest at lunch to save the buttercups---we, alas, lost.