The service for my mother is on Monday, February 16th at 1 pm at the Chautauqua Community House in Boulder.
There will be an open time for sharing. On site will also be the special hand-carved wooden box into which we are placing the many wonderful cards and emails we have received. Feel free to bring something to add to this inspiring archive, if you so wish.
Refreshments will be served. Children are welcome; the younger ones will have a special play area in the building.
Many blessings to all our amazing friends and family,
Eric
Friday, February 13, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
The Big News, and Going Out How She Lived
Nancy passed away without pain, in the loving presence of husband Bill, daughter Marian, and son in law Bob at 1:05 a.m. on January 24, 2009, in her bed in the family home of 38 years at 3239 9th St. in Boulder, Colorado. This date is 5 months to the day shy of her and Bill's 50th anniversary.
True to form, my mother worked on projects up until she fell asleep, then slept a few hours, then died. The final project she was working on was the ancestors chapter of her ever-expanding LifeBook project. Lying in bed with a clipboard and photocopied versions of dozens of photos of her ancestors, she worked at captions and descriptions up until 10 p.m. Marian and Bob continued working past midnight on the tasks my mother had delegated to them. The night before she had been up at 3 a.m. pushing hard to make more progress on the same project. At the hospice meeting on Thursday January 22nd she was lying on the couch to be part of the meeting but also sewing miniature blankets for miniature horses for the stable she is passing on to her descendants. Now she joins the ancestors chapter.
The obituary she worked on follows. She departed giving love, receiving love, and doing what she loved. "Once I get an idea, I won't rest until it's done." My mother said this to me the night she died. Now she is on to her final project, of being at peace.
Anyone wishing to offer meals support can coordinate with my wife Catherine Childs at 303-415-9396.
Remembrances, thoughts, stories, tributes -- anything written, or audio or visual, can be sent to my email directly, and please cc Marian at mdoub@mindspring.com. (If the the files are over 5 MB, please use www.SendUit.com.)
Nancy's LifeBook will include a CD with audio recordings and images. And the special wood box Catherine gave Nancy is where we are keeping printouts of all email, blog, and US mail contributions, and a flash drive of audio and visual files.
Please indicate if what you send is OK to share with the community. If so, I will post what you send to this blog. (This is a way to not have to hassle with the blog comment procedure, a headache none of us needs!)
Nancy Carlson Doub
Nancy Platt Carlson Doub died at home at the age of 71 of uterine sarcoma on January 24, 2009. She was born in Jamaica, New York, on November 23, 1937, the third daughter of Elizabeth Josephine Platt Carlson and Rolland Douglas Carlson, both of Minnesota and now deceased. After attending P.S. 35 and Jamaica High School she left her home in Hollis, Long Island, to attend Pomona College in Claremont, California, graduating in 1959 with a major in English literature and minor in art.
A resident of Boulder since 1970 except for a year in Kyoto and the last ten years living half of each year near Grass Valley, California, Nancy felt that following her bliss led her to some amazing places, both geographically and figuratively. The journey began with her marrying William Coligny Doub (Bill) in Germany the summer of 1959 and from there with him to Palo Alto, Taipai, Seattle, Kyoto, and Williamsburg before settling in Boulder.
Nancy and Bill have been blessed with two caring and enterprising children, Marian Doub, now of San Francisco, and Eric Lin Doub of Boulder, their spouses Robert Thawley and Catherine Childs, and grandchildren Aidan Thawley and Ariel and Brian Doub. The family has remained close and united in working for social justice and environmental causes, and Nancy was proud to have risked jail by standing up to be counted in opposition to the Vietnam and Iraq wars and the production and use of nuclear weapons. In Japan the family was briefly part of the Beiheiren (League of Peace for Vietnam) underground railroad helping G.I. deserters escape through Japan to Sweden. In Boulder she was active with the Rocky Flats Truth Force while opposing the nuclear weapons plant at Rocky Flats. Mostly, however, Nancy was not particularly active politically, except for the twelve years Bill and she edited and published the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, an international radical scholarly journal that enabled them and others, they felt, to speak truth to power about issues often ignored or misrepresented in the mainstream media.
Even though until he retired Bill’s career determined where they lived, Nancy generally managed to pursue her own priorities wherever they were. Throughout she took particular pleasure in working with children, being outdoors and part of nature, and creating things. Nancy thrived on “creating castles in the air and then putting the foundation under them”—in short, thinking of things to create and then feeling compelled to bring them into being for the benefit of her family and community. This involved projects such as play equipment (at a cooperative preschool in Seattle, with a Foothill Elementary P.T.S.A. team building a now defunct tunnel hill in Boulder, a tree house and pirate ship bunk bed for her grandson in San Francisco, and play area with a zip line at her home in California), a Japanese-style bathroom, and a waterfall and pond in Boulder.
At other times Nancy tended to follow her interests serially with great absorption and passion and then move on. In Japan it was flower arranging, Japanese gardens, and the traditional Japanese aesthetic, while in Boulder it was a revival of childhood enthusiasms for tennis and riding horses, even earning local and regional rankings in both tennis and showing hunter-jumpers. While doing this she was a member of the Boulder Tennis Association (B.T.A.), Boulder Valley Racquet Club, and the Harvest House Sporting Association for the tennis, and the Boulder and Colorado Hunter-Jumper clubs for the riding. During the most recent ten years Bill and Nancy dedicated themselves to stewardship of the earth at their “off the grid” second home surrounded by more than thirty-five acres of forest in California by growing their own vegetables and fruit and thinning the forest to make it healthier and less vulnerable to fire.
Overall Nancy felt she had a rich and fulfilling life, and she was happy following where her bliss led her. Nancy’s only regret was that with her many interests and intense way of doing things she never felt able to be the elementary school teacher she had planned to be. However, she did earn her teaching credential from the University of Colorado in 1975 and worked with children in various capacities for many, many years—among them as an English conversation teacher at Doshisha High School in Japan, child care worker at Wallace Village in Broomfield, Tennis Tots teacher at the Boulder Valley Racquet Club and satellite programs, a volunteer tutor with the Learning Abilities Program and Girl Scout leader at Foothill School in Boulder, and teaching assistant at Halcyon School and Uni Hill Elementary School in Boulder.
Nancy is survived by her sisters Ruth Mullaney of Williamsburg, Virginia, and Joyce Carlson-Leavitt of Albuquerque, New Mexico, husband, children, their spouses and children, as well as nine nieces and nephews and many less-known relatives.
A celebration of Nancy’s life will be held on February 16th, 2009 at 1 pm at the Chautauqua Community House, and all are welcome. Many, many thanks to the incredible number of friends as well as family who supported her during her relatively brief illness. Certainly no more need be done, but if someone wants to make a donation in Nancy's name in lieu of flowers it can be made to the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, P.O. Box 1156 Boulder, CO 80306, www.rmpjc.org 303-444-6981. Later in the spring friends and family will celebrate her life and scatter her ashes at Nancy and Bill’s home in Camptonville, California.
True to form, my mother worked on projects up until she fell asleep, then slept a few hours, then died. The final project she was working on was the ancestors chapter of her ever-expanding LifeBook project. Lying in bed with a clipboard and photocopied versions of dozens of photos of her ancestors, she worked at captions and descriptions up until 10 p.m. Marian and Bob continued working past midnight on the tasks my mother had delegated to them. The night before she had been up at 3 a.m. pushing hard to make more progress on the same project. At the hospice meeting on Thursday January 22nd she was lying on the couch to be part of the meeting but also sewing miniature blankets for miniature horses for the stable she is passing on to her descendants. Now she joins the ancestors chapter.
The obituary she worked on follows. She departed giving love, receiving love, and doing what she loved. "Once I get an idea, I won't rest until it's done." My mother said this to me the night she died. Now she is on to her final project, of being at peace.
Anyone wishing to offer meals support can coordinate with my wife Catherine Childs at 303-415-9396.
Remembrances, thoughts, stories, tributes -- anything written, or audio or visual, can be sent to my email directly, and please cc Marian at mdoub@mindspring.com. (If the the files are over 5 MB, please use www.SendUit.com.)
Nancy's LifeBook will include a CD with audio recordings and images. And the special wood box Catherine gave Nancy is where we are keeping printouts of all email, blog, and US mail contributions, and a flash drive of audio and visual files.
Please indicate if what you send is OK to share with the community. If so, I will post what you send to this blog. (This is a way to not have to hassle with the blog comment procedure, a headache none of us needs!)
Nancy Carlson Doub
Nancy Platt Carlson Doub died at home at the age of 71 of uterine sarcoma on January 24, 2009. She was born in Jamaica, New York, on November 23, 1937, the third daughter of Elizabeth Josephine Platt Carlson and Rolland Douglas Carlson, both of Minnesota and now deceased. After attending P.S. 35 and Jamaica High School she left her home in Hollis, Long Island, to attend Pomona College in Claremont, California, graduating in 1959 with a major in English literature and minor in art.
A resident of Boulder since 1970 except for a year in Kyoto and the last ten years living half of each year near Grass Valley, California, Nancy felt that following her bliss led her to some amazing places, both geographically and figuratively. The journey began with her marrying William Coligny Doub (Bill) in Germany the summer of 1959 and from there with him to Palo Alto, Taipai, Seattle, Kyoto, and Williamsburg before settling in Boulder.
Nancy and Bill have been blessed with two caring and enterprising children, Marian Doub, now of San Francisco, and Eric Lin Doub of Boulder, their spouses Robert Thawley and Catherine Childs, and grandchildren Aidan Thawley and Ariel and Brian Doub. The family has remained close and united in working for social justice and environmental causes, and Nancy was proud to have risked jail by standing up to be counted in opposition to the Vietnam and Iraq wars and the production and use of nuclear weapons. In Japan the family was briefly part of the Beiheiren (League of Peace for Vietnam) underground railroad helping G.I. deserters escape through Japan to Sweden. In Boulder she was active with the Rocky Flats Truth Force while opposing the nuclear weapons plant at Rocky Flats. Mostly, however, Nancy was not particularly active politically, except for the twelve years Bill and she edited and published the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, an international radical scholarly journal that enabled them and others, they felt, to speak truth to power about issues often ignored or misrepresented in the mainstream media.
Even though until he retired Bill’s career determined where they lived, Nancy generally managed to pursue her own priorities wherever they were. Throughout she took particular pleasure in working with children, being outdoors and part of nature, and creating things. Nancy thrived on “creating castles in the air and then putting the foundation under them”—in short, thinking of things to create and then feeling compelled to bring them into being for the benefit of her family and community. This involved projects such as play equipment (at a cooperative preschool in Seattle, with a Foothill Elementary P.T.S.A. team building a now defunct tunnel hill in Boulder, a tree house and pirate ship bunk bed for her grandson in San Francisco, and play area with a zip line at her home in California), a Japanese-style bathroom, and a waterfall and pond in Boulder.
At other times Nancy tended to follow her interests serially with great absorption and passion and then move on. In Japan it was flower arranging, Japanese gardens, and the traditional Japanese aesthetic, while in Boulder it was a revival of childhood enthusiasms for tennis and riding horses, even earning local and regional rankings in both tennis and showing hunter-jumpers. While doing this she was a member of the Boulder Tennis Association (B.T.A.), Boulder Valley Racquet Club, and the Harvest House Sporting Association for the tennis, and the Boulder and Colorado Hunter-Jumper clubs for the riding. During the most recent ten years Bill and Nancy dedicated themselves to stewardship of the earth at their “off the grid” second home surrounded by more than thirty-five acres of forest in California by growing their own vegetables and fruit and thinning the forest to make it healthier and less vulnerable to fire.
Overall Nancy felt she had a rich and fulfilling life, and she was happy following where her bliss led her. Nancy’s only regret was that with her many interests and intense way of doing things she never felt able to be the elementary school teacher she had planned to be. However, she did earn her teaching credential from the University of Colorado in 1975 and worked with children in various capacities for many, many years—among them as an English conversation teacher at Doshisha High School in Japan, child care worker at Wallace Village in Broomfield, Tennis Tots teacher at the Boulder Valley Racquet Club and satellite programs, a volunteer tutor with the Learning Abilities Program and Girl Scout leader at Foothill School in Boulder, and teaching assistant at Halcyon School and Uni Hill Elementary School in Boulder.
Nancy is survived by her sisters Ruth Mullaney of Williamsburg, Virginia, and Joyce Carlson-Leavitt of Albuquerque, New Mexico, husband, children, their spouses and children, as well as nine nieces and nephews and many less-known relatives.
A celebration of Nancy’s life will be held on February 16th, 2009 at 1 pm at the Chautauqua Community House, and all are welcome. Many, many thanks to the incredible number of friends as well as family who supported her during her relatively brief illness. Certainly no more need be done, but if someone wants to make a donation in Nancy's name in lieu of flowers it can be made to the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, P.O. Box 1156 Boulder, CO 80306, www.rmpjc.org 303-444-6981. Later in the spring friends and family will celebrate her life and scatter her ashes at Nancy and Bill’s home in Camptonville, California.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
"I wouldn't be able to enjoy all this [outpouring of stories, caring cards, meals, recollections] if I were already gone."
It has been truly remarkable and wonderful, all that has come forth since the December prognosis of "a few weeks to live." I have been thinking about this: At services we have all been to, it is amazing what people recall and describe in their tributes. Eloquent, specific, funny, complete, beautiful speeches are what I have experienced at services / celebrations.
Now I have realized that there is nothing like announcing you have a short time to live to inspire such energy and contributions. My mother has expressed a number of times how much better it is this way, to hear and feel all this love and affirmation. "I wouldn't be able to hear and read all this at my service."
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who have sent meals, thoughts, cards, books, made visits, talked on the phone, and on and on.
My mother is the ultimate Project Woman, and today she announced she is "done done done" with the biggest tangible work product in this phase of her life: Recording life stories on the digital microrecorder. We have sent off the recordings to be transcribed, and if the printed text comes back in time for her to work on it, the proclamation of "done" may be modified...depending on her energy to sit up and work.
Related to the autobiography is the sorting, labeling and distributing of photos. Photos have to go to people, or into the LifeBook, or be identified and prepped for the memorial service.
A smaller project (literally) has been lying in bed sewing tiny horse blankets for the miniature horses that go in the stable from her childhood. This stable is at Oak Meadow and has been enjoyed by the three grandchildren, and will continue to be enjoyed by this generation and beyond. Other final touches the stable is getting from Nancy include bedding for the miniature people characters. No, doing the miniature creations for the stable is not doing forest fire mitigation on 35 acres, or harvesting orchards, or gardening and canning, or building playgrounds, but it is a project in the classic Nancy spirit.
Wouldn't it be just like her to write and edit her own obituary? Well, that is what she has done. Not one version of the document but three: One longer version for the family; one for the Boulder Daily Camera; and one for the Grass Valley (CA) Union. Accuracy and thoroughness seem to be prevailing right through to the end.
"Now I can slip away..." -- that's a quote from this morning after finishing the audio recordings. Medically and physiologically speaking, that final slide seems to be underway. Status check: Going across the hall to the bathroom is a major energy drain; every day there are fewer minutes than the day before to talk, visit, and even sit up. "I can feel the fluid and cancer up into here" -- another quote from today, as my mother gestured to her upper chest. Every day there is less energy and less function in all ways, although at the moment she can still shower, eat delicious and rich soups and broths, and go for wheelchair strolls in the balmy January weather (low 70s today!). She weighs about 122 pounds now, down 15 pounds in a month. "The final weight loss program," was the black humor from earlier today. It is a blessing that she is not in physical pain.
On her clipboard on the bed this last 2 weeks is a list of people and phone numbers, people she wants to call and say good bye to. Many of you may have had such phone calls with her. As to visits, these are an ever scarcer resource.
Meals coordination is still being done by my wife Catherine Childs, 303-415-9396.
It is still the protocol to call Marian at 415-730-1873 for visits or calls.
Now I have realized that there is nothing like announcing you have a short time to live to inspire such energy and contributions. My mother has expressed a number of times how much better it is this way, to hear and feel all this love and affirmation. "I wouldn't be able to hear and read all this at my service."
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who have sent meals, thoughts, cards, books, made visits, talked on the phone, and on and on.
My mother is the ultimate Project Woman, and today she announced she is "done done done" with the biggest tangible work product in this phase of her life: Recording life stories on the digital microrecorder. We have sent off the recordings to be transcribed, and if the printed text comes back in time for her to work on it, the proclamation of "done" may be modified...depending on her energy to sit up and work.
Related to the autobiography is the sorting, labeling and distributing of photos. Photos have to go to people, or into the LifeBook, or be identified and prepped for the memorial service.
A smaller project (literally) has been lying in bed sewing tiny horse blankets for the miniature horses that go in the stable from her childhood. This stable is at Oak Meadow and has been enjoyed by the three grandchildren, and will continue to be enjoyed by this generation and beyond. Other final touches the stable is getting from Nancy include bedding for the miniature people characters. No, doing the miniature creations for the stable is not doing forest fire mitigation on 35 acres, or harvesting orchards, or gardening and canning, or building playgrounds, but it is a project in the classic Nancy spirit.
Wouldn't it be just like her to write and edit her own obituary? Well, that is what she has done. Not one version of the document but three: One longer version for the family; one for the Boulder Daily Camera; and one for the Grass Valley (CA) Union. Accuracy and thoroughness seem to be prevailing right through to the end.
"Now I can slip away..." -- that's a quote from this morning after finishing the audio recordings. Medically and physiologically speaking, that final slide seems to be underway. Status check: Going across the hall to the bathroom is a major energy drain; every day there are fewer minutes than the day before to talk, visit, and even sit up. "I can feel the fluid and cancer up into here" -- another quote from today, as my mother gestured to her upper chest. Every day there is less energy and less function in all ways, although at the moment she can still shower, eat delicious and rich soups and broths, and go for wheelchair strolls in the balmy January weather (low 70s today!). She weighs about 122 pounds now, down 15 pounds in a month. "The final weight loss program," was the black humor from earlier today. It is a blessing that she is not in physical pain.
On her clipboard on the bed this last 2 weeks is a list of people and phone numbers, people she wants to call and say good bye to. Many of you may have had such phone calls with her. As to visits, these are an ever scarcer resource.
Meals coordination is still being done by my wife Catherine Childs, 303-415-9396.
It is still the protocol to call Marian at 415-730-1873 for visits or calls.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Upswing in Energy; Making the Most of Each Day
Eric reporting from 3239 9th St....
Over several days at home my mother has been eating more food and getting up and around, for example to be at the Christmas Eve dinner table and at gift exchanges (accomplished in several stages over two days). This is good to see and also incongruous, given the prognosis offered by the doctors.
My mother and I have just enjoyed a good evening of quiet talking, along with my reading to her all of your comments on the blog. On several occasions while reading I had to pause to let myself fully feel your love and caring -- and let the tears and choked-up feeling pass. Very moving, much appreciated. She just noted what a joy it is to be alive to hear this kind of thing, instead of people coming forth only at a service.
All the other primary and satellite caregivers (Marian, Bob, Bill, Catherine), along with Ariel, Brian and Aidan, are out at the movies tonight (Marley and Me for Ariel and Brian, and Milk for the adults and San Francisco-native Aidan, who I noticed has a copy on his bed at our house of A People's History of American Empire). This night out is a rare break for Marian, Bob, and my father.
Today Bob started recording my mother with the micro digital recorder, covering narratives and memories up to elementary school age. I recorded some more tonight, including her comments on blog letters. It is good to be underway and spending time in the zone of Celebrating Life and Being in the Moment (as opposed to other sector, Death and Dying). We are shifting to the former zone as much as possible, given my mother's upswing in energy.
Best wishes back to everyone who has written, brought food, offered and/or provided support, and even just thought about my mother (the latter being what she says is all she has ever done for anyone else, through the years). What my mother has taught me at a fundamental level: May we cherish and make the most of each day!
Over several days at home my mother has been eating more food and getting up and around, for example to be at the Christmas Eve dinner table and at gift exchanges (accomplished in several stages over two days). This is good to see and also incongruous, given the prognosis offered by the doctors.
My mother and I have just enjoyed a good evening of quiet talking, along with my reading to her all of your comments on the blog. On several occasions while reading I had to pause to let myself fully feel your love and caring -- and let the tears and choked-up feeling pass. Very moving, much appreciated. She just noted what a joy it is to be alive to hear this kind of thing, instead of people coming forth only at a service.
All the other primary and satellite caregivers (Marian, Bob, Bill, Catherine), along with Ariel, Brian and Aidan, are out at the movies tonight (Marley and Me for Ariel and Brian, and Milk for the adults and San Francisco-native Aidan, who I noticed has a copy on his bed at our house of A People's History of American Empire). This night out is a rare break for Marian, Bob, and my father.
Today Bob started recording my mother with the micro digital recorder, covering narratives and memories up to elementary school age. I recorded some more tonight, including her comments on blog letters. It is good to be underway and spending time in the zone of Celebrating Life and Being in the Moment (as opposed to other sector, Death and Dying). We are shifting to the former zone as much as possible, given my mother's upswing in energy.
Best wishes back to everyone who has written, brought food, offered and/or provided support, and even just thought about my mother (the latter being what she says is all she has ever done for anyone else, through the years). What my mother has taught me at a fundamental level: May we cherish and make the most of each day!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
From Boulder Community Hospital, with new prognosis
Eric here, sitting with Nancy in the Family Care Center (euphemism for the hospital's cancer ward). She says:
We have learned in the last two days that the cancer is spreading and creating fluid at a very rapid rate, to the extent that fluid is up around my lungs. There was some progress for breathing and comfort two nights ago when a lot of fluid was drained from my abdomen, but this cancer is very aggressive. The oncologists have decided that chemo is not likely to be helpful. The prognosis now is several weeks.
In two days I hope to be home and in the care of a very good hospice team. Tomorrow I am getting a tube put in that will allow me to drain the excess fluid at home.
Marian is here for the duration, and Aidan and Bob are visiting. If Aidan stays into the next school term, he will live at Solar Harvest with Ariel, Brian, Catherine and Eric and attend Ariel's school in Boulder.
I deeply appreciate all the love and care that has been expresssed. And I look forward to a reasonably comfortable holiday time, since I am not in much pain and surrounded by such warmth and support.
I am mainly focusing on being with family but do want to have visits from other loved ones. Marian is coordinating short visits, 415-730-1873, or email (slower response) mdoub@mindspring.com
We have learned in the last two days that the cancer is spreading and creating fluid at a very rapid rate, to the extent that fluid is up around my lungs. There was some progress for breathing and comfort two nights ago when a lot of fluid was drained from my abdomen, but this cancer is very aggressive. The oncologists have decided that chemo is not likely to be helpful. The prognosis now is several weeks.
In two days I hope to be home and in the care of a very good hospice team. Tomorrow I am getting a tube put in that will allow me to drain the excess fluid at home.
Marian is here for the duration, and Aidan and Bob are visiting. If Aidan stays into the next school term, he will live at Solar Harvest with Ariel, Brian, Catherine and Eric and attend Ariel's school in Boulder.
I deeply appreciate all the love and care that has been expresssed. And I look forward to a reasonably comfortable holiday time, since I am not in much pain and surrounded by such warmth and support.
I am mainly focusing on being with family but do want to have visits from other loved ones. Marian is coordinating short visits, 415-730-1873, or email (slower response) mdoub@mindspring.com
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Appreciative for Worldwide Support - From Nancy
Eric here, with Nancy at Rose Medical Center. "What would you like to say on the website, Mom?"
"I would like to say how much I appreciate all the support. I am still dealing with bowel obstructions but looking forward to going home later this week. I am particularly impressed with the kind thoughts and eloquent words from so many people, including an amazing range from Maoris to Sundancers to Choirs to Hindu and Buddhist healers."
Ariel and Brian are visiting for the first time. For a while, Brian sat bedside and held his grandmother's hand. The Tigger stuffed animal Brian gave "Mahgoosh" today (the nickname Ariel gave Nancy, when Ariel was 3) was drawn by Ariel the Artist, and this drawing joined dozens of cards posted on the bulletin board in Nancy's room.
Based on what the surgeon has told her in the last few days, Nancy now has a list. Spend time with the grandchildren, as well as family and friends; write her autobiography; catch up on the photo albums; finish the miniature stable from here childhood that she has brought back to life and shared with her grandchildren. For the life story, a new Olympus mini digital recorder is set up and standing by -- 24 hours of recording are available, as a start. When Nancy is home, she will make a list of topics and then record her stories, and we will send this off to be transcribed. Then Nancy will have an editing expedition to embark on.
The idea just came to the group here to post what Nancy wrote and sent to her alma mater, Pomona College, in preparation for 50th reunion in April 2009. This was sent just before her 71st birthday, the weekend before the surgery that found the cancer. It was supposed to be 300 words. Here is that version:
I feel that since Pomona I’ve followed my bliss to some amazing places, geographically and figuratively. The journey began with my marrying Bill Doub (’57) in Germany the summer of 1959, and from there with him to Palo Alto, Taipei, Seattle, Kyoto, and Williamsburg, finally settling in Boulder, Colorado, for thirty-eight years, except for one year back in Kyoto and the last ten years living half of each year near Grass Valley, California.
Our lives together have been rich and fulfilling, and exceptionally blessed with two caring and enterprising children and their spouses and three grandchildren, all of whom are still very much part of our lives. As a family we’ve been united in working for social justice and environmental causes, and I’m proud to have risked jail by standing up to be counted in opposition to the Vietnam and Iraq wars and the production and use of nuclear weapons. Mostly, however, I have not been particularly active politically, except for the twelve years Bill and I edited and published the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, an international radical scholarly journal that enabled us, we felt, to speak truth to power about issues often ignored or misrepresented in the mainstream media.
Even though until he retired Bill’s career determined where we lived, I have generally managed to pursue my own priorities wherever we’ve been. Throughout I’ve taken particular pleasure in working with children and creating things, but otherwise I have tended to follow my interests serially, with great absorption and passion and then moving on. In Japan it was flower arranging, Japanese gardens, and the traditional Japanese aesthetic, while in Boulder it was a revival of childhood enthusiasms for tennis and riding horses, even earning local and regional rankings in both tennis and showing hunter-jumpers. Now at our home near Grass Valley we are living completely off the grid surrounded by more than thirty-five acres of forest and focusing on growing our own fruit and vegetables and thinning the forest to make it healthier and less vulnerable to fire.
My only regret is that with my many other interests and intense way of doing things I have never felt able to be the elementary school teacher I had planned to be. However, I did earn my teaching credential and worked with children in various capacities for many, many years – as an English conversation teacher in a Japanese high school, child care worker, tennis teacher, Girl Scout leader, and teaching assistant. Overall it’s been a good life, and I’m happy where following my bliss has led me.
"I would like to say how much I appreciate all the support. I am still dealing with bowel obstructions but looking forward to going home later this week. I am particularly impressed with the kind thoughts and eloquent words from so many people, including an amazing range from Maoris to Sundancers to Choirs to Hindu and Buddhist healers."
Ariel and Brian are visiting for the first time. For a while, Brian sat bedside and held his grandmother's hand. The Tigger stuffed animal Brian gave "Mahgoosh" today (the nickname Ariel gave Nancy, when Ariel was 3) was drawn by Ariel the Artist, and this drawing joined dozens of cards posted on the bulletin board in Nancy's room.
Based on what the surgeon has told her in the last few days, Nancy now has a list. Spend time with the grandchildren, as well as family and friends; write her autobiography; catch up on the photo albums; finish the miniature stable from here childhood that she has brought back to life and shared with her grandchildren. For the life story, a new Olympus mini digital recorder is set up and standing by -- 24 hours of recording are available, as a start. When Nancy is home, she will make a list of topics and then record her stories, and we will send this off to be transcribed. Then Nancy will have an editing expedition to embark on.
The idea just came to the group here to post what Nancy wrote and sent to her alma mater, Pomona College, in preparation for 50th reunion in April 2009. This was sent just before her 71st birthday, the weekend before the surgery that found the cancer. It was supposed to be 300 words. Here is that version:
I feel that since Pomona I’ve followed my bliss to some amazing places, geographically and figuratively. The journey began with my marrying Bill Doub (’57) in Germany the summer of 1959, and from there with him to Palo Alto, Taipei, Seattle, Kyoto, and Williamsburg, finally settling in Boulder, Colorado, for thirty-eight years, except for one year back in Kyoto and the last ten years living half of each year near Grass Valley, California.
Our lives together have been rich and fulfilling, and exceptionally blessed with two caring and enterprising children and their spouses and three grandchildren, all of whom are still very much part of our lives. As a family we’ve been united in working for social justice and environmental causes, and I’m proud to have risked jail by standing up to be counted in opposition to the Vietnam and Iraq wars and the production and use of nuclear weapons. Mostly, however, I have not been particularly active politically, except for the twelve years Bill and I edited and published the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, an international radical scholarly journal that enabled us, we felt, to speak truth to power about issues often ignored or misrepresented in the mainstream media.
Even though until he retired Bill’s career determined where we lived, I have generally managed to pursue my own priorities wherever we’ve been. Throughout I’ve taken particular pleasure in working with children and creating things, but otherwise I have tended to follow my interests serially, with great absorption and passion and then moving on. In Japan it was flower arranging, Japanese gardens, and the traditional Japanese aesthetic, while in Boulder it was a revival of childhood enthusiasms for tennis and riding horses, even earning local and regional rankings in both tennis and showing hunter-jumpers. Now at our home near Grass Valley we are living completely off the grid surrounded by more than thirty-five acres of forest and focusing on growing our own fruit and vegetables and thinning the forest to make it healthier and less vulnerable to fire.
My only regret is that with my many other interests and intense way of doing things I have never felt able to be the elementary school teacher I had planned to be. However, I did earn my teaching credential and worked with children in various capacities for many, many years – as an English conversation teacher in a Japanese high school, child care worker, tennis teacher, Girl Scout leader, and teaching assistant. Overall it’s been a good life, and I’m happy where following my bliss has led me.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Posting to Nancy's Recovery Blog
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