When Lisa called me last week to let us know that Libby had passed, she asked also if there was a chance that we could have her memorial service here, and we were honoured to be asked and thankful that our schedule was open to be able to accommodate her request. When Lisa and I talked about what time we should gather today, she said, “Oh my goodness, it has to be cocktail hour. My mother would have it no other way!” So here we are honouring our dear friend during the cocktail hour.
Libby was a guiding light here at the Brandywine. She is so much a part of our history, and we are so grateful for the 40 years that she volunteered here. It’s hard for me to mention Libby without mentioning two other friends and two other volunteers: Ruth Bishop and Anne Scarlett. They were quite a threesome and lifelong friends. Between the three of them, they added greatly to our programmes and our organisations, and we are always and always will be grateful to all of them.Libby planted so many seeds here, and I often told her we were just watering them, we were just keeping things going. She was very humble. She’d wave her hands and, twinkle in her eye, just say, “Oh, it wasn’t much. It was a lot of fun.” And I was glad to hear that it was a lot of fun, but it was a lot of hard work, too. I know everybody in this room knows about critters. Libby and Anne started the critter programme in the early 70s, they wrote our first book Critters, Angels and Stars, and today 130-plus volunteers make critters nearly year-round. Now I should say 131 because Lain is our youngest member of the crew. Thank you.
If it was Monday, Libby was coming in these back doors, driving up here--it was the backing-up that we worried about--carrying an armload of fresh flowers that she cut from her Nine Gates home garden to do a full pedestal arrangement in the lobby. She did this from mid-April until frost, once a week for decades. We continue this and whenever we are down in the kitchen doing flowers, we are going to be thinking about Libby without a doubt. There were a few occasions—not often—but when it was really hot, I had the privilege of having Zack in my office because Libby didn’t want to leave him in the car. So I got to attend to Zack and have fun with him while she continued her magic. Truly, so much of what we do here and continue to do here is because of her ideas, her creativity, her enthusiasm, her determination and her talent. She was one of a kind.
There are so many things to admire about Libby. One was her passion to learn. Each time the
galleries would change, she and Dotty McGovern would come down and go through the galleries, check all those flower arrangements and have lunch. She loved the Spring, this time of new beginnings. And just a few years ago, she worked with Mark Gormel, our staff horticulturist, to have a dogwood planted on the grounds of the museum near the Weymouth building. She said “I don’t want to be gone and have it planted then; I want to have it done now so I can enjoy it when I’m here.” The tree is thriving; it is a beautiful tree, it’s in full bud, ready to explode into bloom, and I know that she would love that, as we loved her.I’ll close this evening by sharing with you a very short verse that was written by Henry Scott-Holland:-
I have just slipped into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other
That we still are
Call me by my old familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way you always used….
Play, smile, and think of me….
All is well.
Thank you.
[The popular verse is an extract from “Death is Nothing at All,” part of a sermon called “Death the King of Terrors” delivered by Canon Henry Scott-Holland, Canon of St Paul's Cathedral, in the Cathedral on Whitsunday 1910 while the body of King Edward VII was lying in state at Westminster. –TC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Scott_Holland ]
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