Saturday, July 05, 2008

Hardships

A terrible accident has claimed the life of Roberta Carlson, a dedicated convention volunteer in the Pac NW.  One of the passengers has suffered serious injuries to his hand and is still in the hospital.  The rest were relatively unscathed.  They're in Las Vegas at the convention they were all carpooling to because they had almost reached their destination and didn't know what else to do.  One of the survivors is paying for the group's flights home and there's a call to help him offset this expense.  Any monies beyond this will be given to Bert's family to help them out.  The family has requested that any messages of condolence be sent to genecon at hotmail dot com.    

Speaking of bad news, this just in.  Someone horrible and unprincipled stole four laptops and some other items from four students at Clarion West.  I can imagine all too easily what they're going through.  Not only are they in the thick of a very emotionally and intellectually intense workshop, but now the work they've done so far is gone (I hope they have backups of anything else they may have had on their laptops!) and their future potential to participate in this prestigious workshop has been very seriously impeded.  If you can help please do.  It's not easy to get into Clarion West.  They're dedicated writers and my heart aches for them.  I'm sure the thief had no idea about the heartache s/he has caused, nor is it likely that this person cares, just as long as they get themselves some money out of it.  Two Mac laptops have been volunteered on loan.  If you have a laptop you can loan or wish to donate please do.

On the scope of all things in the world these are small blips, but they're our blips, darnit.  When these things happen all we can do is support the folks in distress and take what comfort we can in that this too will gradually change from a tortuous present to become part of our community's painful, beautiful, difficult and wonderful history.  Into history we and all we do must recede, but life and work is never in vain.  It just is.

3 comments:

Jacqueline said...

Thank you for getting the word out.

Bill Boyde, one of the passengers in the car accident, very generously charged everyone's flights home to his credit card. (Their car was completely totaled.) However, he is not a rich man, and a fan fund has been set up to help out. PayPal donations can be sent to wboyde@eskimo.com.

Kami said...

Thanks for the additional info.

Folks, if you can help out, even just a small amount, please do.

Anonymous said...

Date: Jul 5, 2008 2:57 AM
Subject: please wear PURPLE to Berts memorial Friday 7/11/08 11-4pm
Body: you all know how much Bert LOVED purple! the girl was always decked out head to toe purple purple purple!! down to her puffy fluffly purple boots she even wore in the summer !!! we have decided to all wear PURPLE to her memorial instead of black! Please join us and wear purple for Berta too!

Date: Jul 4, 2008 2:05 AM
Subject: ROBERTA CARLSON ( Berta's) Mermorial Service Information
Body: Please share with all.....Blessings
Raven

Hi friends,
Here is what we have so far:
The funeral is set for Fri, July 11 at 11am
at my mom's church, St John Vianney
12600 - 84th Ave NE
Kirkland, 98034

The ladies from the church will do the reception afterwards so there is really nothing that needs to be done in that regard.






When we spoke to the funeral home today they said that we should be able to have her home either tomorrow or Sat. We will not be having a visitation/viewing.






At the reception following the Mass we will be inviting those of you who want to share, to be able to do that.






After the reception we will have a graveside service at HOlyrood Cemetary in SHoreline.








From Her Sister Vicky

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks for your prayers and well-wishes as well as those of you who have been able to visit. Your support has made it possible to survive this horrible time.






We are truly blessed to have such great friends and family and you mean so much to us.






Also thank you for passing information along to people you think should know whom I've not been able to include in the message. Thanks for taking such good care of us all.







Audrey, Bridget and I are putting together a memory display so if you have pictures/mementos you would like to share can you please forward those to me?

Once again, please reply to HOney at towinghondas@aol.com

Thanks again for your prayers and support,
Vicky, Gene, Honey(Ray),and Chyvonne

Please pass this information on to anyone who needs it
Blessings
Pamela aka Raven Bert's best friend and the massage lady at cons 206-501-6608