aprilhenry

Lisa Wolfson's (AKA LK Madigan's) memorial service was on Saturday in Portland. The place was jam-packed with friends and family, co-workers and fellow writers. Two women played piano pieces that Lisa had played (and that her husband had also arranged for them to play for her at her hospice in a private concert). We got up and told stories about Lisa.

My two favorite parts were:



Excuse the blurry photo, but her husband made a display with some of her writing from when she was a kid (Mermaid's Fun - the 78-page book she wrote when she was eight), covers from her books, and in the middle, the Morris Award. The background was the genius part - just a small selection of the rejection letters she had received, filled with the catch-phrases that any writer will recognize ("not a good fit for our list," "of course, opinions are subjective," "didn't hold my interest," "not right for us," etc.)

My other favorite part was an anecdote her neighbor told. Every year, his wife has a cookie-exchange party at Christmas. Each participant brings 12 dozen cookies to swap, and other dozen to eat. I was nodding along, thinking he was going to talk about how she became a happy part of this circle, but he said that Lisa's response when asked was, "There is no way in hell I'm baking 13 dozen cookies." Which got a big laugh but goes to show that she knew herself and her priorities.