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RIP Bonnie Tinker

  • Jul. 3rd, 2009 at 7:37 PM
black
It is still fairly unbelievable that I just wrote that.

Bonnie Tinker, Quaker Rabble-Rouser extraordinare, died yesterday afternoon after a traffic accident. Her bicycle was hit by a dump truck. Her daughter and granddaughter were here at Gathering, as were 150 of her extended family-of-choice.

She was rigid, she was impossibly idealistic, she made people intensely uncomfortable when she felt they were bowing to compromise at the expense of their ideals. She was loved, she was a force of nature, and she made amazing things happen.

Of course I'm very much looking forward to being home, but if I had to be somewhere other than home when something like this happens, it might as well be here with all these folks.

We were going to hold our regularly scheduled Cabaret and silent auction fundraiser last night.

We've done lots of grieving, holding each other, and saying our goodbyes. And now we're going to have the cabaret and silent auction. Not only would it be what she would have wanted, but it's the right thing to do.

Comments

( 24 comments — Leave a comment )
[info]dpolicar wrote:
Jul. 4th, 2009 12:13 am (UTC)
My condolences to you and your community.
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[info]da_lj wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 02:29 pm (UTC)
Thank you. It was a tough thing to deal with, but as one friend said, if you have a large family, this will happen more frequently. And there will be more love and consolation in compensation. Though that doesn't make it easy. Thank you.
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[info]dpolicar wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 03:43 pm (UTC)
(nods) Yeah, that's exactly right. The sorrow when they're gone is the price of the joy they bring when they're here. And sometimes that's a hard price to pay.
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[info]ahavia wrote:
Jul. 4th, 2009 01:12 am (UTC)
Sending my love to all my f/Friends.
Laugh as much as you can and cry when you need to.
Ahavia
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[info]da_lj wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 02:31 pm (UTC)
Thank you. And we were sending our love out to all of you all who weren't physically there. We were where we needed to be; and you are also in all of our thoughts.
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[info]lovecraftienne wrote:
Jul. 4th, 2009 01:17 am (UTC)
She sounds a real loss to the community - you've eulogized her beautifully here, I can imagine who she was quite well. My condolences to you and your Friends.
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[info]da_lj wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 02:37 pm (UTC)
Thank you. You would have liked Bonnie, I think.

Her work for change will go on, in many peoples' hands.
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[info]zubatac wrote:
Jul. 4th, 2009 02:18 am (UTC)
*hug*
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[info]da_lj wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 02:38 pm (UTC)
Thank you.
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[info]persephoneplace wrote:
Jul. 4th, 2009 02:27 am (UTC)
i love you
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[info]da_lj wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 02:39 pm (UTC)
Love ya too.
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[info]pekmez wrote:
Jul. 4th, 2009 03:54 am (UTC)
I'm sorry.
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[info]da_lj wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 02:43 pm (UTC)
Thanks. As sorry as we all are, many were glad we got to grieve together, and to share the time with her this week before Thursday afternoon.
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[info]fuzzpsych wrote:
Jul. 4th, 2009 05:49 am (UTC)
*hugs*
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[info]da_lj wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 02:44 pm (UTC)
Thanks. *hugs back*

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[info]frankie_ecap wrote:
Jul. 4th, 2009 06:35 am (UTC)
I'm very sorry indeed for your loss.
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[info]da_lj wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 02:44 pm (UTC)
Thank you.
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[info]zalena wrote:
Jul. 4th, 2009 04:58 pm (UTC)
I read about this in [info]melted_snowball's journal yesterday. I am so sorry for what was obviously an unexpected loss for your community, but I am also glad you could all be there for each other.
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[info]da_lj wrote:
Jul. 5th, 2009 02:49 pm (UTC)
Thank you. We have such short times together- and it was a blessing that so many of us who knew her could be in the same place. The time wasn't long enough, but it never is. (And yet I am so glad to be home now!)
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[info]earthling177 wrote:
Jul. 6th, 2009 03:32 am (UTC)
I'm sorry for y'all loss, altho, I suppose, after reading about her, I'm sorry for all of us, we all lost her. May she be in peace.
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[info]da_lj wrote:
Jul. 11th, 2009 02:26 pm (UTC)
Thank you.
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[info]esallen wrote:
Jul. 6th, 2009 08:44 pm (UTC)
So sorry to hear this news - and sorry that I never met her. She sounds like someone I would have wanted to know! Hugs!
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[info]da_lj wrote:
Jul. 11th, 2009 02:31 pm (UTC)
Thanks...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCtbziDMuIc is an OK video of her- though, I never saw her wearing anything other than jeans and a teeshirt, so the earings were a surprise when I saw that video!
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[info]da_lj wrote:
Jul. 11th, 2009 02:35 pm (UTC)
ps- five years ago last week, we were at Virginia Tech also. And I wrote about talking with Bonnie Tinker's mom and hearing stories from her about civil-rights work in the 1960s.
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( 24 comments — Leave a comment )