That’s the words that are on the card given out during Julia Campbell’s funeral service yesterday in Fairfax, Va. It should have said “loving memories,” because there were many, most prompted by a video slideshow of photos from Julia’s life. (That smile seemed ever-present; some are here in Julia’s flickr account) I was surprised to see a photo of Julia, me and her father, in the back of a U-Haul when Julia moved back to New York City in 1997.
Many people spoke of Julia’s passion, determination, her desire, especially in recent years, to serve others. I especially like the story her Peace Corps supervisor from the Philippines told about his first meeting with Julia. He said he expected he’d take some time, get to know her, instead Julia spend the next 45 minutes suggesting — OK, telling — him how things could run better. It brought some laughter, which broke more tears. (I found another Peace Corps gesture special — they gave the family a flag that had flown over the White House.)
It was good to talk some with Julia’s family at a reception afterwards — amazing how they were making us feel better as we grieved and remembered together. I heard more about Julia’s recent years, and am even more impressed with the direction she took her life — and even sadder that she is no longer with us to see where she would have gone. It is hard for me to accept her death is part of the Divine’s master plan, but that is my shortcoming and perhaps with time, I will understand, or at least accept more.
The closing words of the card we got yesterday say this:
When you are long and sick of heart
Go to the friends we know
And bury your sorrows in
Doing good deeds
Miss me, but let me go.
I told Julia’s mother I will always remember Julia. Many others are, in the comments at the end of Julia’s last blog post. As of this morning, it had 290 comments. Add you so we don’t forget.
RIP Julia,
1 response so far ↓
1 ISHS 1954 // Apr 29, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Hello, again and thank you for your post on Julia’s memorial service in the US. We are awaiting the authorities’ presentation of suspect today, Monday, probably in the afternoon. Entry 294 reads:
Martin Reynoso said…
On May 3, 2007 at 5pm, the Citizens of Legazpi City, Albay will be holding “A Prayer for Peace: A tribute to Julia Campbell.” This event is to be held at Penaranda Park so as to be open to all and will consist of a Mass followed by a eulogy from Julia’s foster family in Donsol, volunteers who worked with her in her many projects, the Wildlife Center in Donsol, the Potable water project in Taysan, and most notably the Relief operations after Super-typhoon Reming (International Name-Durian), and the people whose lives she had touched.
The death of Julia Campbell is truly tragic and we, the Citizens of Legazpi would like to express our grief for the loss of an extraordinary individual. In the very short span of time that she lived and shared her life with us she touched and healed many lives. One of the most memorable things she had done was the debriefing of the survivors of the Typhoon Reming Lahar flows in Barangay Padang wherein a whole village was leveled and hundreds of people were killed. Many of the victims arrived at the Padang relocation site dazed and suffering from Post Traumatic Stress from the destruction and death that they had just witnessed and survived. The most affected were the children who had lost not just their homes but some of their family members and friends. She together with another Peace Corps volunteer arrived at the relocation site and was the first to begin the healing process. They did this by simply playing a game of “Simon Says” with a group of children. In five minutes there were 8 children who joined in, in ten minutes more than a dozen kids and in fifteen minutes the whole village was participating and for the first time since the disaster, laughter filled the air. Julia Campbell’s life may have been cut short, but we believe that she made a huge difference in this world and especially in our community.
This “Prayer for Peace: Tribute to Julia Campbell” will also be our community’s way of protesting the many terrible acts of violence have happened in these past few weeks in our Country the Philippines and around the world: school shootings, violent crimes targeting innocent victims, war, and senseless acts of cruelty. Let us all pray and hope for peace.
8:05 PM
Best wishes-
kaffee
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