A Memorial For Jane Yolen--With Heartfelt Memories And Dancing Bears

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A memorial was held for Jane Yolen in Amherst at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. Which was appropriate, given that she wrote over 450 books, most of them for children. Marianne and I were there, along with roughly 200 other of her friends, family which, and colleagues. The event was streamed live online, so thousands more witnessed it along with us.

 

I noticed several people from the science fiction community in attendance—Susan Shwartz, Geri Sullivan, and Esther Friesner among them—and her good friend Bruce Coville was one of the speakers. But most came from her other worlds: children's literature, poetry, and teaching prominent among them. Over the years, I've had to explain to several SF people that while they thought of her as being merely a prominent figure in our world (she was a president of SFWA and won two Nebula Awards), she was a giant elsewhere.

 One thing I learned at the memorial was that Jane had taught her children and grandchildren well. The event was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and started on the minute. And her offspring were among the clearest and most articulate public speakers I've ever heard.

 There were heartfelt memories retold, poems read, and music played. I don't think I'll ever again hear "Waltzing With Bears" without misting up.

And then, with a bagpiper leading the way, the family led the way out of the building, between two lines of attendees (we were told this was a Jewish custom--the lines, not the bagpiper) and the formal event was over. I went into the gift shop and bought a copy of Owl Moon, probably Jane's single most famous work, because I wanted something she'd written which had been physically present during the memorial.

 

And what does one do after such an event . . . ? 

 I can't speak for anyone else, but Marianne and I went to a book sale. It was run by the League of Women Voters and we bought two bags of books for a total of ten dollars. I was looking for something by Jane to put in our wee free library, and did. But it was a pristine copy of her collection Sister Emily's Lightship and the association with Jane and Emily Dickinson in Amherst, where Dickinson lived and is buried, roused my possessive instincts. So I'm keeping it.

I'll go to the bookstore and find something else to put in the library.

 

Oh, and . . .

In case you missed it, you can find what Jane Yolen said when I told her I admired how prolific she was here.  

 

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