Sara Paul, 1948 - 2026

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Funerals are like tears. They rarely happen one at a time. Marianne and I were in Amherst for a memorial service when we got a phone call from Gene Olmsted to let us know that his wife, Sara Paul, had died. We drove home Monday and attended her funeral Tuesday.

Sara was one of those people who keep the world running. She worked for over thirty years for the Philadelphia School District as a librarian in city schools and "on loan" at Overbrook School for the Blind. Seeing an inadequate number of books for the children there, she translated books by hand into Braille for them. 

In private life, Sara was a passionate fan of science fiction. She was an active member of the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and helped run Philcon every year until her health failed her. 

She and Gene threw enormous parties for a hundred people or more, with some of the most eccentric spreads of food I've ever seen at such events.

In brief, she spent her life making things better for people.

Death draws a line beneath the endless rows of figures that are our days. All the numbers are added up, the zeroes fall off, and you're left with the final reckoning: a life well spent, or not. Sara was never rich or famous and I doubt she ever aspired to be either. But she continually improved the lives of the people around her. 

You could do a lot worse. You could hardly do a whit better.

Vaya con Dios, Sara. I hope that Heaven has one hell of a science fiction library. But if it doesn't, I'm sure you'll soon put it to rights.

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