RIP Bonnie Tinker

[da]

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

[dpolicar]

My condolences to you and your community.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

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.

[dpolicar]

(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.

[ahavia.livejournal.com]

Sending my love to all my f/Friends.
Laugh as much as you can and cry when you need to.
Ahavia

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

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.

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

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.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Thank you. You would have liked Bonnie, I think.

Her work for change will go on, in many peoples' hands.

[zubatac.livejournal.com]

*hug*

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[persephoneplace.livejournal.com]

i love you

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Love ya too.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

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.

[fuzzpsych.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Thanks. *hugs back*

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

I'm very sorry indeed for your loss.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

I read about this in 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.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

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!)

[earthling177.livejournal.com]

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.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[esallen.livejournal.com]

So sorry to hear this news - and sorry that I never met her. She sounds like someone I would have wanted to know! Hugs!

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

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!

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

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.