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Tributes to Sara

Page 1


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Comments, recollections, poetry and songs for Sara

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This is page one of the tributes to Sara...
read more tributes on page two and three.

I want to give a big cyber hug and special thanks to Linda Moore, who has done so much for Sara over the last year or so. We love you Linda.

From Linda:

From Philippians 3:8
"And now, my friends, all that is true, all that is noble, all that is just
and pure, all that is lovable and attractive, whatever is excellent and
admirable--fill your thoughts with these things."

It sounds like Paul was talking about Sara!

Go to page [two / three] of Tributes to Sara

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Tribute for Sara by Sally Stanton (myhrmaid from Wisconsin)

Dear Friends,

It has been great listening/reading all the things out here on the 
Net by people who care about Sara. I am one of the Myhr-Maids and a 
friend of Sara's.

If you don't mind, I want to tell you a little about how our lives 
connected for a while. I met Sara through Laura Beth Cook (she's the 
wonderful vocalist who has entertained us at the last several 
banquets) who met her on the Convention Cruise in 1991. (It was 
called, poignantly, "A Celebration of Life.") Laura Beth read me her 
hilarious letters over the phone. We finally met at TunnelCon II; she 
Sara, had begun her Rat Lady costume and I was doing my Jamie costume 
at the time, Laura Beth was doing Brigit O'Donnell. Our interest in 
costuming sort of bonded us. Sara had someone take a photo of the 
three of us in costume, and later that fall it was published in the 
paper Sara worked for! 

It was at Great Expectations that we formed the Mhyr-Maids and we all 
became a tight group. That summer I had divorced and moved and it was 
a bad year for me, so a group of friends was just what I needed. I 
enjoyed Sara's sense of humor so much that I started writing to her 
so I could get her wonderful letters back and laugh my way through 
whatever came my way. We corresponded nearly weekly that year and she sent me 
oranges and hot cocoa for Christmas (she was always teasing me about 
living in the Frigid North). 

When Sara heard I was taking my daughter 
to Disney World in the Spring of 1994, she immediately said, "I'll 
take off a couple days from work and meet ya there."  And she did! We 
spent two days doing Disney, Epcot and MGM, even though she had her 
arm in a sling, she hauled around Katie's stuff and went on all the 
rides...we had a wonderful wonderful time. I think we really got to 
be friends on that trip.

Sara never married or had children, but she adores kids and so all 
the while she was making much of Katie and talking nonstop about her 
"god-children", her friend Jackie's kids. She loves them as if they 
are her own. If some of you think of it, please send a card or note 
to Jackie and her family. This is worse for them than for any of us.

Anyway, Sara always asked after Katie and sent her gifts...a photo of 
us at Disney in a neat frame, Christmas ornaments...we continued to 
write often and Sara always was very supportive of my efforts working 
on my Ph.D., and always thinking up creative ideas on her own. Once 
she didnt write to me for about a month and so I sent her a letter on 
some weird stationary with sheep on it, sheep jumping over fences, 
and wrote it as a formal request for a "missive", needling her that 
she hadn't written. So Sara took the whole thing and from it wrote a 
story, which eventually was published in the "A Distant Shore" Con 
Zine, and a sequel as well (If you look at the title page, its 
dedicated to S.S. and K.S., that's me and Katie)...where she 
pretended that the letter I sent her was actually a letter received 
in the Tunnels by Father (sheep and all)...it was hilarious. Very 
well written. Clever. I was quite honored to be the inspiration. And 
then of course that began a running joke -- Sara lives at the Restop 
at the End of the Universe, I live in the Chamber at the West End of 
the Lake (Lake Michigan), and I tried to find things with sheep on 
them to send her, in fact, for Christmas this year I sent her a 
little yarn sheep ornament I found at Colonial Wmsburg last summer, I 
sent her sheep cards, sheep photos, sheep drawings...we had a lot of 
fun with it. She made me two little lead-casted handpainted carousel 
horses...and a clown with a red nose and the note "Don't laugh."

Then she came up with the radio play, that we did at ADS. She sent us 
all rough drafts in the mail, begged us for comments, got us together 
at the Con for rehearsals, and somehow I got roped into doing 
Catherine (talk about casting against type!). We had a blast, it was 
well-received, and Sara got to be A Director. I think she absolutely 
loved that. I'm SO glad we did it. That Con was the last time I saw 
Sara. A few weeks later was when she first found the cancer. 
Everything happened quickly after that. As soon as she told me, I 
called all the Myhr-Maids and told them, and we started sending 
flowers and cards, and calling. I talked to her at Christmas that 
year and we joked about her bringing her "falsies" to the Con and 
getting them autographed (she made her own prosthetic after her 
mastectomy, imagine that!). 

Two of our friends went to visit her before the 96 Con and brought 
back some video, they all went to the beach together, as she was 
allowed out of the hospital at that time (I believe it was right 
before the bone marrow transplant)...I wish now I had gone to see her 
then. But we got to see her on video at the Con, and it was hard to 
be there without her. Sara was always one of the creative sparks and 
troublemakers in the group, and it was kind of flat without her. The 
hurricane provided some distraction, but well, that says a lot, if it 
takes a hurricane to get your mind off someone!

I moved right before that Convention, and had sent Sara a letter 
about my new place and what was happening. After she was released 
from the hospital after the transplant, I received a big box in the 
mail...with a housewarming gift! I couldn't believe it, it was a 
beautiful gold, blue and white dreamcatcher, which hangs in my dining 
room door way, and I love it. She couldnt have picked out anything 
better. I was amazed that even in the midst of her tragedy, she 
thought of doing something for ME.  I can't even bear to throw the 
box out, cause she drew funny pictures and wrote little comments all 
over it.

All fall I sent her postcards from the Mall of America, trying to 
send her Hope that we would see her there this summer. She wrote and 
asked how my studies were going. I called her but it was hard to talk 
to her, she was having a rough, rough time. Her Christmas card was 
hysterically funny (imagine Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus doing the 
Wave), and she sent another tree ornament, that she had made herself.

That was the last I heard from her. I wrote to her...but nothing came 
back, and I began to think something was wrong. Then I saw the email 
form Linda Moore, and I'm still in shock. She's been through so much 
in these last 18 months, and in the end it seems we are to lose her. 
I am sad for my loss, yes, but the saddest thing is how much she 
means to so many people, what a vibrant, creative, intelligent, 
humorous, giving person Sara is and how the loss of the that sort of 
person in this world, well before she should have left, is truly a 
tragedy. Sara is a wonderful writer, a wit, an artist (we made our 
own Unofficial Conzines with many of her drawings in it), a musician, 
a gardener, she has a master's degree in medieval history...and she 
is a truly caring, giving friend.  I will miss her more than I can 
say. I've missed her so much since she got sick.

This Convention this summer will be very hard for all of us who knew 
Sara. Ironically, its title is "Reflections". I am hoping to organize 
some kind of "Celebration of Sara" get-together either before, at the 
con, or after it, to celebrate and reflect on friendship and life and Sara.
And if we do that, in some small way, she'll be there with us.

Thanks, everyone, for listening. It's hard to make people understand 
how you can care so  much for someone you only knew for a couple 
years, who you only got together with four times, but that's the 
kind of person Sara is. She's good people. And so, largely, are the 
people in this fandom. Sara told me she never knew how  many people 
cared about her or how much until this all happened. Thank you all 
for really being there for her. 

Be well.

Your friend,

Sally Stanton

(if you can't place me, I have costumed up as Jamie, Lena, and 
Alexandra Bennett at various Cons, and was Catherine in the Radio 
Play at ADS) 

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Tribute for Sara by Tori Rudd (myhrmaid from New Zealand)

Take Us Back To Those Tunnels Again
'Belfast Child'-Simple Minds

Memories lead us by the hand
Take us back to those tunnels again
Back to a threshold below
Like long lost friends coming home
Into warmly lit chambers we'd roam
Father would welcome us there

Take us back to those tunnels again 
Back to a threshold below

Vincent would draw us near
With us his destiny he'd share
His small son a soul so wise
Sensing pain in his fathers eyes
A child so rare healing the pain hidden there

Take us back to those tunnels again
Back to a threshold below

Follow us back to the whispering gallery

So come back people won't you come on home?
Come back dreamers you've been away so long
The pipes are tapping John Paters' gone
The pipes are ringing with childrens song

And the music's calling
Come on home
Won't you come on home?
You're not alone

Oh come back helpers you've been gone a while
Let's find some peace now
Walk that extra mile

Let's gather round now
Gather round
Money and power may have their hold
Friends live forever in stories told

Won't you come on home?
Come on home

Our friends are waiting
Life goes on
Memories lead us by the hand
Take us back to those tunnels again
Back to those tunnels again


End

Dedicated with Love to Sara Conklin

Tori Rudd 1997

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Tribute for Sara by Barbara

I am terribly sorry to hear that Sara has left us.  I did not get a chance to
meet her, but from the last couple of weeks,  I know she was someone special.
 I have said a prayer for those she left behind,  in hope that some peace is
found in the emptiness everyone has inside their hearts.  I have also written
a small poem in the memory of Sara.

                                   Candle by Candle

                            Candle by candle
                            Flame to flame
                            We lift our hands in darkness
                            So light can be found
                            We stand together,  and although
                            Some of us miles apart
                            We stand together in spirit
                            Underneath the one we lost
                            She watches us from above now
                            And although we wish to have her return
                            We know she has found her peace at last
                            So we must continue on with our lives
                            Maybe not like before,  for
                            Nothing is ever the same
                            When a dear person is taken from our lives
                            But we will continue,  and
                            It may be hard at first,  but soon
                            We will feel an embrace of warmth
                            And see a flame of encouragment
                            Guiding to us love-
                            Guiding us to her
                            Candle by candle
                            Flame to flame
                            We lift our hands in darkness

Peace To Everyone-
Barbara

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Tribute for Sara by Amber James (England)


I didn't know Sara well, we spent some time together at the 1993 con here in
England. But, even though we met so briefly, the time I spent with her....
she made me feel 'special'.

I will remember Sara's courage, her sense of humour but, most of all, I will
remember how good she made me feel.

As with all families, Sara's struggle brought us together, in love and
support.... and now.... in grief. Her struggle is over and we have given her
care and support into other hands, hands more capable than ours.

Now we must pour that same love and support in the direction of those who
have been with her on a daily basis throughout her illness, it's what Sara
would have done, it's what she would have expected of us.

I want to pass on two verses from a poem which is very dear to me, Humbert
Wolfe wrote it in 1920. It captures my thoughts on Sara's passing very well:


"I will not write a poem for you,
because a poem, even the loveliest,
can only do what words can do-
stir the air, and dwindle, and be at rest.

But I will hold you in a thought without moving
spirit or desire or will -
for I know no other way of loving,
that endures when the heart is still."



Goodnight Sara


Amber James

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Tribute for Sara by Jackie (Maryland?)

Thank you for the news re: Sara's memorials and wishes.  I will bring
her wishes to our Treasurer (Chesapeake Helpers') and arrange for a
donation in her name.  The first time I met Sara was at South of Oz
and she and a friend stopped at the B&B Quilt table to visit with Sally.
Not long after that, we were told that we had to move the Quilt into
the Banquet Room, no simple feat.  Not only is it 9 1/2 feet square, add 2
ten foot poles, a cross bar and 2 huge buckets of sand - not a job for
the meek.   Sara and a friend just happened by at that very moment.
"Yo, Sara, can you give us a hand. We need to move this thing."  What
a parade we made, Sara carrying one pole, her friend - the other, Sally
& myself with the buckets.  Sara calling out, "Make way for the Quilt.  Make
way for the Quilt."   -- a helper in the truest sense of the word.

I had a thought.  At every con's Banquet, we have a candle lighting ceremony.
 Why not have a candle dedicated to Sara on the dais, and start the ceremony
with the flame from that candle.  This way Sara will be with us, helping to
light our way.  Just an idea, if acceptable, it would have to be cleared with
the Reflections con committee.

Peace,
Jackie

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Tribute for Sara by Sylvia Mohr

Note from Linda about the following message:  Sylvia refers to the "Band
of Angels" (BOA) but y'all may not know that it is "officially" a subgroup of
the "Edward Albert Fan Club" of which Sara was a member.

As coordinator of BOA, I can tell you that this support, vigil and memorial
for Sara goes =way= beyond our small group (but I certainly am proud of
our angels).  It has demonstrated that truly:

    "We are each of us angels with only one wing.
      And we can only fly embracing each other."
- Luciano de Crescenzo
----------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997 21:00:12 -0800
From: Sylvia Mohr 
To: [email protected]
Subject: Sara and a band of angels

Linda and all the members of Edward's angel band,

Sara's light has not gone out
It has been passed on
In the hearts and minds
  lifes and loves
    sorrows and happiness
      of each of us who took the time to
Pray a prayer for her
   Sing a song for her
     Think good thoughts for her
        Tell a joke to her
          and reach out a hand to another because she had touched ours.
Her light will never go out as long as we remember
  to pass the lessons we have learned with her on to others in need
Beauty and the Beast was 'just a TV show'?
  Edward Albert is 'just an actor'?
    Not hardly,
      Not when they inspire others to reach out to still others
Truly we are a family
   and how far our love and caring will spread
      and how brightly it will shine...
         Can only be determined by us.
Thank you, Sara...
   Thank you Linda...
      Thank YOU EDWARD and Paulette and Buddy
         Thank you CBS and Ron Koslow and Ron Perlman and every one who
            ever worked on  the series  BEAUTY AND THE BEAST...
Don't forget...light a candle every year on St Patrick's day and
  keep it light all night and celebrate the love we have shared.
Keep caring about each other...
  keep reaching out...
   and once in a while tell a story of Sara and how a group of TV fans
     lit a candle on a dark night....

Blessings and love always...
  Sylvia Mohr

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Go to page [two / three] of Tributes to Sara

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Last updated 3/24/98


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