Once again raising a glass to a departed colleague

Sunday I attended the memorial celebration of my former colleague Miriam Bennett. Then the Divisional Chair, and later a colleague in College Preparatory English, Miriam hired me to work at the college on a snowy December day, more years ago than I care to count. We worked together for many years afterwards, and though we did not become close friends, we enjoyed a cordial collegial relationship.

Miriam retired about ten years ago, and around the same time, was found by her son, born while she was very young and put up for adoption in the U.S. Mark spoke at the event, and his words were inspiring and heartwarming. After all those years of mother and son each imagining what the other was like, they met and bonded and found themselves in many ways to be "like two peas in a pod." Thus Miriam enjoyed the life of a mother and grandmother, in spite of the early trauma of giving up her child.

Often when people pass away, one finds out a great deal more about their accomplishments, and for me this was the case with Miriam. I was surprised to learn that she had lived in Amsterdam, Bucharest, and Monte Carlo, as well as Brussels, Montreal, and Vancouver. And I was most impressed to discover that she spoke eight languages and visited eighty countries. I was also touched by the lovely poems her husband Robert wrote about her in 2005 and 2006, after many years of marriage.

My colleague had a lot of interests, and she knew a lot of people. Yesterday, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music was packed as mourners gathered to raise a glass in her memory. Miriam died in October, and this was a celebration of her life. There were musical numbers from Ain't Misbehavin' and Jacques Brel is Alive and Well, interspersed with reminiscences from a couple of close family members. Bill Millerd of the Arts Club Theatre also described his first meeting with Miriam, who was later on the board of the theatre. The formal program ended with a rendition of Brel's If we Only Have Love, with Erin Palm singing, and Steven Greenfeild on the piano.

Miriam Bennett was an enthusiastic and accomplished woman who contributed much to education and the arts, and enjoyed life to the full. She was a lovely soul and will be missed by many, most especially by those who gathered yesterday to pay their respects to her memory -- a life well-lived.