Mountain View Friends

Annual Report of the Death and Memorials Committee
April 2009 - April 2010

1. We have three duties: (1) providing the Meeting's response when death comes, (2) preparing Memorial Minutes, and (3) providing resources to the Meeting around issues of death and dying.
   
   
2. In this period we helped family and friends plan and carry out memorial services at Mountain View Friends Meeting House for Arthur Evans and Bettie Ray.
   
   
   1. Arthur Evans died on 10 March 2009. The memorial service was held on 5 April 2009.
      
      
   2. Bettie Anne Ray died on 13 June 2009. Her memorial service was held on 21 June 2009. Bettie's memorial minute accompanies the annual report.
      
      
3. At the rise of 10:30 meeting on 1 November 2009, the Death and Memorials committee members celebrated El Día de los Muertos, The Day of the Dead, with a display table honoring the deceased as well as offering end-of-life resources to the living. The celebration reflected the committee's ongoing commitment to encourage members and attenders to plan ahead for their own death. Copies of the End-of-Life Wishes form were available.
   

4. We received a few more End-of-Life Wishes forms after the form was published in the December 2009 newsletter. Our goal is to update and/or collect new forms from everyone in the meeting. We are also discussing a more secure filing system for these forms.
   
   

5. Two committee members met with Tom and Sally Perumean on 4 February 2010 to discuss Sally's request that after her impending death her memorial service be held at Mountain View Friends Meeting House. Though she was raised in the Presbyterian tradition, her ties to Quakerism date from college days at Earlham, and her two sisters are practicing Friends in the East. Tom and Sally were married in a simple ceremony conducted by a friend at Mountain View Meeting House, though not under the care of the Meeting. Sally describes her attendance at Mountain View over the years as "sporadic" but her values we found to be very Quakerly. Sally's wish is for her family and friends to celebrate her life without the dictates of a prescriptive religion telling how things are to be done. The committee assured her that her wishes would be honored. We are currently making arrangements with Tom for Sally's memorial service on 2 May 2010 (died 18 April 2010.)