Sunday, 23 August 2009
From: Karen Keifer-Boyd
I last spoke with Maryl on July 28, 2009. We discussed serious matters, we laughed together, she wanted to nominate me for an award, and we acknowledged the finiteness of life in a somber yet peaceful outlook. During that phone conversation she asked me to call again on Monday, August 10, as she was going to think about and write notes on what she wanted to convey to Women’s Caucus members for the NAEA News column due August 12. She also wanted to respond to those who wrote on the Maryl tribute blog this autumn 2009. Maryl passed on August 8, 2009. I greatly miss Maryl. It was my good fortune to have known Maryl. She is a role model for me. The anthology, NAEA Women’s Caucus Award Autobiographical Addresses: 1975-2010, was begun in 2006 with Maryl, who invited me to work with her to conceptualize and develop this project. I am dedicated to complete the anthology in her honor. It will include award acceptance speeches contributed by National Art Education Association’s (NAEA) Women’s Caucus award recipients. For many, the annual Women’s Caucus Awards night is a highlight of the NAEA conference. We learn about our colleagues’ lives, including their early formations of identity and unexpected life events in relation to their careers as art educators in personable, often humorous, and deeply moving narrative presentations.
I am very sad not to have met Maryl and to have connected with her before her passing. It is reassuring to know her spirit will live on through connections with those she touched and her writing/research which you are continuing in her honor.