Some of you out there knew Joy MacCarthy. I wish all of you did. Anyone who knew her was blessed by her friendship - and she had many friends. Joy lived her name. She was a Celtic harper, fiddler and composer of both Celtic style tunes and classical music. She had a way of gaining instant friends. I can't think of anyone who disliked her. This last Monday she died after a long battle with breast cancer. She faced her illness with courage, and got out there and played music and socialized as long as she was able to. When she was too ill to go out, or see many visitors, she kept up with friends through e mail. She had a hilarious and gentle sense of humor - not the kind of humor that has someone or something to cut down or poke fun at, but the kind that puts a positive spin on life. She arranged her own funeral, right down to who she wanted to play or sing, and chose some of her own compositions. She once lamented that nobody wanted to play the newly composed tunes, so she determined that there would be an audience for her music at her funeral! Yesterday her funeral was held at St. Albans Church in Berkeley, California. About 200 people packed the upstairs hall. I was honored to be one of the people she selected to perform. Mudcatter BSeed (Charles Kratz) was also at the service. The performances were a bit rough, but as one of the speakers said, Joy would have celebrated our mistakes as well as the good notes. When asked what religion she was, she replied "I'm a druid." This is the poem she chose for the memorial concert program:

"Do not stand by my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glint on snow. I am the sunlight and ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain. When you wake in the morning - hush! I am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circling flight. I am the soft starlight at night. Do not stand by my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep.

-A Native American poem.

This is the Shakespeare quotation she chose for the dedication of her book of tunes: "I count myself in nothing else so happy as in a soul remembering my good friends."

Thank you for taking the time to read this, mudcatters.

-chanteyranger