OBIT: In memoriam: Joy MacCarthy

Subject: In memoriam: Joy MacCarthy
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 05:26 AM

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

Subject: RE: In memoriam: Joy MacCarthy
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 09:07 AM

Understandable why PJ had such a rough time of it last night. Thank you Chanteyranger for sharing your extraordinary friend with us. I hope I have that kind of grace when my time comes.

I am sorry for your loss and hope that you can all find solace and peace within the hearts and arms of those she left behind. This must have been very tough.

Lots of love and hugs,

kat

Subject: RE: In memoriam: Joy MacCarthy
From: Jeri
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 10:53 AM

I'm sorry - this isn't much...

Whichever way the wind blows
I will follow after
Through dark night, starlight
To golden springtime laughter
I'll follow through the wheat fields
In the whispering peace of fall
When winter whispers softly
And autumn heeds the call

You, who danced upon the earth
And felt wealthy from your giving
You, who held onto a dream
That helped you keep on living
You, who kept a song of hope
Stronger than the fear
The wind now sings it high and strong
For all of us to hear...

Subject: RE: In memoriam: Joy MacCarthy
From: bbelle
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 11:39 AM

You've given a somber but beautiful and moving start to my Sunday ... thank you.

jenny

Subject: RE: In memoriam: Joy MacCarthy
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 12:15 PM

Jeri, did you write that? It is very poignant and beautiful. Thank you.

Subject: RE: In memoriam: Joy MacCarthy
From: Big Mick
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 12:26 PM

God be good to her. In her passing there is another coming, the balance will be maintained. The job now is to find her voice in new faces. In this way, there is no death, only an eternal renewal. And so it is with the bards.

Mick

Subject: RE: In memoriam: Joy MacCarthy
From: p.j.
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 12:54 PM

A couple of years ago chantyranger hauled me off to the San Francisco Scottish Fiddler's club where I met Joy MacCarthy. I fell in love with her immediately. This was a woman who spoke her mind clearly, with humor but no malice. She had re-invented herself a dozen times over the years, and was, by the time I got to know her, much more than the sum of her parts. A true original from the top of her curly gray hair to the toes of her tie-dyed sox. I can't stop thinking about an old Delano Bros. song she taught me awhile back...

I hear the sad howlin'
Of coyotes a' prowlin'
They sound so mournful to me
It brings back memories
Of loved ones I cherished
And one that I'm longin' to see...

We miss you Joy pj

Subject: RE: In memoriam: Joy MacCarthy
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 05:12 PM

Sorry if this sounds old because I keep using it.......

Great friends never leave a hole in your heart. They can only fill it with the most wonderful of memories. Maybe our hearts are entirely holes, filled by friends, here and gone.

Spaw

Subject: RE: In memoriam: Joy MacCarthy
From: Amergin
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 06:23 PM

Chanteyranger and PJ, I am so sorry for your great loss. She sounds like she was a most wonderful woman. Just remember that you have the memories of all your times together....you can and will feed off those memories until the time comes for you to meet her again in the next life....Blessed be.

Amergin

I am the wind on the sea
I am the wave of the sea
I am the bull of seven battles
I am the eagle on the rock
I am a flash from the sun
I am the most beautiful of plants

(excerpted from the Song of Amergin)

Subject: RE: In memoriam: Joy MacCarthy
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 07 Aug 00 - 01:48 AM

Thank you all for your kind thoughts. p.j., Joy would have been very touched by the fact that you were too distraught to attend, so please don't feel guilty. You know you and Dave can give me a call whenever you want to commiserate.

Thank you, p.j. for introducing me to the mudcat cafe. This is a special community. Again, thank you Kat, moonchild, Big Mick, 'Spaw, Amergin, I am touched by your kind remarks and poetry, as Joy would have been.

-chanteyranger