It was a great privilege to work with Elicia Brown (Appreciation, Aug. 11) for several years at The Jewish Week and to count her as a friend for many years since.
Her smile was infectious and her wit and wisdom boundless. The details of her columns about Jewish family life were so joyful and vivid that they stand out in memory years later from a single reading, as do the details of her insightful news reporting.
Even in her illness, in emails to her support community, she managed to write eloquently about her diagnoses and treatments, always infused with hope and humor. In her final message on July 26, reporting her shift to palliative care, she took note of “the birds and trees outside my window” and observed “there are of course always glimmers of hope —if you look carefully for them,” while encouraging visits from fellow creative souls.
“I wouldn’t say no to a mini-piano concert or any music for that matter. Experts/amateurs in other fields also encouraged —meditation, magic tricks, stand-up? Massage?”
How painful to accept that this is, in fact, “all she wrote.”
