Kee Hinckley<p>My aunt Lois Vivian Hinckley; classics instructor, singer, song-writer (sometimes known as Jenny Rivers), passed away a few weeks ago from complications from dementia. She was a fan of turtles, unicorns, carousel horses, and lighthouses. She grew up reading Tolkien in the dunes during her summers on Cape Cod. She saw the movies in the theater more than 30 times. She sadly never finished her manuscript comparing the Lord of the Rings and The Odyssey.</p><p>I'm watching her funeral on zoom right now. My daughter Shireen is there and delivered the eulogy below, co-written by her and myself. We'll have another service for her this spring, when we spread her ashes from her beloved lighthouse.</p><p>She truly was a Sports Car Lady with a Station Wagon Life.</p><p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/5YLu8iIfZIs5S4qfNazc1a" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">open.spotify.com/album/5YLu8iI</span><span class="invisible">fZIs5S4qfNazc1a</span></a></p> <p>Our memories of Lois will be forever wrapped in song and music, wordplay and poetry, love and joy.</p><p>My father's first memories of her are when she'd arrive at our home on a holiday, tired from a long drive and come upstairs and sing a little goodnight song as he lay half-asleep.</p><p><u>"Nighty night now my punkin</u><br><u>Let me tuck in your toes</u><br><u>If you sleep well my punkin</u><br><u>you will grow like a rose"</u></p><p>Whenever I think of Auntie Lois, I remember her curiosity. Every time she encountered something new, it was a source of excitement. There was nothing better than the opportunity to learn; ignorance on a topic never a source of shame, rather an opportunity.</p><p>When she retired, Auntie Lois gave me some of her books she used while teaching, encouraging me to learn as well. I was very young, but that didn't matter when it came to curiosity.</p><p>I became fascinated by ancient Greek plays, and by late elementary school began to adapt them to be put on by my friends and my sister. Those then became my first films.</p><p>I don't think I would have my current career, or that love of learning, if it wasn't for the spark that my aunt gave me. If she hadn't nurtured that curiosity.</p><p><u>Roads go ever, ever on,</u><br><u>Under cloud and under star,</u><br><u>Yet feet that Wandering have gone</u><br><u>Turn at last to home afar.</u><br><u>Eyes that fire and sword have seen,</u><br><u>And horrors in the halls of stone</u><br><u>Look at last on meadows green</u><br><u>And trees and hills they long have known.</u></p><p><u>The road goes ever on and on,</u><br><u>Out from the door where it began.</u><br><u>Now far ahead the road has gone,</u><br><u>Let others follow it who can!</u><br><u>Let them a journey new begin,</u><br><u>But I at last with weary feet,</u><br><u>Will turn towards the lighted inn,</u><br><u>My evening-rest and sleep to meet.</u></p><p>Lois' journey hasn't ended. Her love of songs and literature, her joy in people and new discoveries, were passed on to my father, my sister, and to myself. And we will make sure that her journey will continue through ourselves and others.</p><p><u>Still round the corner there may wait</u>
<u>A new road or a secret gate</u>
<u>And though I oft have passed them by</u>
<u>A day will come at last when I</u>
<u>Shall take the hidden paths that run</u>
<u>West of the Moon and East of the Sun</u></p><p><a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/eulogy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>eulogy</span></a></p>