Laura Pearn

is honored with a Brick from Lila Arnold, Carol Wolfe Konek, Barbara Melzer, Susan Nelson, Marian Teall, and Betty Welsbacher.

March 20, 1938 - December 13, 1991

For more than ten years, our rap group met once a week from 1970 to 1983. We started with the consciousness-raising guidelines of Gloria Steinem published in Ms. magazine There were eight of us who gathered at each other's houses, talking about our lives, reflecting on relationships, dreaming, striving, moving toward clarity and growth. We supported each other as our parents aged and gave us trouble, as our children thrived and survived their stages, as our marriages and love affairs struggled and ended and began again. We gossiped. We laughed till we cried and cried till we laughed. We gave each other financial advice, recipes, gardening tips and recommendations for repair persons. We commiserated as those we loved died or left us. We rejoiced as we found new friends and celebrated as our children achieved. We were thrilled when we published or married or got raises or lived through the unimaginable.

Laura Pearn was our youngest member. Vivacious, optimistic, concerned, she put others first, listening, advising, counseling, caring for all of us. Our group was her family. When the weekly meetings of the group came to an end, Laura felt the loss more deeply than any of us. As she confronted cancer and remission and cancer again, Barbara took the place of the rap group in her final days. It was Barbara who stayed in touch with Laura's daughter, Pam and her granddaughter, Laura Morgan.

From Carol Konek

From the moment of our meeting, she reverberated. Her vibrations preceded her into rooms, and when she departed they drifted after her like a veil. They reflected her quickness, her precision, her lavish affection. She seemed too small to hold the huge, warm heart, the reaching out and giving that were her essence. We are none of us, of course, alike; but she was truly like no one else.

Laura. I have missed you.

From Betty

One of the reasons I loved Laura was a selfish one: it was for the effect she had on me. Her tough, clenched-jaw independence straightened my own back; her generous compassion reminded me to open my heart. I think Laura saw a relationship between all living things, saw life itself as an absolute quality, something to be valued and protected wherever it occurred in a flower, an animal, a child. She was vigilant in this assignment; whenever I think of her, she's never sitting but is always on her feet, moving forward. Offering her hand.

From Susan

Laura was independent and self sufficient, yet deeply appreciative of close friendships. She was the picture of femininity but could fix your plumbing and deal with electrical problems. Best of all, she was my dear, warm and generous friend.

From Barbara

"How does this work?" Laura needed to know. She understood and orchestrated many projects from inception to completion. She had an idea about remodeling her garage into a rental apartment. She became designer, contractor, purchasing agent, superintendent, laborer, decorator, rental agent. This was her creation.

From Marion

In Loving Memory of Laura Pearne

Mountain Waters
dashed against rocks
easily seen through, easily known,
waters bruised by complexities
of quartz and basalt
garnet and gold,
impossible to see through,
impossible to know
bruised waters
sometimes flow into sunlight,
Incandescent and slow.
This is Laura to me,
known and loved,
Impossible to know
Incandescent of spirit.

By Lila Arnold

Submitted by the Rap Group

September 4, 1998