Dr. Pat Rickels.....

bizi · 09-19-2009, 04:10 PM

I met Dr. Pat several months ago. She had fallen ill and was living at her home, she knew she was dieing.... that it was her time to go.
In the short time that I knew here, I grew to care for her greatly. She was both a teacher and activist before her time. Her best friend was an African American and he was one of her pall bearers this morning. I spoke with Joe Dennis today and recalled when he spoke at the Unitarian fellowship some years back.
When I met her she was still painting in her living room, her home was filled with books...she craved knowledge never quiting always the student as well as the teacher. She inspired me to take my beginning water color class, something that I had not done in 10 years and realized how much I wanted to learn how to do that again.
At her memorial service this morning the chapel was filled full of people from the community. Many people spoke about her life, we laughed and cried. I came for this reason, I wanted to learn more about her life.
From what I have gathered This prose from Henry David Thoreau pretty much sums her up:

Quote:

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...

Henry David Thoreau

Here is a link if you wish to read more about her:
http://www.theadvertiser.com/article...NTPAGECAROUSEL

Quote:

Patricia "Dr. Pat" Rickels, the outspoken, tenacious, muumuu-wearing UL professor who wasn't afraid to challenge the administration or march on city hall for what she believed in, died peacefully Tuesday night at her Lafayette home....
....Those who knew her best are split on whether Rickels would want to be remembered as a teacher or a civil rights activist.
In her final months, Rickels still expressed a desire to return to the classroom and that's what she'd want to be remembered for, Wilson said.
But she also believed in standing up for what you believe in and that's how she lived her life, he said.
"She always said you have to fight for what you believe," Bernard added.
Hanging on Rickels' bedroom wall is a cross-stitched quote from Mark Twain, one of her favorites, that perhaps best sums up her philosophy and personality.
It says, "Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest."

This was read at her service today:

Success
To laugh often and much
to win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty;
to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson