[Oe List ...] Virginia Pierce Eulogy by Sue Laxdal

[RICHARD HOWIE]

Oh, the power and the glory to have known her and to be a part of  
this loving community!
Thank you one and all.
Love, Grace and Peace, Ellen Howie
On Feb 12, 2008, at 9:05 PM, Beret Griffith wrote:

> The memorial service for Virginia Pierce was held on Saturday,  
> February 9th. There were many testimonies to her life given by her  
> family. The following was offered by Sue Laxdal.
>
> Virginia has been a presence in my life, a friend, colleague, coach  
> and coworker for more than 35 years.  I know many of you could use  
> most or all of those descriptors and would add others as well.  She  
> was an amazing woman.
>
> The generosity and grace manifested in the way she died was clearly  
> seen in the way she lived.  She invited us in; allow us to be  
> present to her dying, and in doing so to our own mortality.
>
> Virginia and Lewie and I met in the early 70’s at a training course  
> put on by the Ecumenical Institute.  At the time what we had in  
> common was being young professional families just getting started  
> and raising families.   We began our friendship based on the work  
> we were doing with the institute which gave us ample ways to  
> explore shared values.  We began to work with ICA doing local  
> church renewal and community development and took on many  
> projects.  We moved on to developing town meetings in the 70’s.
>
> I believe that she was spiritual, although I don’t think she was  
> religious in the traditional sense.  She had the qualities of  
> empathy, of forthrightness, of forgiveness, and tolerance and  
> fearlessness.  She was familiar with and trusted from the inside  
> what I only know from the outside “Ken Kesey” and applied these  
> qualities to herself as well as others. It gave her her center of  
> gravity, like a gyroscope, that allowed her to be helpful to others  
> is rocky circumstances.
>
> Some of the uniqueness of Virginia that I have observed over the  
> years:
>
> Virginia manifested a remarkable gift for being present, for being  
> in the here and now.
> She listened.  Really listened.  Something in the quality of her  
> listening invited you to speak from a higher place.  I recall  
> coming into her cube prepared to whine, and changing my mind, many  
> times.  She listened like she knew you could solve your own  
> problems and that she didn’t have to fix them, she knew you could.   
> This made her invaluable to her clients, coworkers and friends,  
> everyone, as she offered her.  One client story:
>
> Virginia excelled at whatever projects or tasks she took on.  (Ask  
> Katherine about St. Paul Companies.)
> She went back to school or her masters in her late 40’s.  She put  
> her teaching credentials to work as she worked with Mirja for  
> former Gov. Arne Carlson on the proto type of the Effective  
> Leadership Course.
> She worked with Mirja to design the ELC which was taught to (how  
> many) classes of state government. She designed instructional  
> materials for Project Hope and worked as their HR specialist
>
> When the Minnesota Facilitators Network was begun, Virginia was  
> instrumental in its formation.  When the International Association  
> of Facilitators was formed, back in 1991 she volunteered to share  
> the lead on a task force to define the competencies for  
> facilitators that could be used to bring credibility to this  
> fledgling profession through certification of quality  
> facilitators.  She was its driving energy.  IAF Certification  
> events have now been held in Asia, Australia, USA, Canada, Europe  
> and this year, for the first time in Africa.  A lot of facilitator  
> trainers are now basing their curriculum development on these  
> competencies. Eunice Shankland is using them with FAO (Food and  
> Agriculture Organization of the UN) in Rome.  There are  
> Certification assessors in Taiwan, HK, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada,  
> the US, Europe esp. the UK.  And Certified Facilitators world-wide.
>
> She had an unerring sense of appropriate process for her clients.   
> She combined common sense with kindness and generosity to guide  
> clients to positive outcomes.  One session she led she reported  
> being surprised that she had to listen for many hours and then  
> summed up the discussion, and got rave reviews.  She said, I sat on  
> my plan and didn’t facilitate and it turned out to be the right  
> thing for this group!
>
> She managed complex public sector projects at the University,  
> Agriculture and many other sites.  She particularly loved working  
> with Native American people on several projects.
>
> During the 2001 IAF Conference Preparation while working full time,  
> she managed the sponsorship development team called “flash and  
> cash” to a record number of sponsors.
> I was a witness to another example.  She and Lewie took on the  
> initiative of creating a 20th anniversary celebration for Global  
> Volunteers for 500 people.  I recall the day we sat down with  
> couple dozen volunteers and did action planning, and for the  
> following months actually did the plan!  The event exceeded goals  
> and was a smashing first for Global Volunteers.
>
> I came across an old kindergarten report card that had a phrase on  
> it “she plays well with others.”   Virginia did!  Most of the  
> examples I just mentioned were done working with others – playing  
> well with others at work.
>
> And also, since 2000 we have traveled together several times.  We  
> visited Scotland to golf the old courses; we played in England,  
> hiking miles and miles in the North of England and playing bridge  
> with sore feet.  We traveled to Australia with GV to work with an  
> aboriginal community in Queensland, and spent time in Kauai.
>
> Virginia loved the two years in China, year in Portugal with Lewie,  
> and all the other encounters with other cultures she had. She loved  
> it when she was asked to play a role in a Chinese movie.  She  
> practiced her Chinese lines over and over, preparing as she always  
> did for everything, thoroughly, but alas, she did the part but they  
> dubbed the dialogue!  She was especially taken by Africa, its pain  
> and its potential and its beauty.
>
> Her legacy?  For me, the changed lives.  The encounter with someone  
> who really “gets” who you are and who knew who she was. The proof  
> that kindness and lack of ego can truly change lives, change the  
> world.
>
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