FOR KATHARINE BARNES FINN

I lost a dear friend on the twenty-fourth of May when my dearest friend bade farewell to his wife. A terrible tragedy but something we all feared was coming.

There are things we can control and those we can’t.

Money doesn’t care in whose pocket it lies and cancer doesn’t discriminate with respect to whom it ravages.

Kay Finn was a striking, stunning, statuesque woman with an even greater beauty inside. The way she carried and comported herself demanded that I call her Katharine rather than Kay, which I did. She thought that was funny or perhaps that I was being silly.

You see, her loving kindness trumped everything else, including formality. All you had to do was observe her with her husband Michael; children Sarah, Max and Sam; grandchildren Waylon (affectionately known as Way-Way) Della and Van — and of course with her extended family and friends — to recognize that.

She was an educated woman who was bound for success on whatever path she chose. And she achieved success. But her family came first. And anybody who knew her knew that.

She married a guy who was a terrific athlete and she kept right up. Cycling, pilates you name it. Katharine wasn’t the sort to be left behind. Ever.

And so she will not be left behind now. That would be impossible.

Her goodness lives in all who were fortunate to know and love her and will always.

Her husband remarked to me once during this seven-month hellish travail that he would be nothing if he lost Kay.

Wrong.

A part of him is gone but to have been married to this woman for over thirty years puts him so far ahead of the curve that words can not do it justice.

He’s the luckiest man on the planet.

Come to think of it we all are right there with him.

Rest in peace Katharine and may God bless you. We love you.

[Editor’s Note: This piece was written in May 2018 and delivered in the form of a eulogy on June 9, 2018.]