Ursula J Reinstadler

Memories

Read the thoughts and memories, then feel free to add your own.

1. Tamara Bedic says

   January 29, 2014 at 10:49 am

   Dear Ursula,

   How sorry I am to have waited this long. I should have thanked you twenty years ago, when your kindness, hospitality and generosity sustained me; when you welcomed me during a hard time. I took for granted that you would always be nearby, that I could always phone you in Glendale just as you were rushing off to Atlantic City in your big white car, weeding the garden, or packing clean laundry for another work week.

   I remember you describing your childhood…how fear oppressed you and your family.Shocking, eye-opening sketches– revealing a side of 1930s Germany that I had never heard of, had never been exposed to. You taught me that suffering is bilateral… that every conflict is two sided—even when winners dictate history, silencing the losers’ experience. I internalized this lesson Ursula, and now apply it to modern conflicts– wherever one side controls and monopolizes narrative. Now I’m wary of good guy/bad guy dichotomies. You planted my skepticism and I thank you for the wisdom of that teaching.

   I remember, too, how you always left a patch of yard wild and overgrown: “for the little people, for the fairies”. Now that I have a yard, I’ll do that too—in memory of you.

   I recall your cozy home and the many framed mementoes that graced your walls; your fabulous Thanksgiving feasts; your gaiety at Howard Stern’s antics; how you encouraged me to catch Senator Moynihan’s attention—by tripping and falling down! 🙂

   What a lively, good natured, strong– yet flexible– woman you were. You’ll always be treasured that way by

   Tamara