Memorial Day & a Jo Beverley Gallery

by Mary Jo

Today is Memorial Day, which honors those who have died in military service.  As a child, my sibs and I would accompany my father to the city cemetery to place flags on the graves of military veterans.  Today, all honor to those who have served.

It’s rather fitting to use this day to wind up our week of mourning for Jo Beverley.  It's time for the Word Wenches to return to regular programming, including a more somber continuation of the tenth anniversary of this blog.  (I can imagine Jo saying crisply that it's time to pull up our socks and get back to work. <G>)
 
But today, as a last memorial, we wanted to post a few pictures of Jo, including several given by her family.  Here's a nice one taken the day her older son married our Melissa, and she's holding an armful of Cabbage Patch Kids.  The Kids are a Beverley family tradition and go to many family events.  Jo sometimes made costumes for them.  Above on the right is a picture of three Cabbage Patch Kids, and they're ready to party!

 

 

 

 

 

Jo loved to travel, and here's a great picture of her and author Barbara Samuel sharing a camel at Ayers Rock (Uluru) in the middle of Australia, and perhaps the center of the world.  Both had been speakers at a Romance Writers of Australia conference.  (That's a very regal camel. <G> Picture courtesy of Barbara Samuel.)

After returning to the UK, Jo and her husband Ken would often spend some weeks in the winter visiting Spain, which makes perfect sense to anyone who has ever experienced a winter in England!  Ken took this lovely picture.

 

 

 

 

 

This shot was taken by Cara/Andrea as Jo signed at an RWA literacy event.  I like the color coordination between the fan and her jacket.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's my favorite picture of all, contributed by Ken Beverley, showing the two of them in Malaga, Spain.  Because what romance writer doesn't want to spend her life with her very own knight in shining armor?

We've spent the last week sharing our thoughts and memories of Jo so thoroughly that it doesn't feel if she's really gone.  She's just in the next room, drinking wine with Edith Layton and Georgette Heyer. 

I'll finish with this lovely piece posted on the original memorial blog by Jeannette: 

Written by Henry Scott-Holland

Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I and you are you.Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by my old familiar name.
    Speak to me in the easy way you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we always enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effort, without the ghost of a shadow in it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute unbroken continuity.
    What is death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am waiting for you for an interval somewhere very near, just around the corner.
    All is well. Nothing is past; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before. How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Until we meet again, Jo.  Save some of that wine and dark chocolate for me!

Mary Jo

 

Comments

[Laura]

The picture of the three cabbage patch kids are actually dressed up for my wedding, and Charlie is in a tux made by Jo to match the tuxes that the groomsmen were wearing, truly making him part of the wedding party! From left to right, that is Davey, Billy, and Charlie, and that picture is them in their seats for the wedding, with a clear view. Wouldn't have wanted it any other way! In fact, each home has their own protector Cabbage Patch Kid, it is a tradition, and I was proud to add mine to support our guardian!

You are absolutely correct that Jo would be insisting we get back to work, celebrating with wine/port, cheese and chocolate. So lets all raise a glass, and break the bread!

[Barbara Samuel]

Oh, I do so love the photo of Jo and Ken in Spain. Just beautiful.

[April Kihlstrom]

Love the photos of Jo and love the idea that she's just in the next room with Edith Layton and Georgette Heyer. Somehow that feels very fitting.

[Andrea Penrose]

Thank you, Mary Jo for the beautiful post.

Andrea/Cara, waving to Jo wherever the next stop on the journey has taken her.

[Judi]

Beautifully said, Melissa. She is never far away, she is away writing another chapter in her book.

[Barbara Rae Robinson]

A lovely final tribute. I love that picture of Jo and Ken in Spain. She so enjoyed those trips. Jo with Edith and Georgette. How fitting.

[Karin]

Wonderful photos, thank you for sharing them with us.

[PJ Ausdenmore]

A beautiful, heartfelt, final tribute to Jo. Thank you, Mary Jo.

I love the Cabbage Patch Kids. What a wonderful tradition.

My favorite photo is also the one of Jo and Ken in Spain. So much love and joy in that photo. It makes my heart happy to know that a woman who brought love and romance to my life through her words lived her own happy ever after with her real-life hero.

[Sue McCormick]

There have been several discussions of the next stage of life, where Jo is now. I would like to add mine; my idea of heaven comes from Rudyard Kipling: "When the earth's last picture is painted, each in his separate star …"

I can see Jo writing away in her star, then going out to share the chocolate and wine with her friends.

[Laura]

Beautiful post. Beautiful thoughts and beautiful photos. Thank you, Mary Jo and Jo

[Lynda]

Thank you so much for the beautiful, beautiful photographs. Godspeed, Jo. I love you.

[Andrea Penrose]

Such a lovely thought, and so true, PJ. Thank you for sharing it.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Barbara, that's my favorite, too. Lovely.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Ah, that's lovely, Sue! Thank you.

[Betty]

My sympathy to the Word Wenches. I am sorry for the loss of your friend and colleague.

[Beth Pattillo]

Jo will be so dearly missed, but I have no doubt that she, too, is "pulling her socks up" and getting to work in the next expression of life. Our challenge is to honor her by doing the same.

[Keira Soleore]

Oh, what a lovely post. I'm sure Jo is looking down on us and enjoying all these posts and comments, all the joy and celebration, all the memories old and new that are being shared among everyone here.

[Sylvia Mease]

Billy is the cabbage patch doll I sent her years ago, she was looking for a particular "head shaped" cabbage patch doll and I happened to have the one she was looking for. I know he had a wonderful life traveling with Jo, better than stuck on a closet shelf.
I bet dollars to donuts that Jo is busy organizing a writers group in heaven right now.
Jo, you are missed so much.

[Mary Jo Putney]

So that's where Billy came from! Yes, he has certainly had a rich and exciting life with Jo. He and Charlie made regular appearances in her blogs here, and they always seemed to be having a fine time.

[Annmarie Keogh]

Thank you for sharing your stories and lovely photos. My heart and prayers to Jo's family and friends. She was a special one. Her memory will live on across the globe for all time in each of her books. I'm so glad that I was able to meet her, if only briefly. Meeting one of your idols is always special. She was so gracious and kind. I will miss her talent.

[Kristin Lundgren]

Such a beautiful tribute. You made me cry, again. Reading her books has been a several decades long process for me, starting from her earliest. It's nice to think of her drinking tea with Edith Layton and Georgette Heyer, who started it all, at least for me. The last picture of her with her husband, is beautiful. Thank you for all the wonderful insights that have been given to us, her faithful readers, in the tributes posted here.