Memorial Service/Reunion

I attended the memorial service for Barbara Bradley last night. It was a fitting tribute to her life and work. So many alums and friends were there, it was like an Illustration Department reunion. They gave away these framed sets of cookies featuring some of Barbara's famous kid illustrations.


Here's a closeup of one of the cookies. Gordon told me that that Society of Illustrators had them made up last year when she received the 2007 Distinguished Educator of the Arts award. They contacted the bakery and ordered more of them to give away to people who attended the reception after the memorial service.

I wish I had brought my camera so I could post some photos of my art school buddies here. It didn't occur to me to bring a camera to a memorial service.

They started off and ended with bagpipes playing in St. Brigid's. First they showed a slide show with photos of Barbara from baby years up through school, marriage, her own family, to grandkids. Barbara's oldest daughter, Lauchlin, delivered a touching eulogy. Elisa Stevens spoke briefly, followed by Chuck Pyle, who now heads the illustration department. Next up was Craig Nelson from the Fine Arts department and finally Bob Walker. A film tribute by David Oliver Pfeil ended the service. They showed footage of Barbara teaching clothed figure in Bradley Hall, which was moving for those of us who were her students.

Then the bagpipe player lead all the people in a procession out the door and downstairs to the reception, where they had a show of some of Barbara's illustrations and drawings on display.

I recognized many faces there. Sometimes it took me a few minutes to figure out "who the heck???" but for the most part, I was able to determine who they were pretty quickly. We all talked up a storm. There were people there who were my instructors, classmates, friends and colleagues from SFSI.

Here's a partial list of people who were there, including links to their work if I could find one:

Robert Steele

Kazu Sano

Rae Ecklund and her daughter, Julie Ecklund

David Grove

Keith Criss

Shannon Abbey

Pete McDonnell

Jim Pearson

Gordon Silveria and Merle Devault

Randy Berrett and Lisa Berrett

Tim Sunderman and family

Diana Thewlis

Vivian Wu and Eric

Sharon and Dan Morris

Joel Yau

Sara Mordecai

Sherrie Sinclair

Craig, Melissa and Gabriel Marshall

Melinda May and Alan Mazzetti

Paul Kratter

Andrea and Dan Tachiera and sons

Spence Snyder

Robert Hunt

Barron Storey

Robert Evans

Lourdes Livingston

and lots of other people I did not have a chance to see or speak with and maybe some I forgot I did see or speak with. It was a great night. I'm only sorry Barbara wasn't there to see the fruits of her labors.