March 13th – March 21st
I got a call from Glen Coye that Mary Wondra had been flown off Lopez Island on Tuesday the 12th, and was diagnosed with heart failure. Her kidneys were also failing, so surgery was not an option, and they put her on hospice, with the diagnosis that she would probably have 2 to 7 days left.
My next stop was in Davis CA where Sarah and Tom Pattison live. They were hosting lunch on Saturday with several other singers who were driving in from Oakland and Lafayette, outside San Francisco. Sarah and Mary and I were all part of a madrigal group of 12 or so singers in the Bay Area. That’s where I met Mary and the others in 1976. We sang at the Renaissance Faire in full costume. What fun! Then Mary and I and two guys, John and Greg, created a quartet called Champagne Jam and we sang lots of other music besides madrigals: jazz, popular tunes, Christmas songs, etc. Chuck (my ex) and I moved to Lopez in 1984. Mary surprised me when she decided to move to Lopez Island in 1986 (or 1987?) and she lived with us on our property. Mary was still at our property and took care of our horses, goats, and other animals during a horrific winter storm when Chuck and I were in Kirkland where Kelley was born on Jan. 28, 1989. Mary and I sang with many other musicians in the islands mostly doing acapella music. One of the most memorable was Just Us, a quartet with two other women, Stephanie and Ritambhara.
Our luncheon was on Saturday March 15th. The madrigal singers there were Sarah (husband Tom), Brian, and John (wife Carol) who was also part of Champagne Jam. I waited until we were together in person before telling them about Mary. We decided to call Glen and we passed my phone around so each of us could have a short visit with Mary and be able to say goodbye.
Sarah was very involved in her synagogue and they were doing a show on Saturday evening. So she left early for final practice and the rest of us visited for awhile. Then Tom and I went to the synagogue for the show. It was amazing!
I was hoping I could make the trip back to Lopez in time to see Mary again, so I left Davis as early as I could on Sunday morning. I was already on the road when I got a call that she had passed away early that morning. Glen had arranged to have her brought back home to Lopez for her final days, but it wasn’t meant to be. There had been a lot of wind and rain, so I didn’t want to try to go over the Siskiyou Pass. I was able to travel at my usual pace, stopping in Redding and then in Crescent City. The drive was beautiful, first Redwoods in both national and state parks, then driving thru beautiful deep river valleys. I headed thru Grants Pass and back on I-5 north. Stopped one night at a SKP RV park in Sutherlin OR and then visited some friends who used to live on Lopez and now live in Vancouver WA, then kept on to Paradise Point State Park in Ridgefield just north of their home. One last driving day: to Bayview State Park near Anacortes. I moved all the food and laundry, etc. from the trailer into my truck so I’d be ready on Friday morning to drop the trailer off at my favorite RV Repair shop to fix a few minor things. I had time to drive to Sedro Woolley, drop off the trailer, made a few shopping stops, and got to the ferry in plenty of time for the 3:05 boat. I got home, unloaded most of the truck, but then it started raining and it was almost dark. I turn the water off when I’m gone in the winter, so I didn’t have any running water, but that had to wait until the next day.
Post trip: Yes, I got the water turned back on the next day. I had expected they would keep the trailer for a week or so, but they called on Monday that it was ready for pickup. So I went back to the mainland on Wednesday and got it. When I was backing it into the RV shelter, one of the trailer’s wheels got stuck in the mud (the ground was so saturated and when I drove off the gravel it was just muck). Luckily my neighbor Evrard was able to come over and help me get it out. Ah, home again.
I noticed that I was so focused on getting home that I didn’t take many photos in the last stretch. Like a horse heading back to the barn! Thank you for sharing my journey with me!
Hugs to you all!
Ann
