Journal entry by Ellen Spangler —
Hello dear friends,
Monday marked two weeks since the passing of our beloved Judith Kovacs. I am sure many of you are wondering about her memorial service, and I wanted to let you know what we're planning. Being in the middle of a pandemic adds another difficult layer on top of her already difficult passing, and we will be adhering to public health guidelines.
This Sunday at 2pm, there will be a very small gathering of immediate family for the committal of her ashes to the memorial garden at St. Paul's Memorial Church in Charlottesville. Please take a moment at that time to honor my mom however is meaningful to you.
Before she died, my mom carefully planned out a beautiful memorial service (down to the organ pieces to be played, of course!). We will be having that service sometime in the distant future when it is deemed safe for a larger gathering to take place inside the church. While it is sad in many ways not to honor her in this way now, closer to her passing, I know it will be a special occasion when we will all be able to be together in our continued grief...whenever that day comes.
In the meantime, we are planning to host a virtual gathering of sorts in the coming weeks. I'm not yet sure exactly what format it will take, but it will be more of a sharing of stories and celebration, not to take the place of the memorial service I just mentioned. We felt that it was important to gather folks together during this time of grief, even if it's in front of our computers. More to come soon on that.
Thank you for the many kind emails, cards, calls, texts, flowers, and more that we've received. It helps us all to know that we are not alone in our grief, and in our love and admiration for my amazing mom. We are grateful for you.
In case you haven't seen it, here is the link to her obituary, beautifully written by my dad.
Love,
Ellen
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