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Colorado Cat Collectors Club

In Loving Memory of a beautiful person and a great friend,

Janet Guinn

We will miss you.

The Rose Still Blooms

A rose once grew where all could see,
sheltered beside a garden wall,
And, as the days passed swiftly by,
it spread its branches,
straight and tall,
One Day, a beam of light shone through
a crevice that had opened wide--
The rose bent gently toward its warmth
then passed beyond to the other side.

Now you who deeply feel its loss,
be comforted--the rose blooms there.
Its beauty even greater now,
nurtured by God’s own loving care.

Many people enter our lives for just a little while--
others pause and plant flowers in our hearts
that continue to bloom forever.

Each day adds a flower to the beautiful bouquet of warm
and special memories we gathered along the way.
If a bud burst into bloom every time I thought of you,
All the earth would be a glorious garden.

----Catherine Atkinson©

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Dear Janet,

Sunlight glistens on the cascading whitecaps of a mountain stream
a picture-perfect addition to the idyllic setting:
an artificially-old hotel’s elite “dining experience.”

We cat lovers eat and chatter
until the day’s celebratory birthday-gift-opening ceremony commences.

Gifts are passed to recipients who
          open each one, initiating the genuine and obligatory oohs and aahhs.
Your heart-felt insistence on photographing each and every gift
          slows down time, forcing us to stop at least for the instant
          the camera blinks
          holding our breath as smile
                   displaying for posterity the item bestowed to mirror our tastes:
Karen’s angels, Vicki’s horses,
Julie’s cat statues, Marella’s books,
Peggy’s jewelry.

The group photos, taken by strangers at your behest:
“Take another one, please, just to be sure”
number too many to count:

We all look so happy, drawn together by the ripple begun by the
pebble you tossed in our waters
inviting us to enjoy and celebrate our cats, each other, our lives.

Now that you are no longer physically present, we are changed forever.

For awhile, perhaps, the restaurants’ neutrality and artificial come-ons
drape our “dining experience” in shroud.

And the gifts, because we number so many with so much,
will be reduced to Christmas-only.

Instead, we will refuge in each others’ homes,
share food made from our hands
tap into our creativity
visit memories.

Like Alice, we can go any direction,
depending on where we want to go;
Like the Cheshire cat, your being-disguised-as-smile
lingers in the air.

Love,

Your Cat Group

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Donations in Janet's memory were made to the Cat Care Society, to be used for a memorial glass brick inscribed in Gold with Janet's name, which will be part of a wall in the new Veterinary Clinic to be built soon, and for medical equipment for the new clinic, by the following friends (as of 1/19/2005):

Anne Marie Allen
Anonymous
Lydia & John Barder
Rod & Paula Bearfoot
Karen Bogart
Shirley Burhop
Teresa M. Castellano
Vickie Dunning
Juie Fortuin
Kathleen Hansen
Patricia & Gregory Kann
Yvonne Naudack
Melissa & Marguerite Palmer
Laurita Summerton
Sandra Temple
Donna Truskolaski
Deborah & Thomas Tschudy
Mary Ann Vickery
Peggy Way
Mary A Williams
Dennis & Betty Woodruff
Janet's friends at Minerals Management Service

Please advise if we have missed anyone.

Thanks to you all for your thoughtfullness and generosity. Janet would be so pleased.