A Life Worth Celebrating

As I pen these words, I reflect upon the life of a person I knew for my entire life and who finally departed this week.

Her name was Genevieve Keller.  Although some of you may have known her or of her, I would say the majority have not.  She was the Clerk of Courts of the Hampshire District Court of Hampshire County.  That is the equivalent to the Clerk of Courts of the District Court of Norfolk County, here in Dedham.

Do any of you who are attorneys consult the Clerk of Courts on matters of law or the law, period?  If you had my mother in that position, you would.  She knew MA law better than the attorneys!  Is that a stretch?  No.  Ask the MA Bar Association.  You can ask any of the State Police barracks in the western part of the state, along with the local police departments, if they knew or heard of Genevieve Keller.

She treated the police departments, state police, and general public with a kindness and benevolence that is RARE in a public servant.  She dealt with her share of difficult people during her forty-four-year tenure in the court system, but never did she flinch.  Her loyalty to the public she served and to the people she worked with and for is unparalleled.

The people who worked alongside her and were helped by her are now no longer.  They, too, have either departed or are too feeble to lift their voices in support.  It is a sign that time marches on and waits not.

Will she be missed?  Of course.  Will her legacy and purpose be forgotten?  Never.  Hers is and was a life worth celebrating.

If there was a public funeral, more than a thousand people would attend.  That should give you some idea of her presence in Western MA.

Make your own a life worth celebrating!  You, too, have as much worth to give to your families and to your community!  In your own, quiet ways, you, too, may prove that a life worth celebrating doesn't have to be over!  It can be in progress and that makes it all the more special and signficant!

Take care!