I have known Rita for over a dozen years here in Santa Barbara. We have broken bread together, we have laughed together, we have cried together, and we have talked incessantly on the phone and face to face about work, the state of the world, and emotions—good things and difficult things.

We always felt we had a lot in common, especially when it came to matters of social justice and how the world ought to be run! But then we always recognized that while we could help change things here and there, we could not change everything that we wished to, and that we had to accept reality and deal with it as best we could. One thing that I remember her saying in a meeting that we were at together, was to remind us all that “we are members of the Carvan of Golden Souls”. I wrote that down and it has stuck with me, and will always remind me of her, and her great heart and love for humanity.

One of my favorite poems, which was written long before gender issues and women’s issues came into our society, shares much of what Rita and I shared together:

“We are all blind until we see

That in the human plan

Nothing is worth the making

If it does not make the man.

Why build these cities glorious

If man unbuilded goes?

We build the world in vain

Unless the builders also grow”.

Edwin Markham (1852-1940)

I will miss Rita and her quirky smile, but she will always be in my heart and often in my thoughts.

Sara Miller McCune