My pal Esther really had a great year in 2024. She taught several classes – full of good students eager to learn ceramics and watercolor. She was an invited artist at Cedar Street Galleries’ Matchbox exhibit, in Cade Roster’s Maneki Neko show at Fishcake, was a recipient of an award by her State Representative Jackson Sayama, and was featured in PBS Hawaii’s Home is Here (see previous post).
She was always grateful for what she had, where she lived, and the care and attention of her good friend Alana. We should all be so fortunate and so content with life as she.
However, she was ready to leave the world, at 104 years old. She has left us in body, but her spirit will forever live on in the lives she touched, the students she taught, and her art that brought joy. We were all made better because of her.
Aloha, dear Esther. Aloha.
It’s amazing she was teaching and active at 104. What an amazing woman!
A bit of coincidence. My uncle just passed away last week at 104, just a couple of months short of 105. However, he was not in as good a shape as your Esther.
So sorry to hear. Am grateful that I got to know her even for a short while.
Yes! Sometimes she would scold but at the same time would encourage her students to keep on painting and drawing. I was just a student in her watercolor class along with you back then. She would be proud to see how you kept up your artwork.
Sorry to hear of her passing. 104 is amazing and it really sounds like she made the most of every year!
For sure she did more than the average bear. Slowly but surely, and always positive.
May the perpetual light shine upon her.
It is. And on us.