Marion Burrows Smith

The world is smaller and less bright without Marion. I remember her own words about death in her final chapter of Riptide. "We're blades of grass, tiny fireflies of energy blinking on and off, vanished foam on some Kauai beach... It's death that makes life precious. Acting in the face of death. I think I had my children to help me ward off death. And it's worked. I'd live my life again, but only...if I could love the same people... all of you. I want to hold you... I'd like to believe that on the night I die, stars will laugh. A young and beautiful woman will open long arms to me and say, 'Come.' My children will forgive me. They'll mourn. My husband will be comforted. He'll find his god. Sunrise will come to some quadrant of the earth... I close my eyes. Hold on to who I am. "