Grace Paley Passes On

23Aug2007 Filed under: Arts and Culture, Poetry, Politics, Social Justice Author: Cole

So sad. I don’t have words just yet for this, but Grace Paley passed yesterday. I’m so glad JFREJ honored her while she was still alive last year. May her memory forever be a blessing.

Grace Paley, the celebrated writer and social activist whose acclaimed short stories explored in precise, pungent and tragicomic style the struggles of ordinary women muddling through everyday lives, died Wednesday at her home in Thetford Hill, Vt. She was 84 and lived most of her life in Manhattan before moving to Vermont in 1988.

Her husband, Robert Nichols, told the Associated Press that she had battled breast cancer. The agency did not say whether her death was directly connected to that illness.

Full piece here, and another sweet blog article here. I’ll write more soon, but in the meantime, if she touched your life, share with us your memories. I know she touched mine.

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2 Responses to “Grace Paley Passes On”

oneluckyfellow
August 24th, 2007 at 11:02 am

please check out this personal blog of a friend of mine. she writes beautifully about Grace Paley and her writing:

http://sassafras.blogs.friendster.com/my_blog/
Sue Hoffman
August 30th, 2007 at 2:18 pm

Just got back from vacation to hear about the death of Grace Paley. She was a mentor and role model for my Jewish eco-feminist activism in the early 1980’s when we organized the Women’s Pentagon Action together. Thousands of women placed cardboard tombstones on the grounds in front of the building to commemorate women who had died due to the power of US militarist, anti-woman and anti-nature domination. Included were the Jewish women who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. We then surrounded the Pentagon; dozens were arrested. She passed along to us young women her heritage of activism and encouragement to speak up and take risks, but to root our activism in love, not anger. She shared power in collective decision-making. Let us carry on her legacy by teaching and sharing as she did, with an open heart, across the generations.