Memorial Service
Celebrating the Life of
Michelle Di Giacomo

Friends Meetinghouse
November 9, 2024
10am

(also on Zoom: Click HERE to join us)

(Zoom ID #976 0522 6497 — passcode: 194077
— Phone: +1 346 248 7799, then enter ID#)

 

Remembering Michelle (1946 – 2024) Michelle Di Giacomo was born on January 27th,1946, and she passed away in her home on August 13th, 2024, at the age of 78. She left behind her niece Lorissa Di Giacomo and nephews Giuseppe Di Giacomo, Dylan Di Giacomo, Gabriel Di Giacomo and Lionel Di Giacomo. All three of her younger brothers passed, the last of whom was her youngest brother John Di Giacomo he passed away this past January. She has lived in the same house since she was a young adult. She took care of her mother and brother Sal when he was ill. She loved her community and was well liked by the neighborhood. She would take walks in San Pedro Park and talked to everyone. She grew up a Quaker and she was a member/friend in the San Antonio Quaker branch till COVID.             Michelle has never met a stranger and never was at a loss for words. Michelle was a children’s librarian for 20+ years. She started her career at the Carver Public Library in San Antonio in the early 1990s. One of her coworkers from the Semmes Branch at the time had fond memories of her tossing off her shoes and scaling the rock wall at staff day. At a children’s summer reading event, Michelle calling out to children to create structures out of paper: Come and build! Come and Build!”. Another coworker at the same branch remembers her pacing the workroom and practicing her songs for story time. Michelle had a love of life and wanted to share that with all that who was around her. She connected with children so much because she had the same wonder and awe about life that young children have that came to her story times. Michelle was a lover of animals especially dogs. She would always tell everyone that she was a dog person that had cats. Her niece Lorissa remembers that they would go to the River Cluster Dog show every summer and would walk around and “judge” the dogs and the events. Lorissa remembers that they would be there for hours having the best time. She also remembers that her aunt would love to shop for puppets for her story times and that Michellle would playfully act the animals’ character in the store and that it was very entertaining shopping. Michelle Di Giacomo left a hole in many people’s hearts when she left this world. I hope that we can all take our memories of her love of animals, books and helping others and do some good each day in her honor.                                                           — Lorissa Di Giacomo Click HERE to download the full Memorial Brochure (PDF)

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Memorial Service
Celebrating the Life of James Mize

Friends Meetinghouse
September 21, 2024
10am

(also on Zoom: Click HERE to join us)

(Zoom ID #976 0522 6497 — passcode: 194077
— Phone: +1 346 248 7799, then enter ID#)

Remembering James
(1954 – 2024)

James Steven Mize passed away peacefully in Asheville NC after open heart surgery. He grew up on a farm near Byron GA. An old-school free-range kid, he spent hours roaming the woods and fields and places all around him. With that exploration came a love and appreciation for the natural world that he held close all his life. James loved to tell folks he was raised by an Airedale named Rex, a constant companion. As testament to this, in his wallet to the end, James carried a 60-year-old photograph of himself and Rex together on the front porch.

What held equal fascination for him? Engines and machines of course. As a youngster too short to see over and under the hood, James would climb up and stand on the front fender to watch his father work on a car. He “fixed” his bike, disassembled and reassembled lawn mowers, drove a tractor at 14, and when he was 15 worked part time at a filling station, pumping gas and fixing flats. His dream was to build engines for NASCAR, but early marriage and fatherhood led him to apprentice with his father as a Tool and Die Maker. Over a work career that spanned 45 years and that took him from coast to coast, he adapted and reinvented himself, becoming a 3D Laser Coordinate Measurement System specialist and instructor. Hands-on expertise shaped his approach to training. Doing good work mattered to him.

Overcoming undiagnosed dyslexia, James read voraciously – history, science, philosophy, psychology, black studies, world civilizations, case and field studies, biographies – you name the subject, he probably read about it. His reading list is eclectic and informative.

James studied astronomy and was an amateur stargazer. He took his son to watch sunrises and go on adventures fishing and camping and he coached Little League for a time. As a young man, James played basketball and volleyball, batted left-handed in baseball, and ran marathons. He loved music and motorcycles, travel and art. He was an incredible photographer, capturing moments in stillness that sometimes even surprised him. And he was a good hugger, a really good hugger.

James loved his family and friends, his dogs, his work and his coworkers, and ultimately, he loved his life, appreciating the technology that extended his life twice. He sometimes spoke about how artificial valves and a pacemaker allowed him time to become a Quaker and experience true beloved community.

He is survived by his wife Joni, two brothers, numerous in-laws, his son and a stepdaughter, grandchildren and a great grandchild, nieces and nephews, and many friends.

Click HERE to download the full Memorial Brochure (PDF)

 

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Dream Week Event

A Quaker Approach to Anti-Racism Work

Wednesday, January 17th
6-8pm

Potluck at 6pm
Worship Sharing at 7pm

 

The public is invited to join Friends Meeting of San Antonio (Quakers) in a prayerful reflection on questions involving privilege, race, and ways to work for equality. We will gather for worshipful reflection on January 17, 7:00. A potluck will proceed the event.

You are welcome to join us by Zoom. Click HERE  
(Zoom ID #976 0522 6497; passcode: 194077)

 

At the Quaker Meetinghouse
7052 N Vandiver Road
(corner of Eisenhower)

 

Free to all

Overview:

Welcome to the San Antonio Friends (Quakers) Worship Sharing on Anti-Racism. While there are no hard and fast rules within worship sharing, it is important we have a mutual understanding of our space together to create a meaningful worship for all. As we explore the highly charged topics of anti-racism in sacred community, the Quaker form of worship helps us to listen to one another and ourselves in a deeply spiritual, loving, and open way. It draws us into a sacred space in which we can speak openly from our hearts and our own experience. Worship sharing is very much like a silent Quaker meeting for worship except that we are asked to focus on a particular prompt and query, then respond from our own experience.

We offered these simple worship guidelines:

1. We begin with stillness and silence and reach as deeply as we can into the sacred center of our lives.
2. We speak from our own experience about our own experience. We concentrate on feelings and changes rather than on thoughts or theories.
3. We speak out of worship and leave a substantial period of silence for reflection between speakers to savor what has been shared.
4. We listen carefully and deeply to what is spoken. We listen patiently and attentively without judgment and without the distraction of our own thoughts.
5. We do not respond to what anyone else has said, either to praise or refute.
6. Whether one speaks out of worship or remains in silent meditation rests with each individual. We have the option to remain silent. But if everyone has spoken, we may speak again.
7. What is said here stays here, what is learned here may leave here.

Introductory Text:

Ruth King, Mindful of Race, Introduction

• “Something alarming happens when we think or hear the word racism. Something deep within us is awakened into fear. All of us, regardless of our race and our experience of race, get triggered, and more than the moment is at play…. This activation happens to all of us. . . . Some of us do not acknowledge that we are racial beings within the human race, nor do we recognize how or understand why our instinct as members of racial groups is too often fear, hurt, or harm other races, including our own. And we don’t know how to face into and own what we have co-created as humans.”
• “The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it’s the only way forward.” Ijeoma Oluo (from her book “So You Want to Talk about Race”)

Queries:

• What feelings am I holding as come to understand my/their whiteness automatically benefits me/them in the dominant culture?
• In what ways can I overcome those feelings and ensure the focus of my antiracism work raises the voices of those least heard (or with the least privilege)?
• How can I help others become more aware of how their privilege impacts others with less privilege?