A Life Lived Fully, Graciously, and Generously

Eve has her own insights. She will come alive… She will find her own ways to say things.

Scarcely a year after ARTZ Philadelphia had launched, Len and Eve G. contacted Susan and asked to meet with her. They had read about ARTZ Philadelphia in the newspaper and wanted to know more. Eve was a retired social worker who had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. Len was a retired academic. They wanted to be sure that our programs would be a good fit for Eve. In that initial conversation, Eve’s tremendous capacity for caring came through. She was concerned about how ARTZ Philadelphia would survive financially, how our mission would be sustained. Len offered to help review grants for us. And a month later, Eve and Len began attending our programs on a regular basis. Eve became our resident expert on the underlying human emotions and experiences found in the works of art we all looked at together. Her responses were always insightful, elegant, and eloquent.

Three years later, Eve was still attending our programs, still communicating her caring and empathetic character to all who came into contact with her, even though some days her only language was that of her eyes and her smile. When Eve and her caregiver joined us for a program, the whole group celebrated their arrival with applause and warm greetings. And Eve always smiled and marveled at the reception she received.

On October 8, 2017, Eve died with her beloved family around her. Just a week and a half earlier, she had been participating as usual in ARTZ @ The Museum.

POSTSCRIPT: Eve and Len were pillars of the ARTZ Philadelphia community. They participated in all of our programs available to them, including our most recent addition, “ARTZ @ Jeff,” in which they both volunteered as mentors – along with Eve’s professional caregiver — for medical students at Thomas Jefferson University during the program’s first two semesters. We celebrate Eve’s life, lived fully, graciously, and generously. We are so grateful to have been part of her world.