Goodbye, Mom

I was asked to write my mother's obituary. This is kind of miraculous because we were estranged for 30 years. We only reconciled shortly before she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and I helped care for her in the weeks before she died. That process was incredibly painful and incredibly healing. Writing this was healing, too. There will be many more stories about my mom and me, but this is what I'm capable of sharing now.

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Sharen Seedman Baker passed away peacefully in her Hartford home on March 28. At 77-years young, she left the world too soon, just 50 days after receiving a diagnosis of glioblastoma. But she was ready, reminding her devastated family that “Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore.” (Luke 12:7) Sharen died the way she lived--on her own terms, with hospice care in her beloved Armsmear apartment, surrounded by her family, friends, books, and art.

Sharen was the daughter of the late Willard Seedman and Nellie McGann. After graduating from St. Joseph’s College and the University of Connecticut, she worked as a special education teacher in Connecticut, Wisconsin, Nevada, and California. She was a lifelong learner, a member of MENSA, a Reiki master, a painter, a social justice champion, and a spiritual seeker. Sharen was a long-time member of Grace Episcopal Church and sang in the choir there. She also studied Sufism for many years and meditated daily. Sharen loved travel, visiting every continent and participating in medical missions in Africa and South America.

She is survived by her sister, Kim Orthner (Walt); her brother, Bill Seedman (Shannon); her brother, Paul McGann; and her four children--John Baker (Gay), Julie Baker, Laurie St. Laurent (Norman), and Tom Savage (Elizabeth). She was “Nani” to seven grandchildren--Emily St. Laurent, Ruby Baker-Poveromo, Christian Savage, Madeline St. Laurent, Daniel Savage, Zane Baker-Poveromo, and Tatiana Savage. She’ll also be missed by her cousins, nieces, nephews, and countless friends and neighbors.

Calling hours are Friday, April 5 from 4:00pm - 6:00pm at Brooklawn Funeral Home, 511 Brook Street, Rocky HIll.  Funeral Services will be held at 10:30am on Saturday, April 6 at Grace Episcopal Church, 55 New Park Avenue, Hartford.

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” ~Rumi