Dear Gonzaga

Dear Gonzaga,

I am saddened as so many are. Perhaps you are too. Did you think as you passed of unfinished things? Your To Do List was always long and exciting, but I think you had no reason to look back. The testimonials to your life are amazing, don’t you think? You must be grinning because I believe you knew just who you were meant to be and you did yourSELF (as we used to say) proud (your mother and father, too). Csikzentmihalyi would be proud, too... you were true to yourSELF!

Since retiring, I have missed our philosophy discussions, chewing over ideas and debating grounded research. You loved the playground of the mind; it was more real than the trivial tangibles tripping us up every day. You were driven by those ideas and debatable situations... eager to leap forward, to get somewhere no one else had explored, to make the world a better place, and to bring others along in the adventure. Often, I was a weight dragging on your foot, nagging about the reality the rest of us experienced... evaluations, publication, promotion, tenure, administrative details, organizing our offices... you know! In good humor, you politely listened, then went on with what was more important - the student, the colleague, the challenge, the discovery. And there you have it... a life of time too short for those you have left behind, but a life fully lived with all your remarkable capacity.

Thank you, Gonzaga, for taking me along for part of your journey. It was precious.

Love,
Moe

(You were one of two allowed to call me that - because you named me with caring.)

Maureen Glancy
Professor Emerita
SJSU