This letter was read at George's memorial last week. He ran
Beltane, PolyLiving and FSG. He was great at getting things done
and encouraging others to do the same. - Michael
Greetings to you all, friends and acquaintances of my late
husband, George Marvil. I wish I could be there today with you to
mourn and share your good company. Please know that I am thinking
of you as I work at my business this afternoon and try to do all
the things I believe George would want me to do to keep our home
and family running on an even keel. I want to take a moment of
your time to tell you some things about George.
George was a difficult man to know. When I first met his father
years ago, he asked how long I had known George. I said I'd been
dating him for six months. He said, "Six months is hardly a hello
with George." He had depth to him that he almost never let anyone
see. In the last 18 months, he had let down some of his guard.
I'm so thankful we had this time together. I'm an Aries, and we
tend to make war, not love, but in that time, things changed for
us dramatically.
Our previously stormy marriage transformed into a source of
strength for both of us. We learned something about loyalty, and
something about the true meaning of love and of marriage. He
learned to let old angers go, and I learned the value of being
present in the here and now. Hard lessons learned, but good ones
nonetheless.
As most of you know, he was fiercely devoted to Free Spirit
Alliance, spending many years donating hundreds of hours to its
service, and serving as its president. Not a perfect man by any
stretch of the imagination, he always strived to give his best
efforts to FSA. He had a dream that the organization's events
would reach more and more people each year, eventually drawing
Pagans from all over the world. He shared my dream that we could
help the greater Pagan community's kids get a good education
through scholarships and an environment that valued college
degrees and learning. Thus was born the scholarship fund which
will now bear his name.
His favorite way to pass the time was developing ideas and
serving this community. He cared deeply about building it into
something we could all be proud of. I hope you all know how
important you were to him as members of that community.
Before I let you get on with this service, I want to tell you
something that I have learned. Maybe some of you already know
this, but I'm going to say it anyway. Time is the only thing we
have that is truly of any value. You never know when your time is
going to be up. I thought we'd have at least a few more years
with George around to share his hare- brained ideas, boss us
around, get things done, make us crazy, do the things he did. I
was wrong, and I feel much the poorer for it. He would tell you,
and I will, too, that you must make the most of your time. Live
life to its fullest. Don't hold grudges. Don't dwell in the past
and, by the same token, don't live for some future dream without
regard for the gifts of the present. Tell those you love that
you love them. Tell them every day. Live and be as happy as you
can be. That's what he would want from all of us.
Thank you for being a part of this service. There will be
memorials held at Beltane and Free Spirit Gatherings in 2007, and
some of George's ashes will be scattered at Ramblewood in the
spring. I hope to see some or all of you there for those
memorials as well.
Blessings,
Cat Castells
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