A living memorial is being set up for Tee Corrine through the RCC Foundation. If you wish to contribute, just send your tax deductible contribution to the RCC Foundation. The plan is to purchase a tree/shrub to plant on campus with a plaque. Michael Raines will help choose the appropriate plant for the right location. If money remains, a student scholarship will be created in Tee’s name.

RCC Foundation
3345 Redwood Highway
Grants Pass, Oregon 97527
(541) 956-7327 | Fax: (541) 471-3591

let’s use the blog to tell each other tee stories. not everybody will be able to come to the memorial (september 23, sunny valley town hall, 11-3), but we can all share our memories here.

what’s your favorite story involving tee corinne?

here’s (one of) mine: tee remembers meeting me and my lover, cara vaughn, for the first time at a party in new york city, probably in 1981. she got into the elevator with us, and on the way down, asked if we’d pose nude for her. cara said “no” before tee had quite finished asking the question. since our policy was that whoever cared more about something generally got her way, i didn’t argue. (i’d have considered it, but cara was definite.) tee says she decided that minute that she needed to leave new york and go back to the west coast, where the women were more accommodating.

and that’s why the southern oregon community owes cara and me a debt of gratitude. we sent her straight into your arms.

okay. who’s next? remember to sign your post, unless anonymity is more comfortable for you.

Our beloved Tee left the world she’s known for sixty-two years Sunday, August 27, 2006, at 1:15 p.m. She was surrounded by devoted friends from around the globe. She was at peace with her world and remained grateful for the riches she has enjoyed in life.

The loving and productive efforts of so many people who served with no expectations of return or reward made Tee a very wealthy woman and made each and every one of us richer. Our gifts from Tee and from each other made us stronger, more closely-knit and truly grateful.

Details of her memorial services will be posted soon. Anyone who wishes to contact me, her designated Executrix, will find me accessible at: geeknee@a1pro.net. My phone number is: 541-474-7645. For my ease in continuing to handle all business matters for Tee and her estate, I have opened a post office box closer to my home. All Tee’s mail will be forwarded to: P. O. Box 633, Merlin, Oregon 97532

Virtually all of Tee’s estate will become the property of the University of Oregon, Special Collections and University Archives in the University of Oregon Libraries.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Tee’s name should be made payable to UO Foundation/Libraries, with “In memory of Tee Corinne” in the memo line, and should be mailed to the Library Development Office, 1299 University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403-1299.

tee corinne died peacefully in her home at poppyseed, surrounded with love, gratitude, blessings, and songs from near and far. she was a bright shining star. the work that she did, in teaching, making art, writing, and publishing, changed thousands of lives. her work lives on, and she is translated to her next adventure.

she hopes she’ll be allowed to keep some of the skills she learned in this one.

she was conscious of the love and light that surrounded her until the end, and she was grateful for it. now, as always, it is our responsibility to take the gifts she gave us, and put them to use, and make them count.

(generously provided by jenny council: feel free to chime in in the comments.)

it was a light-hearted event. discussion ranged from snakes, to the weather, to mathematics, and beyond. in attendance were jeanne, bethroot, mara, charlotte hutt, barb, tina, marianne, renee, donna doyle, tangren, and maybe one or two others.

a little after eight, tee declared the party a success, and over, and people went home so she could get some sleep.

jenny council stayed overnight, and then donna doyle arrived in the morning and stayed all day. tee spent most of the day dozing.

i know i have probably failed to mention dozens of people in the last couple of weeks. i apologize to you all; i’ve been getting my reports from tee, and she’s a little vague on the details.

tee is expecting between ten and fifteen women for pizza tonight, and she’s looking forward to that.

parties at poppyseed. it has a lovely sound, doesn’t it?

tee spent much of the day sleeping on the sofa, looking out the window. “the sky is so blue, the trees so green, all the different shades.” jenny’s staying until noon tomorrow, so tee has good continuity in her life. max will be home soon, and she’ll be at poppyseed all weekend.

“i’m just being really, really quiet. and that feels good.”

probability of canasta tonight: very high.

tee felt good this morning, and did a lot of work in the garage with tina and barb, cleaning out and hauling away. tee says it was “great fun,” and there’s no accounting for tastes, is there?

then there was lunch, and an afternoon dozing and napping and drowsing. jenny’s on her way over, max is there, and they’re going to call up beth, can you guess why?

foursome canasta. right in one. so smart you people are.

some of tee’s symptoms have started to escalate, and so she slept most of the day. she was glad she was rested when miatree and suma arrived.

tee likes them so much, and the synchronicity with miatree’s sudden descent into medical drama makes it even more striking. (miatree has two tumors, which will remain a mystery because biopsy could compromise some of the functions she holds dear. all we can do is hope they’re benign, and hope it really, really hard. which i know you all can do.)

bethroot has cooked a wonderful salmon dinner, and she, beth, max, and tee will be playing canasta Real Soon Now.

this morning tee and mara and tangren had great fun, playing “would you really wear that?” a game involving, mostly, costume jewelry.

donna doyle visited with tee in the studio for awhile, and then sat with mara while tee slept. mara took tee in to grants pass for a haircut, and charlotte picked her up afterwards. they went to that japanese restaurant and had “three kinds of sashimi!” when i talked to tee, they were taking some of it home to max.

jesse is tonight’s overnight angel, and there should be enough people for a foursome of canasta. which, really, is all we can ask for.