Gaia Goddess

Susan Lee Solar
Susan was loved so. An alter on her front porch spontaneously appeared and grew. Friends and relatives sent in these tributes and remembrances. Please send yours to ric@moment.net Since this is such a long page, we suggest scrolling down one column, then clicking the "up to the top" button to come back up and read the other column.
To go to a new section we have put up to highlight announcements and documentation of political activities that Susan might have organized or been part of, click Living Tributes.

Susan's Obituary

Altar

Susan's dear friend Susan Bright found Susan's Tarot cards and wrote this.

Cards

I found them by the bed
and later said I¹d like them
back
I said "back," because I¹m pretty
sure I gave them to her.

Inside I found notes
from the last time I read
for her
something about
"changing the energy
by meeting fear with love"
which I don¹t remember
saying, or even understanding
very well
so it must have been
her transforming
what I said to say something
useful.

So last night I was reading
for a new friend who
traveled here to visit the library
we sent Susan¹s papers to
when Valerie stopped in
with a bag of fresh bread
and said
can you do a reading
for Susan with those cards?

I spread the cards
and pulled from the trail of them
at random

The Hermit ­ moving profoundly
through the universe, carrying light,
jackels braying at her heels.

Prince of Swords
reality coming apart, unstable
now, fast flying through
everything changing
body to ash, for instance.

Abundance
for instance all of us,
this love
that pours and pours
through every level

Peace
she wanted that,
spirit swords balanced
we laugh in her cadence
sometimes.

Princess of Cups
the romantic one,
swimming through new bones,
the truth of it.

Interference
Stop asking now.

The Empress
great mother goddess
which she as much as anyone
anywhere, brought
back to reality.

Gain
she¹s better now.

Princess of Disks
peering into the depths
of earth and the universe
on the ledge
of more
transformation.

Ace of Cups
how she signed
her mail to us
"hugs,
susan"

©Susan Bright, Feb 24, 2002

Medium shot of altar

This came from Bonny Caraway, one of the people Susan got to know while working on the death penalty book.

I am a friend of Susan's. We became close just
recently as she was working on a book about
innocence on death row and one of my friends was
one of her dear friends - Anthony Graves.

She was a wonderful, caring, and hard working lady.
I admired Susan so much. She never gave up. This
is a sad time indeed to lose such a beautiful human being. I offer my blessings and I know that Susan
has gone on to a very special place with a special
set of angel wings awaiting her there. I am so sorry.
This is a great loss. My prayers are with Susan's
family and friends. And I know she had many.

In my prayers,

Bonnie Caraway
Justice For Graves

http://www.geocities.com/bonnie_jo77561/deathrow.html

Elvis Candy Tin

Sharon Anderson Rose was one of Susan's childhood friends who shared her love of Elvis.

My friendship with Susan dates back to junior high school in Houston. Fortunate for me, we maintained contact throughout the years. Her influence in my life choices was major. My memories of Susan include sequestering ourselves for months one summer writing 'We Want Elvis' cards to submit to a local radio station in Houston, resulting in our meeting him backstage during his first Houston performance in 1957, and many years later, driving together to Norman, OK, (Susan singing along to Janis Joplin's version of "Bobby McGee") so she could attend a workshop relating to Native Americans.

Her accomplishments are many........her greatest pride, however, seemed to be her daughters. I shall never forget her.

Sharon Anderson Rose
Oklahoma City, OK

This came from Debbie Crosby, another of Susan's contacts from her work on the death penalty.

Hi, I live in Whitehouse, TX which is just outside of Tyler. Tyler is east of Dallas. I knew Susan because of my Brother. She contacted me to talk about him and how his sentencing and death has affected my family.

My brother's name was David Stoker. Susan wrote some about his case in her book. I had sent her a picture of my family because we (Susan and I)
had become friends talking over the phone and email. I ask her to make sure and not put the picture in the book or information on where any of us
live.
She agreed to my wishes.

My brother was executed in 97. My family has
been through a lot with all that has happened. Susan was very understanding to that fact. Susan was a very caring person. I will miss her greatly.

Thanks,
Debbie

This signed letter to the editor, written by Don Darling, was hanging in Susan's room.

Here is a note and some verses from Lee Gold, one of Susan's old friends from Washington.

Dear friends and family of Susan,

Spent yesterday wreathed in sadness, clinging to memories and wishing for the community of friends and strangers who had known Susan. Thank you for the reminiscences and descriptions of her accomplishments which have arrived to fill the void.

The cold, rainy, damp. gray day felt comforting, appropriate for my mood but hardly fitting for a
person so charged with light and life and passion. Today the sun is shining and I can only hope it is doing the same in Austin.

Before falling asleep I remembered Susan lugging sculptures which always seemed bigger than she was from one room to another in her house in Washington. I do not remember the mess but then mess is a familiar part of my environment.
Then there was a Washington reunion long after I'd left when Susan had recently begun her goddess jewelry and I bought a silver Gaia, large, exuberant and dancing. I wore it, with some trepidation,
onto the plane. The first words out of the steward's mouth were "I love that! Where did you get it?" Similar words have always greeted me when I wear it and I could have sold hundreds over the years. It
was what I wore when I felt I needed strength or courage and what I wore when I felt as full of life as the goddess herself.

Our email intimacy grew over the past few years sharing outrage in the larger world and personal struggles. I still cannot believe this source of connection is stilled. To comfort myself and find words that did justice to such an amazing soul, I went to bed with one of my favorite poets who offers
me solace and a deep connection to the natural world, Mary Oliver. Here are a few lines:

"In the book of the earth it is written:
nothing can die.

In the book of the Sioux it is written:
they have gone away into the earth to hide.
Nothing can coax them out again
but the people dancing."

from "Ghosts"

And about her it can never be said, "she simply visited this world."

"When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world."

from "When Death Comes"

Thinking of all of you and her friends and family and especially of
Susan herself in all her shimmering, committed, energetic
manifestations.

Love, Lee

Artwork on the altar.

This came from Liz Wally.

I think of Susan as ever optimistic, an intrepid warrior with an earthy laugh, and a loving protector of all who are in need. I miss her presence on our earth and will for a long, long time.

Liz Wally

Here's a note from Regina Bueno Renke in another part of the world Susan touched.

My name is Regina Bueno Renke. I want to let
you know how painful it is to realize that Susan is no
longer among us. Please send my condolences to her children and other family members. I just spoke with her on the phone just last january. She was
responsible to help a common friend in South Africa.
God this is so painful to realize that she is no
longer a phone call away.

God we have lost an incredible, loving, humble and caring woman. There aren't many like her left in the activist movement. I am so sorry I live in Vancouver (still Canada) and cannot come to any of the ceremonies. Please give my name and phone number to the family in case they need anything from up here. Susan was an example of tenacity and real integrity. I am already in tears just thinking about how she accepted people and was so extremely knowledgeable about the environmental
issues.

It was with Suzan that I learned about Bale Hay
construction and the Nuke Museum (that she was so kind in doing it). Anyway, I cannot stop crying,

Regina Bueno Renke
#2 - 1247 Kingsway
Vancouver - BC Canada
604 - 709-0812

This came from Susan's South African friend, Sizani Ngubane.

This message is to say thank ever so much for creating a web site for our friend Susan. I am feeling very empty without her from such a distance.

She has been a great inspiration for me I am where I am today because of her spiritual support. I am not too sure how to deal with this problem.

All the best with the creation of the web site - this would be a great honour to her.

Sizani

This came from Susan's Arkansas friend, Yael.

Dearest friends of Susan's,

Like all of you, I am shocked by Susan's passing. I had the great blessing of being true, passionate, best friends with Susan while she was here in Arkansas.

Susan came into my life at a time when I had just been diagnosed with a progressive genetic disease that is very disabling and painful. Susan was a gift from God, a shining light, full of life and energy and vitality. She introduced me to a new reverence for the Earth religions as well as sending me into fits of laughter with some of her songs that she sang to me!

Another gift that came to me out of those darkest times was the gift of a deep communion with God. A communion that, upon meeting my husband and marrying him, blossomed into full-fledged communications. These beautiful, inspired communications have become my life's work. And, as our work expanded, I also became able to communicate with animals.

Last week, seemingly out of the blue, I received a message from my beautiful Magic Cat. I call him "Garfield's Understudy", and Susan loved him. He weighs about 18 pounds and he's 15 years old. He's gray and white and he has the most beautiful almond shaped eyes. This communication, that came to me from him last week was on death! As soon as I heard about Susan, I understood why.

I would like to share this communication with all of you because I know that if you are friends of Susan's, you are also open hearted explorers of the mysteries of life.

I know this gift, of this message, is a "special delivery" for all of us who are here, left behind. I also know that Susan, in her glorious vitality is now dancing and singing with joy and gusto on a far of larger "stage" of life!

With love,

Yaël
yaelhana@ipa.net
www.circleoflight.net

MAGIC CAT ON DEATH
2-11-02

Well! It’s about time you listened to me! I’ve been patiently waiting in line to get through. You kept saying you wanted to listen to me, but something else was always more pressing. Great messages from the Creator and things of that nature. That is such a human thing to do. All of you are always seeking the exciting revelation, the great meaning, when you would be far better served by the simple and immediate messages of the things around you. The things around you reflect you. The way you are here and now. The things you have drawn into your life and the answers to the questions of how to live this life now, in a breakthrough way. So while I know you like the importance of knowing the big things, you might consider the practice of true humility. As much can be revealed to you in the blossom of a flower as in all the cosmic layers of the grand universe. You also might consider having more CAT wisdom!

Tonight I am going to speak to you about death. This is a subject that is on your mind often when you look at me. (No, I’m not leaving any time soon.) Because I’m what you see as ‘older,’ you have fears about ‘losing me.’ It is a very good thing that you use the Violet Flame to immediately transform these thoughts. But it is now in your timing to explore this topic. It has even come to you in the book you’re reading. It is fine to be looking at the Ascension process for this is on the program for human beings, but before you can even begin to draw that to you, you must be completely free of any charged feelings about the normal death process. I want to help you.

First, let me tell you how it looks to a cat. It is nothing to even be concerned about. We are slipping in and out of here continually. We are not at all like humans. For we have not cut ourselves off from the rest of Creation and from the rest of our beings, as humanity has. To us it is less of a problem than taking off the clothes that you humans wear. You have an image I have seen in your mind that explains it accurately. This is exactly how death is. [Note from Yaël: this is the scene in the movie, Cocoon, in the pool where she unzips her body and flies in her light body.]

We dance each day on the Web of Life. We see all around us the entrance points to the spiritual world. And we regularly slip through to expand ourselves, to dance and play and resonate with all of our Creator’s life

The process of dying is a great reunion of the heart. I know this because, being free, I watch it all the time. Remember, there is a reason why cats sleep so much. We are exploring the rest of the Web of Life. So I often stand back and watch what happens as a person phases out of the incarnated consciousness and phases in to the larger reality. The first thing that I see is the signal of the heart. There is an actual beam of light emanating from the consciousness, and there is a vibrational pattern or song from the heart. As this issues forth, there is a great magnetic response. It is through this response that all beings in your sector, your slice of life, are drawn perfectly to you. It is like a vibrational lock and key, with the two parts opening in unison with complementary and interweaving energy patterns.

So, see who it is that is drawn to your heart. Now, in this I’m not saying you are preparing for a death experience. Not at all. Rather, that it will enrich your life right now to have contact with your larger family. As you are right now experiencing, these beings in your larger family are going to become an ever greater and clearer part of your life. For those who are climbing into the highest tree branches where you can easily see beyond the veil and into the Web of Life, well, you will simply become like a cat! You will dance across the bridge of Time to play the songs of Love, as your feet touch the chords of the great strings of the weaving of the Web of Life.

I can promise you that as you dance forth into the adventure, first you will see beauty but as if you were in a bit of a fog. Then as the fog clears, your heart will call you to play your song. Again, it’s difficult to explain. But once you see yourself and know yourself, you will intuitively know how to play the song of your being by the way you move on/in the great tapestry. This song of your being is the most beautiful experience. It is infallible. It describes you absolutely perfectly to all who are a part of this dancing and radiant life. Ah, it is like this communion between us, only far more beautiful and far clearer.

God is radiant Love. This Love is seeking you every moment through all eternity. Unless you consciously turn away, God will always find you. So, anyone who is not actively away from God will be with God. You may want to read this a large number of times until it is fully accepted in your consciousness. I hope you see from this that you will never be lost. There can be no negative experiences and nothing can pretend otherwise, unless you actively choose to turn away. Since certainly you have not turned away, God will always find you, commune with you, lift you. God is reaching to you, to know you in joined communion of consciousness always.

Now shedding the weight of the body is one way to come into this pared down relationship in which all incorrect interpretations of the consciousness are overcome (risen over). But it is also a very viable option to develop the total communion with the truth of life, the great Web of Life, through the body so it does not become an obstacle or impediment. This is what God is bringing to you in this discussion tonight and other things you have been considering. If the body becomes a conscious conduit of the connecting Love, it can itself be raised up; it can overcome all limitation, even death.

What you are beginning to learn about the truth of your cells is no accident. They are open beings, articles on their own vision quest. Once you recognize this, you can essentially shoot the light through the cells and commune directly with the Web of Life. So understanding and including these cells not only dramatically increases your light quotient, it enhances the flow of information between All That Is without and All That Is within. Then what you find in the purity of Love, greater Love, without, becomes what is within.

This a topic we most definitely need to cover from other angles. Thanks for listening.

Here's a note from fellow jeweler and videographer Jim Lutz.

Ric,

I enjoyed visiting the website. It's a beautiful memorial.

I first met Susan when we were involved with ACTV in the 70's. She was still living with her husband behind Wheatsville. From the first time I met her Susan was an activist and always tried to maximize the reach of her message. At that time she had a grant to create four community television programs which I believe had to do with childrens issues perhaps tied to the Creative Rapid Learning Center and their work with disadvantaged students.

We visited at the Kerrville Folk Festival where Susan had her nuclear power information dissemination project on wheels. No nukes is good nukes.

Over the years we talked of our jewelry creations and more recently we have visited at your home at the Pedernales. She was always a bright and focused spirit and the kind of creative and caring person that helped make Austin the cultural mecca that I have known these past decades.

She has made the world a better place.

This life is short. Act like this is the only one you have. Love is priceless.

Jim Lutz

This article was written by Don Fitz, editor of Synthesis/Regeneration: A Magazine of Green Social Thought. Susan co-edited 3 issues of the magazine with Don

REMEMBERING SUSAN LEE SOLAR

by Don Fitz, Green Party of St. Louis/Gateway Green Alliance

Susan Lee Solar died of steptococcal pneumonia on February 13, 2002 at South Austin Hospital. Readers of Synthesis/Regeneration: A Magazine of Green Social Thought (S/R) may remember that she edited three issues on nuclear themes in 1996.

I first met Susan in July, 1995 at the annual gathering of The Greens/Green Party USA in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At one of the workshops I announced that we needed people to write and edit for S/R. Afterwards, she talked about so many themes she wanted to be cover that I asked her if she wanted to edit an entire issue. She agreed. But what was planned to be one issue turned into three as we worked together through the next year and a half.

The first undertaking, S/R 9 (Winter, 1996), focussed on "Nuclear Hot Spots." Susan had said that she loved the S/R philosophy that the first choice for articles should be activists describing their work and exemplifying it for others. She knew an incredible number of people who had been working on nuke issues throughout the world. Articles told of struggles around the Mururoa Atoll, Prairie Island MN, Cape Fear NC, Homer LA, Church Rock AZ, Ogalla Qquifer TX, Sierra Blanca TX, Carlsbad NM Crownpoint NM, Mescalero Reservation NM, Santa Fe NM and at Capitol Hill to halt nuclear waste transportation. Susan's own article described the "Earth and Sky Women's Peace Caravan Museum to End the Nuclear Age" which many had seen driving around the US:

"By mid-June of 1995, the caravan had materialized into a bright blue converted RV museum with an original interior design, fitted out with solar panels to run lights, fans, a computer-based radiation monitor, a high-8 video camera and a TV-VCR… Exhibits cover the history and legacy of the nuclear age, from uranium mining and proc-essing, nuclear power reactors, and bomb-making/testing, to transport and waste management, with hands-on experience in radiation monitoring." (p. 24)

The second issue, S/R 10 (Spring, 1996), dealt with "Nukes and Public Health." It recounted one tragic story after another of people who suffered from living near or working at nuclear sites. I took copies to the public hearing for the proposed nuclear waste dump at Sierra Blanca in west Texas. Susan introduced me to an incredible variety of people fighting against nukes, many of whom had written or would soon write for S/R. Upon Su-san's prompting, I gave testimony comparing the lack of candor constructing the incinerator at Times Beach MO to the empty promises made to this poor Hispanic community.

The last of the S/Rs, No. 11 (Fall, 1996), addressed "The Political Economy of Nuclear Power." It featured a full cover photo of Germans lying on a railroad track to block shipment of nuclear waste to Gorleben. The lead article by Ellen Diederich told how the nuclear waste dump could destroy the German town. At that time, the memory of German Greens using elected positions to strengthen mass opposition to war and nukes was fresh in people's minds.

As we completed the series of S/Rs Susan drove her travelling blue museum to St. Louis and local Greens toured it. At that time, we were just beginning our cable TV show, Green Time, and Susan conducted one of our first taped interviews. Barbara Chicherio interviewed her inside the museum and local activist Kay Drey dis-cussed it in the studio.

The day before Susan departed St. Louis we were reminiscing at the kitchen table and I mentioned that I had grown up in Houston.

"I grew up in Houston, too!" she responded with surprise. "What part of Houston did you live in?"

"Southwest Houston," I told her.

"Really. Where did you go to high school?" she wanted to know.

"Lamar High School."

"I went to Lamar High School!" she shrieked as everyone listening burst out laughing. It didn't surprise anyone who knew us both that we could work together for over a year and be so focussed on what we were doing that we would not figure out until then that we went to the same school, separated by only a few years.

Soon after, she changed her legal name to Susan Lee Solar. In 1998, she used her new name to be the first Green Party candidate for state-wide office in Texas. Fulfilling the original Green promise, Susan used the cam-paign to spread her message about nuclear power.

The next year, she invited me to come to the founding convention of the Texas Green Party and present a workshop on genetic engineering. It never occurred to me that that would be the last time I would see her.

Susan solicited and referred articles to S/R as its Nuke Advisor through number 22 (Spring 2000) and then told me that she was too absorbed in other projects to continue.

Though the issues of oppression that touched Susan's heart were many-from sexism to the death penalty to human rights violations in Guatemala-none was more central than the unspeakable horrors of nukes. For every-one who would like to honor the memory of Susan Lee Solar, those who did not know her as well as those who did, there is no better way than to struggle to bring an end to nuclear power, nuclear waste transportation and the threat of nuclear war.

Ric Sternberg created a beautiful webpage in Susan Lee Solar's memory. It is at: http://www.aimproductions.com/SusanLee/

Thanks for the kind words, Don.
The Synthesis/Regeneration website is at:
http://www.greens.org/s-r/

Here's a link to another tribute to Susan, which appears in the April, 2002 issue of Touchstone Magazine:
http://www.rtis.com/touchstone/apr02/14.htm

Lovely Susan. I remember some exquisite goddess figures she crafted back in the 1980s. Tiny jewels in silver, detailed, beautiful. They were like seeds to plant courage and optimism for the journey. But her best seeds came from her radiant smiles and laughter, her quick wit and thoughtful attention. She made whoever she was talking with feel like the best person in the world. Good legacies you gave us. Thank you, Susan.

Martha Berryman

 

A letter from Susan's family on the Family page

Here is a letter sent to Marcia Lucas, one of Susan's best friends, by Marcia's daughter, Alexandra Barton.

Dear Mommy,

Please let everyone know that Susan Lee is deep in my thoughts and that I am sending hugs and loving energy to all of her family and friends.

I was thinking about how long I have known Susan and I actually can't remember NOT knowing her...she was always a presence and an inspiration in my life. Memories of camping together as kids - her van with the pop up top, exploring san marcos together...playing at their house next to Wheatsville...

Thinking back to just a few years ago, swimming with her in the Blanco river and talking about my new career choice and interest in coaching - she was actually one of the first few people to tell me about Coaching and Coach University.

Thinking back to women's circles shared with you, Susan and others....feeling her voice and the amazing power and energy she held in such a little body.

Thinking back to the jewelry she made - wild goddess creations that seemed to somehow give me permission to know and appreciate the goddess within me. I have one of her pieces on a shrine/altar in my home and the other is tied around a black silk cord - I'm wearing it now. I actually took it out just a few days ago, tied it around my neck and let my thoughts drift to Susan, thanking her for it. The Goddess I am wearing now in honor of Susan is
Nuith - she is the egyptian goddess that gives birth to the sun and moon everyday - a wonderful creator, a brilliant manifestor and filled with an abundance of life. She wears stars on her body for the night sky.

May Susan be shined on by the gracious abundant warmth, love and joy of heaven. May she know that she was/is well loved. May she know that her spirit will always be with us.

I love you Mommy, I am so sorry and deeply saddened. Please give all of my love to Susan's sisters, Pam and Camille and the all of her friends.

Alexandra

Close on objects in the altar

This is from Hope & Steve Phillips, Susan's neighbors on the Pedernales River.

We are still trying to comprehend how someone so young and well could go so quickly. We will meditate and pray for Susan in the grotto temple.

She is part of the river now. Her loss has added to its sacredness.

Love and thoughts,

Hope and Stephen

Hillary Hart was another of Susan's River neighbors.

Oh my, this is so sad. I was thinking the other day that I hadn't seen Susan since the fall, down by the river.

I will always see her playing her guitar in the grotto.

Hillary

This note came from Phil Schulman

I had lost touch with Susan. I knew her through a peer counseling community. We would get together at conferences, sometimes in activist support groups. She was a wonderful woman, peaceful, warm and most of all RIGHT ON! She certainly gave us all a lot. The world could use many more people like her!

Phil Schulman
Minister Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
of St Thomas- St John (USVI)

This poem and note from Pedro Nieto.

Requiem for Susan

The terrible day she died did night
descend to hide the truth that would
not stay revealed: yes! she had lived her
life shining with beauty, tho darkness'
forces tried with great futility to
extinguish her blindingly bright light.

Yet though she might from this fragile
and illusory life be gone, she blazes on
forever in celestial firmament, among
the lovely stars.

Pedro Galindo Nieto

Copyright ©2002 Pedro Nieto

I only knew her for a few weeks, but it was long enough..I only saw her once, but it was on my birthday, less than a week before she died, it was last Friday, and she insisted on meeting me, though she was sick with the flu...see you Sunday.

From: Pedro
bigpadre@hotmail.com

Susan loved her Uncle Sonny, Paul Wells Sr. Here's what he wrote about her.

When I spoke briefly at my oldest niece's Memorial Service, I was still in a state of shock at her sudden and totally unexpected departure from us. Consequently, I did not say a lot of things about her that I wish I had.

Among them are these:

(1) Susan never heard or at least paid no attention to the tried and "true" saying: "You can't fight City Hall." Susan not only fought City Hall but often brought City Hall to heel, with the fervent hope that they'd never be engaged in such a fight again.

(2) Susan's skills at organizing friends, neighbors, and strangers for a cause manifested themselves early in her life.

When she was quite young, perhaps 13 or so, a radio station in her hometown of Houston sponsored a contest in which the prize- winner would get to come to the station and personally meet the greatest celebrity of the day, Elvis Pressley. All one had to do to win was send in one million (1,000,000) pieces of paper with the words "We want Elvis" written on each.

For weeks, when I would visit her house, she and any number of other little teeny-boppers would be laying around on the living room floor, writing "We want Elvis" on scraps and scraps of paper.

She succeeded and, when the time came to go to the station to meet the idol of teenagers everywhere, she was so sick of "We want Elvis", that she didn't even care about going!

I wish I had shared these memories and many others with her friends and family last Sunday, but I found it very difficult to speak of my recollections of that incredible, star-crossed, indominantable elf.

Uncle Sonny

This is from Paul Wells Jr., Susan's cousin.

To the family and friends of Susan,

I'm Susan's first cousin and I live in Golden,
Colorado.

A year and a half ago I re-met a person who my wife
Johanna and I have become very close to and impressed with over time. This person is driven, dedicated, caring, compassionate, worldly, fun, curious, classy, friendly, and simply a really cool person to hang with and share moments.

I've always wondered how this person became who she is today and who her influences for life were and after reading your desription of my cousin Susan, I now know some of the reasons why Pamela is who she is. I have re-met my cousin Camille as well over
the holidays this year and I get the same impression of her.

I now regret not spending some more of my time with such a unique individual as Susan. I'm proud I am part of her family.

paul wells, jr.

Objects in the altar.

This is from Ellen Diederich, the director of the Women's Peace Archive in Oberhausen, Germany.

I just came home from a trip, where I did several speeches on the present situation. Twice I showed slide shows on women peace activities to
encourage young women, to go on. I had a slide of the anti-nuclear-peace caravan museum, which was taken by Susan to so many different places.

I just came home and read about her death. I am terribly sad, remembering us going to Gorleben in Germany, going on the peace caravan to Los Alamos, to the Nevada Test Site. I remember that she was the first woman, who taught me about the goddesses in 1984 at the first meeting at Stonehaven.

I will be with you in spirit for her funeral.

Love and peace
Ellen

Here's a note from Diane Donaldson.

I never met Susan in person, but I corresponded with her when I ordered a piece of her jewelry. I am an amateur Egyptologist, and when I became pregnant in the fall of 2000, I wanted to get a pendant of Tauret, the Egyptian goddess of protection during pregnancy and childbirth. I ordered one from Susan and even though it was a piece that she seldom sold, she
special ordered one for me and got it to me well before my baby was born. I wore it before, during, and after the birth, and it is still one of my favorite pieces.

I'm very sorry to hear of Susan's death, please let me know where the memorial website is going to be.

djd

This came in from Laura Burns, one of the many people that Susan helped in some way.

In 1979 I told Susan I was looking for a place to stay, hoping she'd give me some kind of lead on something. She immediately offered to rent a room
in her home to me and my younger son. I was overwhelmed with gratitude at her generosity.

I'd known her at UT and thought she was witty and funny. But we weren't all that close, so I was surprised. I came to realize that her openness to experience was what helped her to be generous. It really made a difference to me. I stayed there, freelancing, until I finally found a job in another town. (I kept measuring my success as a freelance writer
by the fact that I kept being allotted fewer and fewer food stamps each month.)

My little boy, now 26, was thrilled to have a dragon hanging on the dining room wall where he lived. I think it must have affected him somehow -- he's an activist and Susan (with whom I have stayed in contact all these years) was thrilled to hear about it, sent me words of encouragement when the Mouse (Edward's name, so he insisted when he was younger) was in jail.

I admired her ability to take risks, to be on the edge, ahead of the curve. She observed that her therapist said she had "gifted child syndrome" -- too
many great ideas, not enough ability to focus and concentrate -- but I'd say she carried through on more things than most people.

Goodbye Susan.
Send me some of your bravery and energy.

Another group of altar objects

Liz Martinez writes of her gratitude for Susan's efforts to stop the Sierra Blanca nuclear dump.

I can not express to you the great loss we share in Susan's passing. You must know that we will always be indebted to Susan as well as the many others who made such an impact during our Nuclear battle here in West Texas in Ward County. My name is Liz Martinez and I am from Monahans, Texas. It is with great pleasure to share with you in which our paths crossed. During our Nuclear battle Susan was instrumental in bringing much needed information along with Bill Addington, Karen Hadden, Erin Rogers, and many others in stopping the Nuclear Waste Co. Envirocare from moving into our community. We were successful in running them out of our community for now. We are aware of the possibility of another Waste company trying to move in as well. We are an ideal site for their plans for a Nuclear Waste Dump according to their maps.

I am an ordinary business woman here and seeing the need for a change in our local government I decided to run for County Commissioner. There are three County Commissioners who welcomed the Nuclear company into our community and now I have stepped up to the plate and have decided to challenge the commissioner in my precinct. I credit this to my good Lord as well as to those who encouraged me in the battle against the Nuclear Waste. This includes Susan Solar who has been an inspiration for me. I shall work hard to seek this position even more so in memory of Susan. I know in my heart our good Lord has called her to reward her for all the good work she has done here on his beautiful earth. I shall keep you and yours in my prayers as well as Susan. Again thank you for sharing Susan with us here in West Texas.

May God Bless you,

Liz Z. Martinez

Maria Limon worked with Susan at the Foundation for a Compassionate Society. She sent this tribute.

I love Susan, mostly because she taught me about
magic, faith, and hope.

In the mid 90s I worked with Susan at the Foundation
for a Compassionate Society when she was directing the Women's Peace Caravan, the famous blue museum she toured around the country and in Mexico. Pat Cuney, Frida Werden, Susan and I were attending the National Women's Studies Association conference in Oklahoma; most of us flew while Susan drove the Peace Caravan up. Honestly, I didn't want to drive in the Caravan. It had a gas leak that made for some pretty mean headaches.

As was usually the case, Susan got her wires crossed and ended up leaving Texas under the assumption that Pat and I had the financial resources she would need in order to return to Texas and pay her expenses and for the mechanic from West Texas she had hired to travel with her. (She had invited his wife to come along for the ride as well.) They arrived in Oklahoma about a day late and more than a dollar short 'cause yes, the rv had broken down, and she'd used all her money to get it goin' again.

It took Pat and Susan about one afternoon to hatch an emergency fundraising plan: a carnival to be held in the dorm lobby. Pat got some of the women from the spirituality caucus at the conference to donate
services and attend. Susan put together some flyers
and started circulating them. Lord knows all my
naysaying didn't stop them. I didn't think it would
work. It was a crazy idea.

Came time for the carnival, there was music and folks were doing foot massages, doing tarot readings, reciting poetry, reading tea leaves, and selling Susan's jewelry. My job was to schedule folks for services and direct payments. I totally got into it. And yes, it worked just fine. Enough jewelry was sold, enough cards and tea leaves read, and enough shoulders massaged to get Susan the money she needed for the next leg of her tour.

It is a great story, not just 'cause of the details.
I was always humbled by Susan's generous spirit. She challenged every capitalistic cell in my body, every tendency I learned to cling to resource, whether it was emotional or financial. She defied all the hopelessness that racism, sexism, and homophobia have instilled in me, every inclination to act as if things would never change, and it drove me crazy (crazy not being a bad thing.) She urged me to love in ways that I thought were impossible and to make lots of room for many different kinds of humans. That is where she derived her own security, from her connections to others.

Yes, my keyboard's getting splashed with tears. I
miss Susan. I cannot imagine an act of civil
disobedience without her. My grief is also fueled by
the knowledge that the world is not the place that
Susan envisioned. I am so sorry that we've not
figured a way out of the madness and that the body
count will continue to rise. As connected as that
sweet, scatter-brained, brilliant woman was, she was also alone. She didn't know that she could count on people, that she could lean heavily on us for support herself. This fact is my greatest source of anguish; my shoulder could have been more available.

Where to now? I'll check on my beloved gaggle of
activist friends, encourage their own self-care by
caring for myself. I'll sponsor my own creative act
of civil disobedience on what may seem a whim. I'll
believe in magic and in the possibility of great
things. I'll summon Susan along the way, listen for
the quiet shuffle of her feet at the next rally I
attend, and look for her shadow along the banks of the Pedernales.

More altar objects and flowers

Here are a note and some haikus from Vic Hummert, one of Susan's friends from Dallas.

During my three years in Dallas, the Maryknoll Education Office was on the same floor with the Dallas Peace Center. I enjoyed the daily meetings with Susan and found much inspiration from her dedication to a better world. I want to send a haiku or two for her:

Her awareness was cosmic:

With deep compassion
Comes keen sensitivity
To everyone's pain

We shall make our leap
From this brief sojourn to life
In God's chosen hour

God alone can call
Anyone at any time
From everybody

May she rest in peace and continue to inspire those of us who remain.

Vic Hummert in Lafayette, LA

A mother's day greeting from Camille

This came from Richard Boren, another veteran of the Sierra blanca struggle.

As You Go On Your Journey
Susan my friend there are many things about you I will never forget

How you sacrificed so much for Mother Earth and her residents

Some of your causes were doomed from the start

The triumphs were few, but still you persisted

I got to know you well, but certainly not well enough

I knew early on of your sincerity and your generosity

You even offered me half of your salary to help keep me going

I refused, but I knew you really meant it

Sometimes we even laughed at your endeavors

But your dreams didn't exist to please others

Susan you left this world a better place

and I thank you for what you've done

The next time I go to Sierra Blanca

I will pile some rocks together at the entrance to the old dump site

This will be my memorial to you, in a place where you gave so much

Hasta luego my friend

Richard Boren Feb. 16, 2002
Tucson, AZ


Front of Susan's house

This came from Mike Harris, who worked alongside Susan on our house on several occasions.

Ric,

I never realized when I spoke with Susan how self-effacing about her own accomplishments she was. Reading her obituary and browsing through your
site makes me realize what a treasure we had in Susan. Her passing was truly a loss to the spirit of "the old Austin" far exceeding the loss of such ordinary replaceable physical treasures as the original Armadillo and Liberty Lunch.

In a conversation with Susan you would never know her history. She was feisty, opinionated, erudite and intelligent but in all the many talks I had with her at your home she never talked about her past but only what she hoped to accomplish in the future.

Susan and I didn't see eye to eye on a few issues. When we disagreed (which was often) she never made it a personal issue but rather understood that disagreement on some rather strongly held points of view does not necessarily rule out friendship with someone who does not share those particular opinions.

I'll miss her.
--
Mike Harris

The following obituary was written by Susan Bright for the Texas Cure newsletter.

Susan Lee Campbell Solar, beloved and respected prison reform activist died suddenly from complications of pneumonia on February 13, 2002. Her upcoming book, "Canaries for Justice" about capital punishment in Texas begins: "In January 2000, determined to pursue a 9 to 5 job so I could build my dream "green" home of strawbales and earth (cob) on the Pedernales River, I got caught up against my own intention in researching and writing about a really grim, even grisly theme: capital punishment in Texas. . . . That month twelve men were put to death ­ by the end of the year the toll would rise to 39 men and a single woman. . . . The rush to kill was gathering attention at every level, from local to global."

Susan Lee Solar was drawn to many realms of art and activism, education and revolution during the almost thirty years I knew her. We were so close that when I wrote her obituary I checked my own resume to be sure of the dates. Yet there were hundreds of things she accomplished I didn¹t witness, and some I didn¹t even know about.

Susan Lee¹s activism wasn¹t an idea, a theory. She protected the earth because she loved it. She was a bodyguard for Jennifer Harbury when she confronted the Guatemalan government that killed her husband, because Susan was horrified by the death squads. There wasn¹t much about splitting atoms that was okay for Susan. She opposed the Nuke because she considered it a poor idea to blast apart the fabric of reality. A worse idea to dump the poison it generates back onto a living planet. Why not use the sun, the wind? She wrote a book about the death penalty in Texas because she was convinced it is barbaric.

Susan Bright, poet/publisher
Plain View Press

Here's a note from Glee Ingram, another of Susan's best friends.

Hi Annie,

One month ago today, we said goodbye to sweet Susan. The time seems so dense, the waves of realization and grief somewhat slowed. I feel her essence a lot. I miss her self-deprecating laugh, her smiling face and tiny, creative hands. Her stories, introducing me to parts of the world I would never know on my own. Her heart-felt appreciation of the world at large. I find it hard to fathom that a uniqueness like that can simply slip into infinity, never to be replicated again. So tangible and so absent.

I went over to Susan Bright's the other evening and took advantage of her fast internet access to explore the web site in depth. I was so deeply moved. You all have done such a wonderful work, creating a sense of her beauty, complexity and depth. It is wonderfully organized and very friendly to non-web experts (that's me). Thank you, thank you. I'm going to be looking through photos for some old ones: Chilean reunion, radical curriculum-writing days, women's creative play evenings. . . I miss her so!

I thought of another section to add to the web page: funny stories. Like the time I went to spend time with her in Arkansas over winter break. We drove in her pick-up, drafty, no heat. I asked if she had a map and she said no need, she knew all the exits. We drove and drove and drove, it got dark, we got to a complex highway interchange with toll booths and Susan said, "Hmmm, this doesn't look too familiar. Maybe I missed a turn. . . " When we stopped at the toll booth to check things out, we discovered we were entering Missouri! Wrong state. Back track. Late, late night driving and lots of laughs.

I would love to see you all again. Such a wonderful paradox to feel such warmth in the community of friends simultaneous with the pangs of loss. Till soon,

Glee

Glee also sent this incredible invocation, which she read at the memorial service.

Invoking Susan

Susan Susanna Lee Campbell Purvis Libana Solar!

HEAR US NOW!

Together, we have chanted the many names of the Goddess
To Honor her abundant and overflowing Generosity.
Today, we say your many names
To Honor your rich and diverse life.

You have been our Teacher,
Our Passionate Pioneer,
Our Comical Cajoler.

You have shown us:
Courage
Commitment
Compassion
Creativity
Curiosity
Adventurousness
Fearlessness
Outrageousness!
And Generosity.

Because of You,
We Are Different.

We Are:
More Courageous
More Committed
More Compassionate
More Curious and Creative
More Fearless
More Adventurous
More Outrageous (hardly possible)!
And, We Will Be
Much, Much More Generous. . .

We Thank You for your Life.
We Thank You for Being In Each of Us.
We Will Miss You.

May you Soar Free
on the Waves of the Solar Winds,
Sweet, Sweet Friend!

This note came from Suzanne Chesshire

I knew Susan many years ago when she instigated a project called the Mill Fall Co-op. Others can tell you about her political side, let me just share with you a personal memory. Susan and I ran into each other several times in the 90's. By then her girls were teens living with their father in Washington D.C. Susan had tried to persuade one of her daughters to leave D. C. and live with her. The daughter, I think it was Camille, gave it a try, but found life in Austin too alien and went back to her father. Susan was devastated and since I had a new baby she told me, "Don't ever get a divorce, it's just too heartbreaking". At that moment she reminded me of Herman Hess's Siddhartha strong and capable in all areas but defeated and made humble by love.

Rest in Peace great lady,
Suzanne Chesshire
Spring, Tx.

The ever-prolific Susan Bright has sent in another wonderful poem.

Curl

Long after
they said you were dead
your small fingers
curled around
mine
as I held on to
the truth of you
knowing
a soul leaves slowly
knowing
you suddenly grew
horribly sick
and had died
but your fingers
held onto me
for hours
as I stood
at your bedside
thinking
perhaps antibiotics
would clarify
the infection
but your eyes
had blasted
and there were
no sings of life
when they
listened to your
organs.

Your spirit
spoke to me for days,
it still does.

Such a friend
you have been to me,
close as a strong
wind
curling out of
the breath
of God -
the Woman God
you taught
me to see.

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