Claudia Lowe - In Memorial

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How does one get over the loss of his best friend, wife and soul mate? I'm not sure I will ever totally be over Claudia. She was a special woman with so many wonderful qualities that it would be impossible to list them all.

The memorial service was held at a beautiful place called Descanso Gardens. Claudia never made it there, but I often walked it's many pathways taking pictures of roses and flowers and plants so she could enjoy them as well. I think, through me, she loved the gardens as much as I did.

The memorial service began at 2pm sharp with a brief sermon by our minister and one of Claudia's best friends. Jim Frankel is a special being, and he and his wife Jeannie have supported me throughout this ordeal. The sermon made me cry, as it summed up perfectly our beliefs of where Claudia is now - she's moved on to another life.

 

Then it was my turn to speak. I agonized over what to wear, but finally decided Claudia would like to see me as she always saw me.

Here is what I said:

Thank you all for coming. Can you hear me?

Claudia was my friend. She was my wife, she was my soul mate and she was my best friend. And I've been blessed more than most people have, because I actually my friend, my best friend and my soul mate in the same person.

I met Claudia in 1993.  She was my spiritual counselor; she was my first one in my religion. And the first day I saw her I didn't like her, simply because she had an accent and I didn't understand her. Within five minutes, I was in love with her. Totally heads over heals.

She was that kind of woman, I mean, I was totally in love with her. And she counseled me, and she did what she did, and a couple of months later we met again when we went on a date to the beach. And then we went on a date a few days later to Wendy's. Beautiful Wendy's. A very romantic place.

And I decided that she was going to be mine. "Claudia dear", I said, "how would you like to get married?" She said, "Sure, when?"

Now, me being either very smart or very stupid, said, "how about now?" What I didn't know is we were in a room full of ministers. She turned around and said "Earl". So I was stuck. I was on the hook, I couldn't back out. As fate turns out that's the day we consider our wedding day. But I made the mistake of calling my best friend. But he stood up and said "I have an objection to this wedding...they don't even know each other."

So I spent the next few days calming down my best friend. And then we had our wedding. And then we found out, oh, we need a marriage license. And then we had a wedding again.  And then then the minister lost the marriage license and we had another one. So after the fourth wedding, Claudia turned to me and said, "I'm not marrying you again, this is it".

So that's how we met and that's how we got married.

So the years went by. Claudia continued her spiritual counseling. She did it day and night. She went there at eight in the morning and left late at night and she helped a lot of people. And that's what she did. She helped people in the depths that they go and she helped raise them up. That was her job.

And she got sick. She got asthma. She got sicker and sicker. Until ... Well, I'll back up just a bit.

Claudia and I had a relationship where we joked a lot. We joked with each other all the time. One of the things that we joked about was other women. She told me, "I don't care who you fool around with, as long as it's not a blonde".

Of course I had no interest in that at all, but she said whoever it is is fine, as long as she's not a blonde.

So she got sick with asthma nine years ago. One day she went into a coma and went into the hospital. And she was there and she was on the machines. I went along with her and the machine started to flatline. And I said, ok ok ok, what do I do?

"Dear, if you die I am marrying a blonde".

That machine went wild. True story. She heard me, she came back. And that's the kind of relationship we had. And she recovered from that. And we moved on.

And I'll always remember the sparkle in her eyes and the helping she did with people. Even when she was sick and couldn't leave the apartment because she was just too sick with asthma to get down the stairs because she was gasping for breath, and got on the internet and started her own women's group called Women With A Unique Soul.

And she helped 200 women with their problems and their issues  ... that's the kind of woman she was.

So two weeks ago, Claudia started to get sick again. I thought it was the usual thing. She had asthma and she took her drugs and she had the usual reaction. And then two weeks ago she asked me something that I didn't  think much about at the time.

Claudia said, "if I die, will you marry somebody else?" And I said "No". "Well, it's okay with me as long as it's not a blonde."

And I didn't think about it. And then two weeks later she was gone. I think that's very interesting. That's the kind of woman she was. She wishes all of us to be happy and all of us to be well. And wherever she is now, and I'm sure she will pick up doing the same thing ... because that's what she is. A helping being. I wish her peace. And that's all I'm going to say.

Claudia would love all of the flowers that she received. They were beautiful, and thanks to all who sent them.

Claudia's family poses with Veronica holding Claudia's picture.

Some friends from work who attended the service. Eighty people were in that room. Thank you to all who came, and all who attended spiritually from afar.

See Claudia's Star

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