Ellis passed away in June of 1995 and Irin maintained the large grounds and garden till she moved to Life Care Center of Longmont. I never knew Ellis, but Irin says he was a very talented artist and she showed me several of his drawings.
Irin was a trained operatic singer. She was a soloist at First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan prior to moving to Colorado after Ellis retired. She believed in and supported SICA and collected member’s artwork. She also worked in many Subud committees and helper jobs although she resisted working on the international level. I attended many accompanied solo concerts featuring Irin’s singing in English and Italian at various care facilities in Boulder.
Irin loved gardening and shared a lot of her knowledge about high altitude, dry climate gardening with me when I began my little plot in a neighborhood community garden. She also maintained a great number of thriving geraniums that she would move in out of her living room with the changing seasons.
Irin was my first paying customer prior to the official start of my handyman business in 2006. In addition to fence building and repair, deck staining and minor plumbing jobs, she kept saying she wanted me to clean out and organize her garage, but I never did it. I think she knew it was something she had to tackle herself and face all those decisions an elderly person must make about what to keep and what to throw out.
Before I got to Boulder, Irin hosted Sunday latihans at her home for both the men and women. She hosted the annual Christmas parties for many years before and after I moved to Boulder. These parties were always great fun and featured our best and most lavish holiday potluck offerings, music, carol singing and some light imbibing. Guests were encouraged to help decorate the tree as well. Around 2008 (not sure how long before that) Irin worked as a receptionist at the Colonial Mortgage Company. My real estate agent introduced me to that company, and the manager arranged my first mortgage in Boulder. This was not an easy thing to do when the purchaser is starting a business and doesn’t have a steady local financial track record and very little cash. Irin left that job shortly after my house closing as the whole real estate financing system collapsed. I may have gotten the last sub-prime mortgage… just under the wire, and I believe Irin’s presence in that office may have had something to do with it.
The Subud women living in the Longmont and Erie area consistently arranged Sunday afternoon Latihan’s at Irin’s care facility. Many members would take her on outings and for dinners and drives which she appreciated. Triana Singelyn made sure she was able to join us for brunch and latihan at our recent regional gathering at a local retreat center in Boulder.
We first heard the news that Irin had fallen and broken her femur from Laura Lathrup via Heather Starsong; our Subud news courier. With Irin’s already failing health and because she needed a higher level of pain management, she was moved to a different hospital than the one she was originally taken to. Local Subud members waited for more news and were told Irin was unresponsive. Leigh Collings and I planned on seeing her on our return from visiting Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday, September 17. When we got to the address, we discovered she was in a Longmont United Hospital, hospice unit and in a coma. Although she had a steady pulse (checked manually by Leigh) there was no vital signs monitor in the room and no IV fluids, typical of hospice care. It was clear from her shallow breathing and unresponsiveness, that she was likely to die soon. We sat with her for about thirty minutes while listening to quiet Italian operatic music from a CD of music recorded at First Presbyterian Church in New York. We prayed and spoke softly to her. There was no detectable response. On Wednesday evening we held our monthly regional council Zoom meeting. Leigh, who works in geriatric care and has seen many life transitions like this suggested Irin was dying and not to expect a recovery. Irin passed around noon the next day; Thursday September 21, 2023.
In the SUSA Archives interview Irin gives this description of the latihan and what it means to her. When asked once “what does (the latihan) do for you?”, I replied without thinking, “it works for me . . . you know, it makes me new every time I do it. The latihan leaves me feeling fresh and renewed every time. Yes, it’s worship, it’s many things.It has proved to be more than what I expect to receive in the church.”
https://youtu.be/qSgmXeoAhb4?si=ocNHmZtzvGnWc9Y3
Thank you, Lawrence, for your article in remembrance of Irin and for including the “Memories of Bapak” video of the interview she gave. Your story was a very touching read for me. I knew Irin for all of my Subud life, so your words sparked some wonderful memories.
In the video, Irin comments, “I like to think that I had a career as a singer…” If a career as a singer has anything to do with how someone with the latihan can touch / heal others with their voice, then Irin certainly had this career.
I attended a number of Sunday choral events at the Presbyterian church that Irin was part of in NYC. From New York to Colorado, there were many other venues where she performed, including frequent Subud gatherings. Her concerts were always a treat, always imbued with that live energy of true culture and proof of the latihan.
Further on in the video, Irin recalls having heard from Lucienne Farkas that the Subud NY helpers had tested that she should become a helper. Irin says she thought, I don’t want to do that, I can’t do that! Then she adds, “But I went ahead with it, and I’m really glad I did.” I’m glad, too. Irin was one of the helpers present at my opening, and a few years later traveled out to Westchester to have an applicant meeting with my mother, who had (terminal) cancer and who was opened just three days before dying.
Dear Irin, we shared so very many memorable times together over the years, in New York, New Jersey, and later in Colorado, when you moved to Longmont, following Ellis — who, wearing shorts in a snow storm, met Hanafi and me at the airport when we too moved to Colorado in 1993. And yes, all of the fabulous potluck parties you and Ellis hosted over the years gave us so much joy!
Thank you, Irin, for having been such a beloved helper to so many of us, and certainly for having been a formative part of my Subud life. You are loved and will be remembered always. May your journey home be blessed by Almighty God.
Lovely memories, Levana. I go way back with Irin too and recall when she was a new member in NYC. Like her, I also moved to Boulder, where she was a wonderful elder as well as an old friend. Rest in peace, dear sister.
Aloha,
Reynold Ruslan
Thank you Levana and Ruslan. You just added colored threads to the tapestry of my Life. Love, Robert
Thanks back, Robert.
Cheers,
Ruslan
I knew her as Alice from Eighty-four PA. This lovely FAD sister graduated from Muskingum College. New Concord Ohio.
This transformation is hard for me to understand. The only thing that seems the same is her connection with the Presbyterian Church.
Alice was special no matter if her persona had changed.