Sunday, November 22, 2009

Sir Bill (Nov. 11, 1926 - Sept. 1, 2009)

"What we do for ourselves dies with us;
what we have done for others and for the world remains
and is immortal."
(Albert Pike)

William W. Pool, my husband Bill, known as Sir Bill to all the students of One Candle Schoolhouse, has died. It was unexpected and shockingly fast--mercifully so--once we discovered cancer was the underlying cause of his recent health issues. Bill was a man who would not have undergone treatments just to add a few days or weeks. "I've had a long and full life," he told the doctors before his surgery, "richer than I ever thought possible."

Because we'd gone to the Veteran's Hospital in California for tests, his daughter and son were able to be by their father's side in his last hours. It was another blessing, one that all the children who knew and loved him would have wanted to share also, if we had been in the Philippines.

I have returned to Negros Oriental...to Tambobo and the school, and to the boat we began building thirty-five years ago--our home, PILAR. I will stay here and continue with the evolution of One Candle Schoolhouse into the two Bright Lights Community Learning Centers of Bonbonon and Siit. It is both a blessing and a curse to have so much work to keep me occupied...but it is good work, deeply satisfying, and through this blog I want to continue sharing the joy of seeing how the children blossom with what is offered to them.

I haven't felt able to continue updating the blog until first writing this post, but it has been difficult to know how or what to say. This blog wasn't intended to be about Bill or I, but instead, our way of thanking the people who have supported the school, and to let them see the students using their donations. Thus, it is appropriate that a tribute to Bill's presence in the school comes from one of the children. I am very grateful to be allowed to publish a former guest student's letter of condolence:

"A week ago, on Tuesday, it hailed at my school. According to everyone else in my family, it didn’t hail anywhere else in Wellington. Just over my school. By the time it was interval and I was sitting with my friends, the hail had subsided to rain. Two of my friends were jokingly making comments about the rain being ‘god’s tears’. “Wow”, one said, “someone really famous must have died for God to be crying this much especially for them.”

I thought as I sat eating, that though I don’t know much about God, I imagine him as the kind of person who wouldn’t give a monkey’s toenail if some rich, self-centred celebrity died (no offence to Michael Jackson). If God really was crying just for the death of a one person, it was probably someone who hardly anybody knew about, in some remote corner of the world, doing good things for people in need.

When I got home from school that day, Mum told me about Bill and I read your e-mail.

In trying to process the awful news, I was reminded of my thoughts on the rain that morning. Combined with Dad’s ‘premonition’ it would appear as though something was trying to alert us of the sad news.

I have thought a lot about the eerie link, and it seems to me that the bond between people and the people who have really inspired them, or altered their view on life must go beyond the physical and mental, and into a spiritual kind of bond. It seems unreal, but short of calling it a ‘coincidence’, I have decided that this connection must be to do with the way that you and Bill have inspired me, through your work with the One Candle Schoolhouse, to not just live with the hope and aim of achieving my dreams, but with that of assisting others to achieve theirs. He really was an amazing person, and you two have done so much to help the kids in Bonbonon, so selflessly.

I know that you are such a strong individual that you will be able to continue your life, with fondest memories of Bill to help you along. I send you my strength, through that same bond that alerted me of the event, and hope it will help you through this difficult time. He will be sorely missed, not only by those who knew and were inspired by him, but also by divine beings, who have already been crying for the loss to the world.

Lots of love,
Maya xx "
Align Left

Since beginning this post much time has lapsed while I struggled to know how to complete it. I have wanted to assemble a slide show or a collage of Bill with the students, but the process for me is slow, so because quiet time is in short supply right now due to demands of the school and holidays, I have decided to post this--now, as is--and update when the additional pictures are formated. In the meantime, here is a 'posting' Bill made to the door of his workshop, and lovingly photographed by a special friend:

 As I write now, it is January 13, 2011, over sixteen months since Bill died. I have just finished publishing one of several new posts that signal a significant coming-to-grips with the changes in my life since September 1, 2009.  I have renewed energy and an increased ability to focus, although there are still areas of life that remain nebulous and difficult to address.  Relinquishing the special mementos I know Bill's children would appreciate is one such postponed project, as is the large memorial video I had envisioned creating when I first made this posting. Relinquishing the ideal for the practical, an assembly of photos made hurriedly the night before a gathering of friends for his Memorial will now have to half-way fulfill the promise I made to myself: