A great person and friend to many passed away suddenly last week. Rachel Lisi was taken from us just a few days before her 40th birthday by a pulmonary embolism.
I have known Rachel since the late '90s, but I spent a few years only knowing her by her screen name, kundavega, through LiveJournal. We spent that time talking about the arts and Tampa well before I knew she was the daughter of Judy Lisi, who is the president of the Straz Center (and my boss at the time).
I even remember her posting that she'd seen this show or that to the Tampa community, urging that everyone else do the same.
I'd thank her for her kindness and ask why she didn't introduce herself after the show, to which she'd feign shyness. Once I got to knew Rachel, I knew better. Rachel was a beautiful soul, a gifted writer and photographer, a staunch supporter of the arts and someone who would brighten a room simply by inhabiting it.
I attended a memorial service for her yesterday and was stunned to see so many people from so many walks of life show up to pay their respects to the Lisi family and to honor and celebrate Rachel's too-short time with us. I have many friends, and know of many others, that Rachel touched so profoundly, so deeply, that it both crushes and warms me to think on. Rachel, however, would have insisted that we not dwell on the negative but instead to embrace the positive – our lives, our ambitions and those we love.
The Lisis – Judy, her father Ernie, brother Joel and his fiance, Tracy – have been in the forefront of my thoughts along with all of us that were in some way touched by the beauty that was Rachel Lisi. Memorial contributions may be made to Oxfam America or to the Rachel Lisi Ticket Subsidy Program at the Straz Center.
This article appears in Nov 11-17, 2010.