Marlene’s Cardinals
In memory of Marlene, the UVM Medical Center in Burlington, Vermont has created a fund to support glioblastoma patients and advance research into this devastating disease. This fund provides direct, meaningful help without the bureaucracy of large organizations.
Over the years, I’ve made hundreds of hand-carved cardinals—symbols often associated with visits from loved ones who have passed.
With a donation of $100 or more (fully tax-deductible), you’ll receive one of these cardinals as a thank-you for contributing to Marlene’s Cardinals, her special fund at the UVM Cancer Center.
Your donation supports brain cancer patients, caregivers, and research initiatives aimed at improving treatments and care.
After donating, you can pick up your cardinal at the gallery or have it shipped to you free of charge.
Thank you for helping honor Marlene’s memory and supporting this important cause.
About Marlene
Marlene welcomed everyone and everything into her world.
She maintained friendships with those whom she attended grade school, high school and college throughout her life.
She maintained here in Vermont friendships with neighbors, those in Bonebuilders (an exercise group she taught for years), in Tai-Chi (which she taught for many years, with those who supported us in the gallery and with many more who all became like family to us.
She supported, with yearly donations, to many groups whose purpose was to help those in need.
She always believed that helping others was a role she was meant to take on.
In wildlife too, she was the one who always had time to stop and help turtles across the road. And to relocate pests out of the garden rather than hurt them.
To move spiders out of the house rather than crush them.
She always had an extra moment for anything in need no matter how rushed she was with everyday chores.
She rescued many, many cats through the years. They just seemed to appear. She made homes for Ace and Tigger, Abbey and Alvin. And for Elisa, Sonny, Alice and now Lucky who shares the house with me today.
She fought for political causes through participation in protest, writing and testimony. She believed in people being treated fairly and she stood up for their rights.
Through the years, gardening was always a huge part of her life. We ate healthy with organic being the proper way to promote any lifestyle.
Flowers too were her passion. Perennials like lilies, thistle, tulips, daffodils and many others with Latin names I cannot remember. They bloomed with magnificent color each year.
Annuals—her favorite being Marigolds—she planted new each year and they bloomed to brighten every corner of our homestead and gallery.
There was a saying from the good morning song that she recited almost every day of her life. From first grade to the times she could barley speak in hospice.
And that was who she was.
“We’re all in our places with sunshiny faces,
Oh this is the way to start a great day.”
May Her Memory Be A Blessing
Marlene’s Cardinals in the “Wild”
