In Memoriam

My grandmother passed away. Marion Eckhardt lived to 93. I didn't always see eye to eye with her, but I respected that she was one of the rare people who had a code, and lived by it. She was a woman who lived life the way she wanted to, back in a time when that wasn't very easy for women to do. A republican artist, she was woman of many contradictions. She studied in Asia to learn her craft, and then she built the first pottery in Brewster, back in 1961. She took an active part in the ongoing artistic development on Cape Cod, and certainly had an impact on a generation of potters on the cape, as well as personally creating a legacy of potters across the country, through her apprentice program that spanned decades.

She was a type A personality, who was upbeat, charming, even silly sometimes. When my mother took me and my brother away from my dad, it was my grandmother who provided us a safe place - we lived with her for four years. I have many memories of the attic guest bedroom I shared with my brother. I am just one of the many people she touched in her life, and I will miss you, Mimi.