Hilary Gidney Sullivan

June 25th

On the summer solstice, forty days after Hilary’s passing, we blessed her on her journey and released her ashes into the Howe Sound. And so she returns, body and spirit, to the One. It is a glorious circumstance that her journey through darkness into light aligned with this brightest time of the year.

The living are also journeying. For much of July we will be visiting with family and friends back east.

Many have spoken of how this occasion has affected them deeply. We are learning that it is an opportunity to face our individual and collective darkness and allow our fears to come into light and love. We pray it will be so for others.

June 16, 2008

On this Father’s Day, our mother and wife Hilary feels very much in our midst. We ache and are grateful for her life with us. Thank you for holding us in so many ways. We continue to need that support as we and other family and friends of Hilary seek consolation and a return to liveliness.

The funeral and memorial service were vital for us and a powerful experience of community. Mother Sue and sister Paige were here, along with Brian’s siblings and in laws, many cousins of the kids, and friends from Guelph and Hamilton. Parallel gatherings were held in Chicago (Northwestern classmates) and Hamilton (her Mohawk physiotherapy class). It was a joy to receive their love and to cry and celebrate together.

Your postings continue to be a central source of comfort and inspiration for us and many. Thank you and please contiue to visit and add. We close this entry with some words we wrote for Hilary as part of the funeral service:

“Our God, creator and sustainer, gives life and purpose. No one or thing is an idle thought or accident. You, Hilary, are no mistake. You are a unique and precious part of this unfolding universe, an enabler and upbuilder. Many have experienced this. Your ways reveal and delight.

You have fought hard to hold to your truth. It is a costly battle. Yet, as you take your place with your ancestors, there will be great blessings among you. We look to you, now one of those ancestors, to help manifest family love and order for those who remain here. We seek to know and experience how you are still powerfully with us and loving us for who we are and are becoming. We are all held in God’s family.”

• the order of service and songs from Saturday’s funeral
• photos from the wake at Sullivan home
• video footage from Sunday’s memorial

this weekend…

Thank you all for the abundance of prayers, kind words and support in every way. We feel it all with much gratitude, it is holding us up. The return of Amelia and Bart has deepened the healing process and has been both positive and revealing. All your support has given us the time and space to really come together as a family, to cry, to share and to listen to each other and Hilary in this special time. The days are filled, with gentleness, vulnerability, healing, courage and love.

A memorial service has been arranged for Sunday, June 1st from 12:30 – 2:00 pm. It will be held at the First Nation’s House of Learning at the UBC campus (click here for map). Please join us in celebrating the life of our beautiful mother, wife, daughter and friend Hilary. We will start promptly at 12:30pm so feel free to come a bit early. Thank you and we look forward to being together.

With Gratitude, The Sullivans

daughter, sister, wife, mother ~ teacher, healer, lover, friend

Hilary Gidney Sullivan went missing this past Mother’s Day, May 11th, 2008.

Since that time we have been through eleven days of not-knowing, loss, love, hurt, healing and longing. We are so grateful for the outpouring of support, prayer and love from friends and family all over the world.

Yesterday, May 22nd, we received the news that Hilary will not be coming back to us, that she has passed from this world. She was in a grove in Pacific Spirit Park, a forest she often visited.

Brian, Clare, Madeleine, Rama and Gus are at our home and Amelia and Bart are on their way. We are gratefully together as a family with the presence and caring of many friends.

We feel the embrace of Hilary’s spirit, and we cry and come together.

Thank you in advance for your love and prayers. At this time we cannot speak with everyone. This blog is a place to share thoughts, feelings and love. We will receive them, and so will Hilary.

May this beautiful woman, that has deeply touched so many lives, be loved like never before, and feel it forever.

With Love,

The Hilary Sullivan Family