In requiem

Getting to that stage in my life when friends and associates start dropping, many of them people I love or have loved. Got word in a roundabout way today that Penelope Cloutier has succumbed to cancer, which she fought in a long and protracted struggle.

Penelope was an early dealer in craftsman era and Nakashima furniture and decorative arts and later an outstanding promoter. Vivacious, beautiful and enthusiastic, Penelope was a friend, a good friend at one time, and will be missed by Leslie and I and many others in the antiques community.

She was also a mother to several children. Penelope and I had our ups and downs but she told me that she would always love me no matter what. The reason was that I drove her to the exact spot her son had died in Baja California, accompanied her on a trip that she could never until that point in time find the strength to make. A trip that gave her some closure. We stared at the wreckage on the bottom of the cliff and formed an eternal bond.

Will be hard to forget. After that no matter what a jerk I was, she told me I could do no wrong.

Bless you Penelope.