As for the weather, it was a fairly cold day with moderate winds blowing on and off. The temp during the service reached 49°, but it felt colder because of the winds. The winds were ominous to say the least. As if to warn or reprimand us in firm fashion, the wind could be heard from outside the funeral parlor. The mighty wind seemed intent on crashing in to remind us that we are mere mortals with absolutely no power. A clamorous yell through the mighty air prompting us that the power still belongs to an entity that we are not deserving to know - not now or perhaps never. The pockets of air were accompanied by a fire and brimstone eulogy that probably would have had Stacie herself scratching her head in angst and dubiety. I do not claim to know Stacie's relationship to G-d - nor do I claim to know her relationship with her family, I only lay claim to the myriad of conversations she and I had in the past that left me somewhat perplexed following the funeral service because she always stated that she was more spiritual than religious. Anyway, it is was it is, and the service was still nice as I stated. There were many people in attendance. Our division alone sported around 50 people in attendance at the funeral, which is not bad considering our division has around 80 employees. I was impressed and proud of how many of our "Falcon family" attended.
An email from Corey, our boss, went out on Sunday to let us know how we would proceed with Monday's funeral. Corey also had a "We Are Falcons" flag flown over campus Monday in Stacie's honor. Stacie's mom, dad, and some family members were given a grand tour Monday of the university before the funeral service - during the tour, the flag was presented to her family. I had the good fortune of partaking in a nice conversation with Stacie's mom before the funeral service started; she is a kind lady. I told her I was holding her and the family in my heart.
I will always remember Stacie as the vibrant and intelligent person she was. I had the privilege of training with Stacie when I moved from Student Success to the Dean of Students/Student Affairs. We had experts from UT Austin come up to train us in the area of BASICS and CASICS. Eventually, those programs, along with Bystander Intervention and the Tobacco Use Initiative, came to live with me, and me alone, on a permanent basis. Stacie, as the lone student counselor, believed the programs were punitive to her role, so I became the lone facilitator, and I have never looked back. On occasion, I would seek her advice, but most often, she would simply say, "you got this." Our times together on campus are included in the pictures. There were too many to include, so I am posting the really eventful ones.
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