Comments from Rose Ann's sister, Margaret:
Rose Anne Crimmins, served in India from 1965-1967. She died Feb.1. 1967 from carbon monoxide in her hotel in Iran. She was on her way home to N.Y.C. Rose Anne's group trained in California and left for India from JFK airport. My parents hosted a party for the group and family and friends at our home in N.Y. the evening before. My parents are now in
their nineties and we all cherish the pictures from that party and letters and pictures sent from fellow volunteers and staff after her death. I attended the 25th anniversary and am still moved by the memories of the service at Arlington and how the Peace Corps family honored those fallen. Last winter, my brother visited the
orphanage in Hyderbad where Rose Anne worked. We have a picture of the children planting a tree in memory of "the pretty blue eyed girl..." and a picture of the tree in 2004! This project is amazing and please add our name to those who hope for and would contribute to a memorial to all who lost their lives when they left us to "trod the path of peace in a distant land". Thank you so much. Margaret Crimmins FitzgGerald Skaneateles. N.Y.
mafitz@adelphia.net
The following poem was written by one of her fellow volunteers
and shared with this project by Rose's sister Kathleen.
RoseAnne: In
Memoriam
February 1, 1967
Sleep
softly child, sleep softly
The
winds of change blow slowly
And
we are a small moment in time
That
builds slowly and passes swiftly.
In
our long and troubled history
Movements have been made, revolutions have come to pass
And
men rise to carry the banners
And
take the blame and the praise.
Civilizations rise and fall, cultures and traditions pass
But
we the people continue on
Living and learning and building and dying
We
individual blocks of humanity
Are
the stuff from which civilizations rise
We
are the spiritual and physical beings
That
occupy time and space
And
produce a world of life and death
A
world of growth and change.
It is
not ours to know the time
Nor
to determine the place
We
enter a world of life
We
travel a path of change
We
commit our lives to causes
That
we had no part in beginning
That
we will have no part in ending
But
it is ours for one brief moment
To
hold the banner – to carry the flame
And
our duty is done.
Sleep
softly child, sleep softly
The
dust that reposes is more than what we have known
More
than a laugh and a blue-eyed look
And a
way of thinking and being
The
dust is of a people touched
The
dust is of the soil and water
Of
the place traveled and food eaten
Of a
life giving and taking what passes
A
democratic dust dust lies in peace
Dust
of New York and California
Dust
of India and even of the place
Where
the last breath of life came in darkness – in sleep.
We
shall all pass this way and our dust will be of these places
And
of the people we have known
And of the lives we
have led
The
time will pass and what we did – even our tombs and dust
Will
be blown away by the winds – the winds of change
Sleep
softly child, sleep softly – And Adieu…
-
Charles Lindsay Griffen, Jr. PCV
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