David Karlin
Here are David's remarks at Miriam's funeral service:
“We will remember my mother in words, in poetry, in
music and in prayer”.
Introducing Manhã de Carnaval:
When I spoke to my children to tell them about Miriam’s
death, my son Samuel told me “you know, Daddy, she’s not really
dead because a little part of her lives on in everyone who loved
her”. Many parts of my mother live on in me, and this next part
of the services touches three of them: love of travel, a
facility for languages, and a love of music. While music has
played a large part in my life, it has played an even larger
part in the life of my nephew Toby, Michael’s son, who is just
starting his first semester at Berklee College of Music in
Boston. Toby cannot be with us today, although I’m glad to say
that he was able to visit my mother in the last few weeks of her
life. However, with the help of a bit of Internet magic, we were
able to record this piece of music together: it’s called “Manhã
de Carnaval”, it’s from a Brazilian musical, and was one of my
mother and father’s favourite records. We’d very much to play it
to you now.
Introducing Anne Dickinson Phillips:
Another part of my mother which very much lives on in me is her
attitude to business. In her chosen industry, public relations,
an industry which epitomises spin and presentation, she somehow
managed to adopt an approach which was completely
straightforward, no-nonsense and down to earth, with an
astonishing facility for seeing things and people as they really
are. It’s something that I’ve very much tried to emulate in my
business life. I’m very glad to say that Anne Phillips (at the
time Anne Dickinson), who was chairman and managing director of
Kingsway and my mother’s boss for many years, is here with us
today and has agreed to come and say a few words about her
professional life.
Just before we said the Mourner's Kaddish:
As Danny has said, my mother was not a religious person: in
fact, I think that Alison’s and my wedding was the only time in
many years that she had been in a synagogue. Nonetheless, she
thought of herself first and last as Jewish. The most important
prayer in the Jewish liturgy is the Kaddish, which is usually
said by mourners. However, the Kaddish is not a prayer about
death, it is a prayer that gives glory to God. Some Jewish
parents would say that the main reason to have children is to
have someone to say Kaddish for you when you are no longer there
and therefore can’t do it yourself. I would therefore like to
ask my brothers to come up here with me to fulfil that duty and
say Kaddish.
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