In Memoriam: Bob Solari died on November 9
th, after a long siege with Parkinson’s disease, and residence in a Worcester nursing home. Bob gave himself tirelessly to the Agape Community, in ways too numerous to count, but included great acts of humility–wiping dishes, cleaning floors, chopping and freezing vegetables. Bob was always present, always ready to celebrate almost anything, with a jar of organic salsa and chips. Within a short time of meeting Bob, Agape interns, residents and extended community members embraced Bob as a family member. We celebrated Bob’s 80
th birthday with five college interns during community “energy fast” with no lights or electricity, but with great “energy” as we crooned a Dean Martin song: “Solari…oh, oh, oh oh.” Bob swayed to the rhythm of our words and his life. Rest in peace dear friend.
Holy Trembling for Bob Solari
Your patrician, Italian nose,
thin, intelligent,
your stately cheekbones, refined chin,
thoughtful lips,
skin translucent as a flower,
are portraits of elegance
in the gallery of your
eight decades.
Your whimsical chuckle–
an inhale and chortle,
the owl sound of whooooo,
whoooo,
doesn’t surface so much any more,
now that your head is often tilted
downward.
Your once strong, purposeful gait
is today labored and shuffling,
partner to the persistent flutter
of your Parkinson hands.
But neither cancer, nor anemia,
nor fading neurons can subdue
your loathing of war,
our aging, anarchist,
cleaner of community cobwebs,
floor sweeper, envelope addresser,
steamer and chopper of bucketsful
of vegetables.
You have dipped your
humming hands into
the sacred bowl of blessing,
have written for all
to read,
your own,
persistent psalm
of love.
Suzanne Belote Shanley – 2008
