BETH THOMPSON—Aureet's funeral - January 9, 1991
Brookline High School
She had the idealism and energy of youth in abundance. She loved writing, literature, people and drama. In Creative Writing she put so much of herself into her writing and yet she didn't get over identified with it or so insecure about it that she was robbed of her enjoyment.
Aureet certainly had personal confidence and skills beyond her years…
I was struck by Aureet's ability to confront skillfully without being removed from her feelings or relationships.
When it came time to cast the play we were preparing, I had, as usual, too many girls and not enough boys for the parts. I asked Aureet if she would PLEASE play a mean male saloon keeper with a mustache. She laughed and said, "No problem." Even the most sophisticated girls in my class felt ill at ease with their bodies; they worried about how they appeared to others. Aureet was more than a good sport. She didn't have to "look" beautiful on stage or have the best part. She was a grown-up in the best sense - not relinquishing the joy of youth, but having enough confidence and perspective to enjoy it.
Aureet returned to the school ten years later as a counseling intern. She brought this same combination of youth and maturity to her counseling. She empathized with the students, felt at ease with them. I can still see her sitting with them at Town Meeting, one of them. And yet she pushed them as she pushed herself to get somewhere, to get further.
Aureet was my student. That is to me a sacred relationship, for I experience the present and taste the future through my students. I felt happy that the world was being shaped by people like Aureet. I remember so many faces of her: she was a fierce individualist who adored her family; she was disciplined and emotional; she was hard working and fun loving; she was one of the strongest and most grounded of my students and yet she chose, for a poetry assignment, to focus on the beauty of a feather.
