Rise in Peace (Feb 8, 1938 – Aug 8, 2026)

This is my tiny, insignificant tribute to Rachel Naomi Remen.

A small discussion group of 5 people – the only one that I’m still part of – was tackling end of life in our last session. A suggested video (among other materials) was Dr Vivek Murthy’s podcast episode with Dr Atul Gawande.

There’s various things, obviously, that they talk about, but Vivek mentioned one of his most important mentors, Rachel Naomi Remen, and her book, “Kitchen Table Wisdom”. I immediately paused when I heard a name that I highly respected, and went off to my local library system to find the book. They did not have it. But I was able to find her other book, “My grandfather’s blessings”, which is a beautiful read.

But as I read the chapter “Remembering”, on the last page, I was convinced that her ego had managed to incorrectly capture an experience in her life (yes, I actually believed that I understood it better than she did. LOL), and I decided that I was going to go to her website, find the “Contact” form and send her a little email.

When I typed her name into the browser, as usual, the wikipedia excerpt popped up at the top, and it referred to her in the past tense: “She *was* an American pediatrician…” and it just broke my heart. WTF?? What the Absolute F??? I scrolled down and the news slapped me in the face. She passed away Aug 8, 2026. Just three weeks ago. I had no idea.

I first found Rachel Naomi Remen at the end of a coaching workshop in 2017, when one of the instructors shared with us a poem about fixing, helping and healing. It was brilliant. Just a few lines of radiant truth. The annoying thing was that the instructor said they didn’t know who had written these words. I searched and found the wise person behind those and many other pearls of wisdom.

Today, I bid adieu to Dr Remen, knowing that I will remember her throughout the rest of my life, as I read her words, in books, articles, and just strewn everywhere in the beauty of life.

Postscript

Okay, even in her passing, I have to mention the sentence that I believe is wrongly written. As I said, it’s from the chapter “Remembering”. The story is about Rachel finding a little porcelain statue (of what turned out to be Kwan Yin, the goddess of compassion) in a lamp store but didn’t have the official funds to buy it for her office, but the statue appeared in her dream begging her not to leave her behind.

On the last page of the chapter, Page 55 in my library copy, she says, “Something in me had recognized her instantly and had claimed her for my own.”

I completely believe that Rachel’s ego switched who recognized who. The correct way to write that line is:
“Something in her had recognized me instantly and had claimed me for her own”.