Honor Paula Ferguson by Helping her Kids
Donation protected
On August 07, 2020, Paula Ann Ferguson, dancer; mathematician; entrepreneur; friend; sister; daughter; and -- the thing that made her the most proud -- mother of three; passed from this life and the children in whom she invested every energy, delighted daily, and loved without bounds, grew up too fast.
Although adults under the law, born with innate smarts, and imbued with abundant savvy, nothing prepared Bella, Darius, and Julian for the consequences of a distracted driver and the malevolence inherent in this worst-ever year. Since their mother’s death, they’ve navigated the soulless bureaucracy inherent to end of life. They’ve paid bills, including rent on the home the four of them shared, and the various charges that mounted up in conjunction with the collision which was concluded to not have been their mother’s fault. They divvied up the meager settlement funds and learned that the minimum payment for loss of life under New Mexico law is not only inadequate, it’s insulting. They’ve asked for precisely nothing, not even sympathy. They did not publicize their mother’s death even though they knew she’d left behind people from every walk of life who loved her almost as much as they did. As they still do. They thought perhaps it would look as if they sought pity or worse, charity.
But now, with the holidays in front of us and as we all try to salvage something from 2020, the children have accepted the idea (which was not theirs) that maybe some of the others who cared about their mother, might like to honor her by providing the three people she most loved a little something to make things easier as they recover from their shock, learn to cope with their grief, and work to regain some degree of normalcy and, eventually, happiness. Their goals are modest. They’d like to be able to afford a few vocational classes, steadily see a family therapist, replace the aging vehicle lost to the crash, and build up a down payment on a small home they can refurbish and share.
If you can spare anything, they would be humbled and pleased. Those of us who love the children and who also loved and grieve their mother would be grateful for your kindness and your selflessness; two attributes that anyone who loved Paula, knows are things she embodied and taught.
Although adults under the law, born with innate smarts, and imbued with abundant savvy, nothing prepared Bella, Darius, and Julian for the consequences of a distracted driver and the malevolence inherent in this worst-ever year. Since their mother’s death, they’ve navigated the soulless bureaucracy inherent to end of life. They’ve paid bills, including rent on the home the four of them shared, and the various charges that mounted up in conjunction with the collision which was concluded to not have been their mother’s fault. They divvied up the meager settlement funds and learned that the minimum payment for loss of life under New Mexico law is not only inadequate, it’s insulting. They’ve asked for precisely nothing, not even sympathy. They did not publicize their mother’s death even though they knew she’d left behind people from every walk of life who loved her almost as much as they did. As they still do. They thought perhaps it would look as if they sought pity or worse, charity.
But now, with the holidays in front of us and as we all try to salvage something from 2020, the children have accepted the idea (which was not theirs) that maybe some of the others who cared about their mother, might like to honor her by providing the three people she most loved a little something to make things easier as they recover from their shock, learn to cope with their grief, and work to regain some degree of normalcy and, eventually, happiness. Their goals are modest. They’d like to be able to afford a few vocational classes, steadily see a family therapist, replace the aging vehicle lost to the crash, and build up a down payment on a small home they can refurbish and share.
If you can spare anything, they would be humbled and pleased. Those of us who love the children and who also loved and grieve their mother would be grateful for your kindness and your selflessness; two attributes that anyone who loved Paula, knows are things she embodied and taught.
Organizer and beneficiary
Laura Chamberlin
Organizer
Albuquerque, NM
Susan Ferguson
Beneficiary