It is with great sadness and honor that I announce the death of my father, Richard Lawrence Venezky, today, June 11th, 2004. My father was an amazing man who excelled in so many ways. He was a loving father, a caring husband, a loyal friend, a committed mentor, an inspiring teacher, an honored scholar, an avid collector, and a gifted gardener. He enriched our lives in so many ways and we will all miss him dearly. In the past few weeks I have thought about the pain of losing him and came to realize how fortunate I am to have had him in my life for so long. I realize that there will be many unanswered questions but that one of the gifts my father gave to me was the set of tools to learn on my own and the joy in doing so. I will always want to know exactly how I can best educate my children or how he made his garden grow but I will also take pleasure in knowing that he is proud of me as I go through this process of discovery. I will think of him every time I work in the garden, eat a vegetable, read a book, or learn a new skill. We love you Dad.

Much love,
Dina

We are requesting pictures and stories of Dad. These can be sent to me by email (or by mail) to be archived for the family, in particular, Benjamin and baby #2.

Information about the funeral below.

Benjamin points out a lemon on the tree that Dad and I planted when we first moved into our house in California. The tree has grown considerably since then.

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A funeral service will be held in Delaware on Sunday, June 13th at 2:00 pm at Temple Beth El in Newark, DE.
301 Possom Park Rd  Newark, DE 19711, (302-366-8330)

The burial will occur afterwards at the Schoenberg funeral home (302.762.0334)
519 Philadelphia Pike Wilmington, DE 19809

You can fly into the Philadelphia airport. Bereavement rates may be available for the airlines by giving the funeral home number.

A block of rooms is being reserved at the Hotel DuPont (www.dupont.com) - it's a fabulous hotel.
11th and Market Streets, Wilmington, Delaware 19801
Reservations: 1-800-441-9019 or 302-594-3100. Fax 302-594-3108
The room rate for Fri, Sat., and Sun is $169/night.
If you have any difficulties you can call the manager, Dan Krompton 302.594.3127.

There are other hotels in the area as well (Marriott Courtyard 800.321.2211 and Sheridan Suites 800.325.3535 both in Wilmington).

Mom will be sitting shiva starting Sunday at 7pm and then Monday through Thursday nights at 8pm. Sitting shiva is a time of mourning and visitors are welcome to stop by the house. My reference book on the life cycle states the following.

"One enters the house without ringing the bell or knocking; mourners are not hosts, nor are guest emissaries of good cheer. There is very little that can be said at times like this, but words are not as important as the presence of friends. It is enough that people come, in the words of the prophet Ezekiel, to 'Sigh in silence'...It is considered inappropriate to send or bring flowers to a Jewish house of mourning. A donation to a charity in the name of the deceased is considered a far more meaningful tribute. Gifts of food are, however, traditional. But rather than bring the sixth plate of brownies, it may be more helpful to call whomever is taking responsibility for food in the house..."

Our family friend, Tony, has kindly offered to help coordinate.

Hi. It appears that I was a little optimistic about Dad getting out of the hospital in the near future. He's in good spirits but has had and recovered from another fever. He is continuing to fight the lung issue and the doctors are working on reducing his cough. In the meantime, we are trying to limit his talking so he doesn't cough too much. We greatly enjoy hearing fun stories about Dad that we can share with him and any entertaining movie suggestions (preferably of the "Bring it On" variety where concentration is not really required instead of anything that Dad might choose to see in a movie theater).

Thanks again and much love,
Dina

Info on Bring it On, in case you haven't seen it.
Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst) is an ideal high school girl: She's captain of her school's decorated cheerleading squad and has a perfect college boyfriend. But pressure mounts as Torrance attempts to lead her crew to its sixth consecutive national title. She's determined to let nothing -- not family, schoolwork, boyfriend or a talented inner-city squad with a score to settle -- get in the way of winning. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Bradford, Nathan West, Eliza Dushku, and Gabrielle Union.

ps Congratulations to one of my best friend's, Audra, who was married this weekend in Boston and has a birthday today!

Benjamin plays with chalk at GeoKids. The boots are for jumping in the mud pit the teachers make on occasion. Benjamin loves the mud...

Benjamin jumping at gymnastics. Not a great picture but he's getting harder and harder to catch on film.

Hi -

As one of Dad's doctors said the other day, "it looks like you dodged another bullet." The radiation appears to be getting rid of the lymphoma. There is still concern about the fungus in Dad's lungs but Dad may be released from the hospital in the next week or so. Dad is still coughing, due to difficulty swallowing, and it's unclear why things are going into his airway but Mom says that he is looking better and feeling better.

We hope everyone has had a good spring and we look forward to a joyous summer.
Love,
Dina

Benjamin admires and then picks the first strawberry to grow in his garden. He hasn't learned to use two hands to pick fruits and vegetables yet but we're working on it.

Benjamin plays with the parachute at his friend's birthday party.

Hi All -

The following is a message from one of Dad's colleagues about
an award that the University of Delaware has created in Dad's name.
Information about the award was first presented at the Festschrift
and we are all very excited about it.

Love,
Dina

ps I will be sending another update shortly.

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Dear Dick Venezky's friends and fans,

I'm often trying to think of something nice to do for Dick Venezky, a
delightful friend and colleague. I admit that my imagination runs the
limited gamut from Winnie the Pooh stickers to occasionally amusing books.
However, Dick's friends at the University of Delaware have come up with an
inspired gift: the Richard Venezky Award. The award will be given to a
graduate student in the School of Education at the University of Delaware,
quite possibly someone engaged in research related to literacy and school
learning. Dick was thrilled when told about the award. His friends at the
University of Delaware are consulting with Dick about the specific criteria
for the award.

If you are interested in making a donation, you may make out a check to the
University of Delaware and write "donation for Venezky fund" in the notes or
memo line. You may mail the check to:

Ludwig Mosberg, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
School of Education
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716

If you have any questions about the Richard Venezky Award, Dr. Mosberg's
email address is mosberg@udel.edu. Dr. Roberta Michnick Golinkoff is
another one of the talented ringleaders of this effort to honor Dick, and
her email address is roberta@UDel.Edu.

I think this is a wonderful opportunity for those of us who have been trying
to think of something nice to do for Dick. I figured you might think so
too. If you know other friends who might be interested, please feel free to
forward my email to them.

Best wishes, Nancy Loy (nancyloy@erols.com)