Saturday, February 4, 2012

Memorial update

Dear friends,

a few announcements regarding the celebration of Radhika's life on Friday, February 17:


The event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Clarke Field House, the biggest event venue on the CSUSM campus. (See www.csusm.edu/news/articles/RadhikaRMemorial.html for the campus announcement.) I had originally hoped that the event would be a bit earlier in the day, but there is a conference at the Field house that day, so this is the best we could do. On the bright side, this will allow people who work until 5 plenty of time to get there.

In spite of the time this won't be a dinner, but refreshments will be served courtesy of the University. We have no idea how many people will come from the University, our friends, family and other people Radhika touched. So it is important that EVERYBODY sends an RSVP using the following link (it just asks for your name and the number of people in your party, so do it NOW!):

www.surveygizmo.com/s3/799025/Radhika-Ramamurthi-Memorial

Parking will be provided for free as well, in the parking lot right next to the parking structure (Lot N in the top right corner of the map www.csusm.edu/parking/images/map.pdf ), but members of the campus community will probably find it easiest to park in the garage itself. If you don't have a CSUSM parking pass, but want to park in the garage anyway, then you would have to pay for that at one of the machines in the garage.

There will be a short program, but it hasn't been decided yet who the presenters will be. If you want to be included in that part of the event, then please email Ranjeeta Basu ( rbasu@csusm.edu ). There will also be an "open mike" at the end for those of you who want to decide last moment if they want to speak.

OUT OF TOWN GUESTS: If you come in by plane and want to be picked up and dropped off at the airport, please contact Marcia Woolf ( mwoolf@csusm.edu ). Also contact her if you would like to stay at somebody's house while you are in town. Make sure to give your exact travel dates and information about the members of your party (number in your party/Male/Female/Children/Special needs.) There are two reasons why we are offering this rather than just pointing everybody to the nearest hotel: For one, coming here at short notice may already be expensive for you and San Diego is beautiful, but not a cheap place to stay, so we want to make this financially easier on you. More importantly, the people you'd be staying with will also have known Radhika, and this will be a nice opportunity for you to connect with somebody else who really cared about her.

LOCALS: If you are willing to go to the airport to pick up or drop off out of town guests, or if you have a spare bedroom you can offer to out of town guests, then please also send your information (available times/beds/restrictions) to Marcia Woolf ( mwoolf@csusm.edu ) so that she can connect you with an out of town guest.

IF YOU CAN'T ATTEND: Don't worry, our technology folks at the University have a lot of experience with life webcasting events of this type, and I will make sure that there will be a link on the blog. The event will also be archived, so that Mira and I will have a lasting memory of this day.

7 comments:

  1. Wonderful! Linda is still sorting out tickets and plans to attend. I'm trying to talk her into sharing a bit about what it was like to live with Radhika back when she was dating Andre at UIUC. But she's shy. So if she doesn't say anything, just look for the short, dark haired blind chick and ask for a story (she's going to kill me for publishing that).

    R.

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    1. Linda called today to say she arrived safely. All of you will be in our prayers tonight.

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  3. Dear Dr. Kundgen,
    I am very sorry for your loss. Dr. Ramamurthi was not only a great math professor but also an awesome mentor. Even though I was not a bright student of hers, she never turned me down once. I hope that you know how much I appreciate all the joys and struggles I had in both of yours and Dr. Ramamurthi's class. I wish I was informed of her condition much earlier. Anyway, I will try my best to come to the memorial and hope to see you there.
    Much love,
    Sylvia.

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  4. Andre, so sorry to hear this ... time just went by so fast. But as you said, Radhika has completed her experiences in this life. Our prayers are with you and Mira. Thanks for the blog and for being there for Radhika. We'll be watching the memorial from Chicago.

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  5. Andre,
    My heart is broken for you as you grieve the loss of your lover, your wife, and bestfriend, while enduring the pain of your daughter losing her mother. I will not lie, I have not stopped crying. We were soul sisters in our fight with cancer. I prayed for such a different outcome for her life and your family. I am planning on coming this Friday with my daughters to celebrate Radika's generous spirit and beautiful soul. I will never forget her! I wish you strength and courage during the days, weeks and months to come.

    Lovingly,
    Treigh

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