A dear friend to many, colleague and beautiful soul, Emru Townsend, made his transition last night, November 12, 2008 ... a sweet and brilliant man who was more focused on life than death.  In its latin roots, "to animate" means "to give life to" and Emru was a man who animated life, even in his death.  From the moment Emru and Tamu, his sister, learned of his having leukemia they made public Emru's journals as he wrote about his process.  Emru's tenacity of spirit for good to replace any sense of remorse in response to this illness showed up as he instigated a world-wide campaign for awareness and support of bone marrow transplants, while, unselfishly and generously, he gave of himself as a father, a husband, a brother, and a son.  This was a courageous man who would prefer we dance the night away in tribute to his life rather than mourn the sadness of his death, although we will inevitably feel the loss of such a vital force.  So let's dance ... let's animate, let's give life to ... in honor of a man more focused on life than death. 

Let us celebrate the life of Emru's parents' and grandparents' "Happy Wedding Anniversary" on Saturday and Sunday.    This is a family who reminds that life is good.

Below are three announcements from his dear sister, Tamu, noting how we can honor this lovely man and his family who touch life deeply.  Please take note of the specifics of how you can contribute to becoming a bone marrow and stem cell donor on behalf of Emru.

I will miss my colleague and friend, but will continue to smile when thinking of how "in love" Emru was with animation ... so much so, he lived it. 

11-12-08:

Emru took his last breath just before 10 pm tonight. He died peacefully surrounded by his family.

He taught me how to live. He taught me how you are supposed to die.

Emru's name means RESPECT.

Emru, the person, also means compassion, learning, teaching, sharing, love, integrity, honesty, and inspiration.

He taught a lot of people a lot of things, but he spent 2008 teaching people how to reach out to one another in a whole new way. If you carry some of this forward, it will be a year even better spent.

Thank you for being part of his journey.

Tamu

11-12-08  Follow up note from Tamu:

I hear some of you are feeling down.

Music has been a constant part of Emru's life, especially during the last leg.

He has not been able to read for a long time. He struggled to write a sentence for me on Monday, "The pleasure of reading has been gone for a long time." Even being read to was difficult if it was new material. Ever the editor he re-wrote words in the sentence over and over because it didn't look right to him or he retrieved letters that were adjacent to the ones he actually wanted to write.

But music he could listen to until the end.

This song makes me very happy. My sister-in-law and I both have the album it comes from, and it has given us a lot of comfort recently. Emru is a huge fan of this singer.

This is the newest song Emru heard before he died. He got to experience the joy of listening to it twice, because he forgot a lot by the time I showed the video to him again this weekend. He was alert when he watched the video and he said he enjoyed it a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoaTl7IcFs8

I hope you enjoy it.

Tamu

11-12-08 A family who teaches in the most important ways:

There will be two days of visitation. Emru requested that there be no funeral.

In lieu of flowers, please learn more about how to get registered to be a bone marrow and stem cell donor. If you are eligible, consider registration, and if you cannot, tell someone how why it is important and how easy it is to register.

Donations can be made to:
African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (www.aclt.org)
National Marrow Donor Program (www.marrow.org)

Visitation Information:
Rideau Gardens
http://www.rideaumemorial.com/

4275, boul. des Sources,
Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC
H9B 2A6
Telephone: 514-685-3344
Toll-Free: 1-800-657-5678

Saturday November 15
2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Sunday November 16
2:00 pm to 8:00 pm

It happens that Saturday is my parents' 40th anniversary and Sunday is my grandparents. It's kind of neat.

Everyone is welcome: it would help if you could pass this along, so I don't have to.


Tamu

Tamu Townsend
tamu@videotron.ca