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Well now I can talk about the actual headstone design. I worked for about 4 months on this design, via fax, with Kevin Locke, the son of Pat Locke (the woman who died). She was on the National Spiritual Assembly at the time of her death, so you can imagine how well-loved and admired she was. She was known as an activist for American Indians and an advocate for them with the Baha'is.

The design included traditional Lakota flower designs which I adapted for the shape of the stone. Then I had to kind of invent some Lakota characters in Illustrator. "Tawacin Waste Win" is her Lakota name, meaning "the compassionate woman," and "unci" (shown at the end of her name) means "grandmother." There is the last line of the long obligatory prayer in both Lakota and English ("The kingdoms of earth and heaven are Thine, oh Lord of the worlds") and there are 36 "feathers" (triangles) on each side, adding up to 72, with a morningstar in the middle, which equals 73, or the age she was when she died.

The headstone was painted red as a symbol of the "red road" which is often talked about in Lakota tradition. It's the road to your destiny, to what you love. And it was a favorite color of Pat's. Ironic that I wore red to the ceremony. Anyways, children played a major role in the ceremony by being the painters of the stone, as Patricia loved children especially...and also ironic that a youth designed the headstone, no? Nothing is coincidence, what can I say.

This was very special and I'm honored I was a part of it. I'll surely never forget it (especially now that it's permalinked...hee hee)!

And as for Steph, we're grownups, she lives in paradise, and we had a blast. Thanks for the fun, and I'll miss you!

Posted by Lacey at April 09, 2003 11:13 AM