Between Learning And The All-Knowing: Remembering Eva-Maria Palevich

Part of the PoemAlley family since its inception, Eva-Maria Palevich passed away March 3, 2018 at Brighton Gardens residence in Stamford in the presence of her husband Edward and daughter, Allegra. Recalls Ralph Nazareth upon hearing the sad news, “We (will) all remember her fondly—her seriousness, her playfulness, her pixie smile, her gentleness, her caring, her interest in poetry and its power to transform the world in deep and mysterious ways.”

One of Eva-Maria’s contributions to the first PA blog entry in 2009 captures wonderfully this combination of the mischievous and the numinous:

We can not Change the Cards we are Dealt

She keeps a message

on her computer screen

to be able to get through the day.

It reads:

We can not change the cards we are dealt,

Just how we play the hand.*

Poor thing, she feels so weary.


I emailed back:

“You know what I would do?

I’d quickly do some texting

to Him who did the dealing.

It would read:- ‘May I please

be Thy apprentice since I am learning,

and Thou are all knowing!’

Then I’d press send….”

EMP

* Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

As to her gentleness, Eva-Maria lent a tranquil, informed weight to her readings, as can be seen at 4:58 in this video condensation by Bill Buschel of the “Green Fuse” PoemAlley program held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in May, 2010:

Born October 10, 1934 in Chemnitz, Germany, Eva-Maria grew up in Berlin, attending the Lette Verein, where she studied graphics and design and, in 1957, married Edward Palevich. Prior to settling in Greenwich in 1980, they lived in a variety of major cities over the years, from Cincinnati and London, to Dusseldorf and the Milan/Lake Como region of Italy.

Eva-Maria tutored German, was active in the Second Congregational Church in Greenwich and, in addition to her interlaced devotion to her family and writing, served as an invaluable member of the PoemAlley Advisory Committee for many years. Remembers Ann Yarmal, who co-founded the poetry group with Catherine Ednie in 2000, ““I knew and cared for Eva-Maria during the time we spent in the ‘90’s, and she is always special in my memory, as so Ed, who encouraged and supported her gifts and abilities.”

Condolence messages may be sent to Ed and Allegra at 59 Roxbury Road, Stamford, CT 06902.

A memorial service will be held this Saturday, March 24, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. at The Second Congregational Church in Greenwich, CT.