The Year of the Woman

Until 1999 Time Magazine put out an annual edition titled Man/Woman of the Year, although only four women ever appeared on the cover, Wallis Simpson, Queen Elizabeth, Corazon Aquino and, as half its man/woman of the year, Soong Mi-Ling. In 1999 the edition was re-titled Person of the Year.

Who knows who Time Magazine will anoint when it puts out its “Year of” edition, but I would hope it is “The Year of the Woman.” It is hard to deny that women as a whole have played an enormous role in events this past year, in politics and in finally coming out of the closet of abuse.

I am going to honor six women who will never make the cover of a magazine, but women I have known who have made an impact on me and on others. Two are living, four are recently deceased.

The first is Patrizia, seen here second from the right, who lives in the family home in Pisa, where Ernie and I had the pleasure of visiting her nineteen years ago. Since then she has visited us and we have spent time with her in our son and daughter-in-law’s house in Virginia. That’s Gody, our daughter-in-law in the middle. Patrizia met Gody in Rwanda when she was working for the United Nations in the early 1990s. Patrizia knew all of Gody’s family and recognizing what an exceptional person Gody was and how bleak the outlook was for Rwanda, she took her back to Italy to live with her and her renowned and revered husband Marco, who taught at the University of Pisa. Gody trained as a nurse and watched from afar as Patrizia’s predictions were fulfilled.

I have also had the pleasure of spending time with the other three women in the photograph. (They were all together this past summer in Pisa to celebrate Patrizia’s 70th birthday.) On the left is Beatrice, Gody’s cousin. Between her and Gody is Yvonne, Gody’s youngest sister and on the right is Apauline, Gody’s younger sister. Both Yvonne and Apauline have visited us in Michigan, and they are delightful young women.

Theirs is not my story to tell and although I have heard some of it, it is not a history I would ever feel comfortable inquiring about. I do know that without the hard work and persistence of Patrizia some of these women would not be living such fulfilling lives, or even alive at all. Patrizia was aided in her humanitarian efforts by being a politician and working with the European Court of Human rights. Born in Egypt, she has the mastery of English and French as well as Italian. She has remained close to the friends she made in Rwanda. Here she is with Gody at the wedding of Gody’s brother Jean-Baptiste in Kigali.

In spite of all her accomplishments in the political sphere, she is now content with  her life as a mother and grandmother. While Wikipedia is crammed with information of the committees she served on in the Italian and European parliaments, I honor for her selflessness and generosity and I remember her most clearly sitting on our patio at one of our outdoor movie events for our grandchildren, laughing uncontrollably at the antics of Mr. Bean.

She’s a woman to celebrate and admire.