Run to Cadiz: Yvonne Mozée,
Cool / Blue Black: John Straley,
The Americans: lê thi diem thúy,
Grown Children: Stefani Farris,
Cover Photograph: Yvonne Mozée,
“April 25th was a fine day for cake. It was Yvonne Mozée’s birthday. She would have been a lively eighty-six years old and would have celebrated among friends with a piece of her favorite–chocolate, maybe, or lemon chiffon. She had a taste for good cake. The air would have been sprinkled with her wry jokes about having just been released from Lemon Creek Prison or her stint dancing on tables at the Pioneer Bar…
Yvonne’s generosity was also one of her trademarks–and the reason we remembered her with cake this last April 25th. It had been eight months since she passed away. We missed her, kept expecting to see her walking down the sidewalk past our office. On an April Monday I was rifling through the weekend’s accumulated email messages. By chance I checked my Junk Mail file and saw a message whose subject was “donation.” Sure, I thought, as had the filter on my computer. But the sender, Bonnie Brand, was a slightly familiar name, so I opened the message, not ever expecting the news that Yvonne had left a gift to the Island Institute. Bonnie, her niece and executrix, was trying to contact me to let me know. A few hours later she followed up her message with a phone call. It was then that the lump rose in my throat. For our small organization, Yvonne’s gift was significant. It spoke volumes about her belief in the importance of the Institute’s work. A celebration with cake was Bonnie’s suggestion.
For us, it didn’t take long to think about acknowledging our deep gratitude and fondness for Yvonne in these pages. Though one photograph and a short essay represent only a fraction of her talent, we couldn’t be more honored to offer them to you…”