Ginger's Passing

Virginia Kathryn Sloane Woods -- best known as "Ginger" -- passed away last Friday, 11/21, at about 4:30 in the afternoon. She'd been unconscious for the last three days of her life and was not in any visible discomfort or pain -- simply slipped away. Ann and I were with her most of the time on Thursday and Friday, and were holding her hand as she drew her final breath. And although she was not conscious during her last three days, it was not until a few minutes after the last grandchild called that she finally let go.


Ginger on New Year's Day, 2007

She'd celebrated her 96th birthday last May, and was able to hold her newest great grandchild, Summer Grace Woods Prentice, on her birthday. It was a quiet and peaceful end to a long life, filled with love and good works. Rest in peace, mother.

Yes, We Did!

Haven't had time to add to the blog of late; too busy campaigning! And it worked! We're still floating with the joy/surprise/shock/elation of the landslide that Obama pulled off on Tuesday. We spent election day at our precincts in Gahanna, then went to the Ohio Democratic Party celebration in downtown Columbus. And here's part of the crew from our ward, having just learned that Obama won!

The party was terrific, and there was literally dancing in the streets of downtown Columbus--at least near the Renaissance Hotel where the Democrats were! A different story at the Republican headquarters a few blocks away; more about that in The Other Paper -- for details, see http://www.theotherpaper.com/articles/2008/11/08/cover_story/doc49122d18310e6004426032.txt
Still a bit surprised that, despite lots of indications of efforts to suppress votes (some apparently successful), Obama carried Ohio. Our celebrations were as festive as those in New York: here are a couple of photos of Times Square on Election Night, courtesy of OSU alumnus John H. Johnson:


(A portfolio of John's terrific photos of New York City is available at http://www.h2gphotos.com/)

Back in Central Ohio, we're still waiting on the results of the close race that has Mary Jo Kilroy only a few votes down from her Republican opponent, now going into a recount. And despite a desperately dirty campaign from the McCain/Palin ticket, the general voting public clearly didn't buy the smears, the guilt-by-association ploy, and the outright lies. The satirical photo below, which was sent me by Mary Steelsmith, a wonderful playwright from southern California, sums it up nicely:

Our local organization, Ward 19H in Clintonville, was exceptionally active and effective in getting out the vote -- 70% of the registered voters actually voted, and the precinct went 78% for Obama! -- and the early voting that was possible here in Ohio for a month before Election Day clearly made a difference. Democracy works again, finally, after a hiatus of some eight years--

And the enthusiasm continues; we were scheduled to phone bank tonight (11/8) to contact people who'd voted on provisional ballots to make sure they got the needed information in to the Board of Elections by the deadline -- but when we arrived at the Democratic headquarters, we were told that there'd been such a huge turnout of volunteers that the phone lists had all been completed -- so we came home. Terrific to experience such involvement again -- hasn't been this exciting for several decades--