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From BACDS Country Dancer No. 101 March 2015
Joan Maramonte (1942-2015) By Sharyn Peterson
The Bay Area dance community lost a gracious and valued member last month when Joan Maramonte passed away. Joan was an avid contra dancer and volunteer.
She initially, and enthusiastically, participated in the quarterly mailing parties and then served on the board of BACDS from 2008 to 2011.
In addition, Joan was both treasurer and registrar of Balance the Bay from its beginning until this past year when declining health forced her to give it up.
Joan never failed to lend a hand at any dance she attended; her generosity was well known among dance managers and the Balance the Bay committee.
Our dance community was made richer by her presence and we are the poorer for her loss.
There will be a celebration of her life on March 29, 2015 at 1pm at Hacienda de Las Flores, 2100 Donald Drive, Moraga CA 94556.
Jodene (Jody) Distler-Dill (1942-2015)
Jody Distler-Dill passed away peacefully at home in Castro Valley, California after over twenty years living with congestive heart failure, and nearly seventy-three years of making the world a better place. She leaves a legacy of love that will be cherished by all who knew her.
Jody was a dancer and a dance organizer, not a caller or a musician. She began dancing in 1981, when the Bay Area Country Dance Society was just getting started (she is member #158), and her volunteer service includes over 25 years on the Playford Ball committee (frequently as chair), 14 years on the Board of Directors, and (most visibly) her many years as manager, programmer and guiding spirit of the Friday Night Palo Alto English Country Dance. She was always a welcoming presence and an effective recruiter.
More than one newcomer to the Palo Alto English dance went home that very evening as the newest member of the Playford Ball committee. She was a stabilizing presence on the Board of Directors, quiet most of the time, but never hesitating to speak out when she saw the need. We miss her.
There will be a memorial dance in Palo Alto on what would have been her 73rd birthday, September 10.
The President’s Corner
From the President: This message is about community. Our community. The dance community here is a truly wonderful thing. On the 14th of June, I lost my wife of 16 years, Jody Distler-Dill, to a longstanding health condition that had finally gotten the better of her. During the next week or so, I went to every dance I could get to, and received hugs and offers of help and support from hundreds of people. And that was only the beginning.
The dance community provided me with a network of contacts that meant that I was almost never alone or without something to keep me busy. I had houseguests. Not just my family, who came out to help when and as they were able, but dance friends. Howard and Bryce Carlberg happened to be traveling around the west coast and were looking for places to stay and work to do to pay for their travels. Some of you may remember the Carlbergs as the family that did the dance gypsy thing a few years back in a bus that Howard had rebuilt into a gorgeous motor home, and Bryce as the 7-year-old who petitioned to attend the Playford Ball as a dancer in 2000. They settled in Berea, but kept their links to our community. Howard and Bryce stayed a couple of weeks and did some needed work for me. And now I have a housemate, also from the dance community (thank you, Kelsey).
And I had lots of BACDS committee work to do. Balance the Bay was coming up in August, and I was registrar and co- chair of the committee. When Jody was ill, we were not able to consider taking in out-of-town guests for the weekend on top of everything else we were doing, but now that I was rattling around in an empty house, it was easy. I ended up playing host to one of the bands and both callers. And as soon as B-t-B was over, I had to get working again on planning for Spring Fever weekend in March. If you manage things properly, you can use the volunteer opportunities in a community like ours to keep yourself just as busy as you need to be.
Volunteers from the dance community did most of the work to organize Jody’s memorial service and more than three- quarters of the people attending were dancers. At the end of the service, as Ruth Anne Fraley and Anne Bingham Goess played a closing waltz, dozens of people got up and danced in the aisles as a final tribute to Jody. It was a truly magical moment, and one that the non-dancers in the crowd found most touching and memorable.
There will be a memorial dance for Jody on Thursday, September 10 (what would have been her 73rd birthday). And it too is being organized and run by volunteers from the dance community.
Death is part of the circle of life. Jody’s passing was a completion, celebrated and supported by her dance community, just as they celebrated and supported her in life. Jody is not the only person we’ve lost recently. Dave Thompson from the Berkeley English community passed away in July, and I remember many others who went before: Joan Maramonte, Vanessa Schnatmeier, Karen Candin, to name just a few. All brought their warmth and friendship and volunteer time to the community, and the community is better for their having been part of it.
And life goes on, and the dance community supports us as we support it. Thank you all for being part of it.
~ Jens Dill, BACDS President, bacds-president@bacds.org
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