“A book with many
chapters”
Emma
Buenaventura passed away peacefully at home in
Sackville, New Brunswick, on December 20, 2022, at the age of 95.
She is survived by her spouse, Judith A. Weiss, her
brothers Jaime and Alejandro and her sister Constanza, and she was
predeceased by her parents Cornelio Buenaventura and Julia Emma Alder
and eight brothers and sisters. Born in Cali, Colombia, on
November 15, 1927, her childhood was enriched by the visits of many
world-famous artists and musicians who were invited by her
sister-in-law, a concert pianist, and her brother, a playwright and
director.
She went to Washington, DC at the age of
twenty for knee surgery and ended up working at the Pan American Union
(Organization of American States). She was able to
accomplish this while studying English in night school, ignoring her
uncle’s advice to learn Sanskrit first. After a year on
scholarship at the recently established school of Library Science in
Havana, Cuba, in 1952, she joined the staff of the Columbus Memorial
Library of the Pan American Union, becoming head of cataloguing.
After retiring in 1973, she pursued further undergraduate
and then graduate studies at the University of Maryland, and taught
Spanish and Latin American literature at the College Park and
Baltimore County campuses. A founding member of the Colombia
Human Rights Committee in Washington, Emma also volunteered with the
Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition. One of
her most vivid memories was being present at the 1963 March on
Washington led by the Rev. M.L. King, Jr. She also
participated in marches against the Vietnam War and in numerous other
rallies on the National Mall through the years (for Central America,
for Women’s Reproductive Rights, for Gay Rights, for Racial
Justice).
Over the years, she travelled through
Latin America, Europe and the United States. She became a
landed immigrant in Canada in 2004.
An early subscriber to the independent
socialist journal Monthly Review, she
was a lifelong reader of history, classical economics, and
philosophy. She liked to quote these lines from the
17th century
independent thinker Benedict Spinoza, whom she considered her guide
since adolescence: “The highest activity a human being can attain
is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be
free,” and “Do not lament or hate. Understand.”
She followed critical Latin American
political analysis assiduously and looked to social movements to keep
alive hopes for peace and social justice in her native Colombia and
other countries.
Emma was a devotee of opera, chamber
music, and sacred and baroque music. Her passionate love of Western
classical music was as instinctive to her as her mother tongue. Every
nuance was experienced emotionally and spiritually in her heart and
soul. She enhanced her deeply intuitive understanding of the complex
language of music through broad-based listening, reading, and the
posing of insightful questions to her musician
friends.
Equally passionate about literature, she
loved and reread Cervantes, Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Dickens,
Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. Hence it is easy to understand why
she had no time for small talk but was always asking probing questions
that offered insights, questions that sometimes stayed with a person
for a long time.
What various friends have said about
her:
“Your wit and your sharp
mind will always challenge me to think more clearly. Your passion and
your critical engagement with all things political and your insightful
questions will be a guide.”
“I can hear
Emma’s voice telling stories so passionately and
beautifully. I don’t remember everything she said.
It was more the way she told them.”
“She was one of the
wisest and most uncompromising persons I’ve
known.”
” She captured
people well. Asked questions she already knew the answers
to. She saw what was beneath the surface and asked
questions that led one to the answers.”
“Emma was a straight
shooter and did not sugar coat the pill for
anyone!”
“One always knew where
they stood with Emma, unapologetically direct, honest, and
genuine.”
Her nieces and nephews look up to her as
a role model and inspiration.
It should also be said that her comic
timing was impeccable, as was her skill in shelling and eating
lobster.
Emma and her family are especially
grateful to Dr. A.C. Johnston and to the Extra-mural nurses, who have
been unfailingly kind and knowledgeable.
Arrangements are under the care and
guidance of Jones Funeral Home,
70 Bridge Street, Sackville. Cremation has taken place and
there are to be no services at this time.
In lieu of flowers, please support and
patronize the arts and cultural activities.
1927 2022
We offer our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Emma Buenaventura 1927 2022 and hope that their memory may be a source of comfort during this difficult time. Your thoughts and kind words are greatly appreciated.
Death notice for the town of: Sackville, Province: Nouveau-Brunswick