Elizabeth Morgan Chung BROWN

1998 - 2018

BROWN, Elizabeth Morgan Chung September 30, 1998 - May 18, 2018 If you had asked us about the gift, Elizabeth, we would have chosen differently. But the gift was not ours to give, it was yours, and you were in such a hurry. You needed to distill years of sunrises and sunsets, of birdsong and gentle breezes, of longing and release, of beauty, friendship, and love into precious moments of hope and sorrow and surprising joy. In your gift, time has become deep for us, bending towards eternity, filled with the memory of how you graced our lives, and yet pregnant with the expectation of reunion. We see differently, hear differently now. We look on nature and tease meaning from a dove's whispered coo or her hurried graceful flight off the olive or oak outside your window. We see with our hearts now; listen with our hearts; speak with our hearts. And our hearts speak to us. We know you there, in our hearts now. We catch glimpses of you, like the dove, and feel you more intimately than our own breath. This is your gift to us. Elizabeth, you have strengthened our bonds by fire and taught us more deeply how to love. We will strive to be better parents, siblings, and friends; we will engage more authentically, with a sincerity forged in the terrible beauty of the days spent in the presence of your suffering. You are our daughter, sister, friend, and student, but also our teacher. We remember you: a precocious child, captured by the written word and taking joy in shared moments with books, evoked feelings, and your imagination; a little girl, drawn to pencils, color, and paper, drawing pictures for guests, expressing your affection through the gift of art; the young athlete, training to master the Kempo Karate forms, and the Black Belt, sharing your mastery with others, replicating yourself; the volunteer, embracing the suffering of those the world finds repulsive, urine-soaked old ladies, beggars, and orphans in Haiti and Africa; the violinist, reaching to the world of heart through sound, notes, harmony, and sharing it with those of us fortunate enough to listen; the writer striving to capture your inner world on paper, to make sense of it, but knowing that all words fail. And rightly so: the sum of your accomplishments, like words, do not equal you. Your illness darkened your perception. You could not see your own goodness, brilliance, and beauty, so very evident to everyone of us who knew and loved you. We cannot make sense of this; it will always be a source of pain for us, at least until we know the joy of reunion with you. This pain and longing has sparked within us the desire to be better. We want to join you on this path to bring out the goodness and beauty of others. Because finally we know, liberated, you have entered into the realm of mercy and love, the world of God's Heart. And in the world of heart, there is no time or space or barrier to love, and we can rest together in communion, if we act together with common purpose. So let us begin and remake the world in the image of love. Elizabeth is survived by her brother Randall and her parents, Seong and David Brown. She passed away at 9:55 a.m. on May 18th, 2018, midway through Mental Health Awareness Month. From the moment of her diagnosis, Elizabeth sought to erode the stigma attached to mental illness by addressing her situation openly and frankly. She fought hard, with great determination, to be healthy. She envisioned a future spent as an advocate for those afflicted by mental illness. Unfortunately, that future did not come to pass. However, we the family and friends of Elizabeth, intend to carry forward her intentions, on her behalf. Our immediate goal is to fund scholarships in her name at Bard College at Simon's Rock, St. Rose School and various mental health awareness programs. Her memorial service will be held at a later date in Santa Rosa and will be announced when it is set on the Caring Bridge website. (https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/elizabethbrownhope/journal) In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to Elizabeth Morgan Brown Memorial Foundation at 4241 Los Olivos Court, Santa Rosa, CA 95404.