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Zane Kotker Obituary
Zane worked as a researcher, teacher, reporter, editor, and writer for some twenty years in New York City. She is the author of critically-acclaimed novels: Bodies in Motion (1972); A Certain Man (1976); White Rising (1981); Try to Remember (1997); and The Inner Sea, A Novel of the Year 100 (2014). She also published a poetry chapbook, Old Ladies in the Locker Room and Pool (2011); a novella, Goodnight Ladies (2016); and a collection of short stories, The Boy Who Walked to Distant Lands (2018). As Maggie Strong, she wrote Mainstay: For the Well Spouse of the Chronically Ill in 1988. With readers of Mainstay, she founded the Well Spouse Association (wellspouse.org).
She has been the recipient of accolades, including from National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Center for the Book. In 2019, she was a Pushcart Prize nominee. She enjoyed residencies at various writer's colonies. A novel, Queen of the Mountain, will be published posthumously.
She leaves her beloved children David Edward Kotker of Wendell and Ariel Kotker of Easthampton; her brother Edward S. Hickcox and his wife Jiemei Li and their son James Zhong of Victoria and Vancouver, Canada; her nieces and nephews and their spouses: Margaret and Andrew Hebert of Easthampton, Julie Rak and Danielle Fuller of Alberta, Canada, Samuel Hickcox and Catherine D'Anjou and their children Lucy and Hazel of Nova Scotia, Canada, Raphael Atlas of Northampton, David and Beth Atlas and their children Jake, Samantha, and Elana of Westport, CT, and Peter Atlas and Tim Hennigan of Charlestown, MA; along with many other family members and friends so dear to her heart.
Come spring or early summer, an outdoor memorial gathering will be held at her home in Northampton. A notice will be published on zanekotker.com. Contributions can be made to wellspouse.org or Forbes Library, Northampton.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Zane Kotker
Laura Koplewitz
November 27, 2021
Zane was an absolutely inspirational human being and writer. When I was in my early 20s, she took a chance on me and hired me to proofread a manuscript-in-progress. It was a joy and an honor to work for her. Zane's novel, White Rising, was far ahead of its time as a beautifully, poetically written, on historical fiction of the Daybreak people, Native American tribal coalition. The powerful, incantatory language has stayed with me these many years. To Zane's family, I offer my belated deepest condolences. Zane will forever be an inspiration. She changed me. I am now a prof. teaching multicultural arts and ethics. Zane inspired my trajectory in life. My prayers to her family and community, Laura
Meg Barr
April 21, 2021
I met Zane when I volunteered to help her through Northampton Neighbors. She was such an interesting, kind woman and I always enjoyed our visits.
Rosellen Brown
March 2, 2021
Although I thought that Zane as Maggie Strong did enormously brave and useful work, I knew her as a fellow writer and I want to be sure that her literary legacy is remembered. She was a very fine writer, versatile and hard-working -- she was able to write about the lives of contemporary Manhattanites and also about King Philip's war, a feat of enviable flexibility and curiosity. And later she turned her attention, understandably, to the lives of widows and other women confronting age and change. She was a witty, elegant, and persuasive writer and I will miss her tremendously, her voice on paper and across the table.
Debbie Hawke
March 1, 2021
I have known Maggie since our first retreat at Pendle Hill back in 1988. I will be forever grateful for the lessons she shared, and for our 33 years of friendship. She was my mentor and my inspiration. I will hold her memory dear to my heart. God bless.
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Amy Shaffer Crawley
February 25, 2021
I will be forever grateful to her for founding the Well Spouse(r) Association. Thank you, Zane, for a remarkable life.
Sylvia Furash
February 24, 2021
Why can't there be good news? Why must the crevasse in our hearts continue to widen. Perhaps it is better to revisit the visits to #10 with your Mom and Dad, especially during the warmth of summer on the porch; to recall the hours spent reading their books, and how your Dad honored the Kotker side of the Furash family on pg. 243 of Herzl, the King. Ariel, you brought us great pleasure with your art exhibit in Worcester (?). Is it appropriate to express gratitude for your family's lives? I wish you well, and hope that some day my dream of hosting you could become reality.
Love, Sylvia
ariel
February 23, 2021
hi again.
if anyone has sent photos to the email address i'd previously provided on her site, will you please send them again to this address instead:
[email protected]
i'd misread something and had gotten the gmail info wrong. but this address is good. thanks so much. and thank you for your comments.
ariel
Laurie Miller
February 23, 2021
I only knew Zane as Maggie Strong. Her book Mainstay helped me in innumerable ways while coping with a chronically ill husband for many years. My copy of Mainstay has been read many times. It is written in, highlighted and dog-earred. Zane's ability to openly describe her feelings and emotions was a gift to many.
My sincere sympathy and thoughts go out to her family at this time of loss.
Rachel Hadas
February 22, 2021
I never knew Zane, but like so many, I have benefitted enormously from Well Spouse, the organization that was brought into being through her vision. My utmost gratitude. along with my condolences, goes to her children. A life well-ived indeed.
Laurel Wittman
February 22, 2021
I'm grateful that Zane took the initiative to make the world a little brighter for well spouses. Her family will be in my thoughts.
Cynthia Vera
February 18, 2021
Hi,
To the family, I feel like I know you personally just from reading your obituary. To Zane and her family, I send my deepest condolences. God bless you and strengthen in this diffcult time.
Lorna Ritz
February 17, 2021
Ariel, I am so sorry to learn we lost Zane. I had not seen her in a long time but had the fortune recently to share dinner and red wine with her and Jan. Her quick wit never left her. I cut her food for her the way she wanted it, and if I missed a bit, she told me. We laughed a lot then and that is what I will keep with me, that and our mutual experience in Mojaca, Spain. I am so sorry for your loss. Love, Lorna Ritz
Richard Anderson
February 17, 2021
A great woman. As founder of the Well Spouse Association she saw a need, and made a valuable contribution to spousal caregivers everywhere.
ariel
February 16, 2021
hello
so, unfortunately my mom’s website is down as of this morning. we are working on it, and when it’s ready you’ll be able to comment and hopefully share photos there as well.
meanwhile, i’m so moved to read your comment, bob bonneau, you were so thoughtful working with my mom to try to help me in high school. thank you. i’ve never forgotten how accommodating you were. i hope you’re safe and well.
fondly right back to you.
from ariel
“edit February 19: her site is up again.”
Fern Z
February 16, 2021
As was mentioned, Maggie, as we knew her, was the founder of the Wellspouse Organization, providing support for those of us whose spouses or partners had/have severe chronic illnesses or/and disabilities. Reading her book was the first time that some of us heard the words that expressed how we felt and what we were going through. This was so powerful, comforting and validating. She was our mentor and heroine. This organization has been life saving for so many of us, and so many of us have now been close friends for years (30 yrs for some!!). I am so grateful that Maggie shared her story and invited her readers to contact her which lead to the establishment of our organization. Thank you Maggie.
Robert Bonneau
February 16, 2021
I was sorry to read of Zane's passing. I remember her energetic and positive involvement at NHS, where I taught, with her children in particular and with the school in general. I admired her greatly. I offer my sincere sympathy to those close to her, and especially to Ariel, whom I remember fondly from NHS.
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