[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 3 (Thursday, January 8, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S207-S208]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO STELLA MAY BROWN WEACO

 Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, all of us in Massachusetts who 
knew her or knew of her were saddened to learn of the death of Stella 
May Brown Weaco at Massachusetts General Hospital on New Year's Eve.
  Stella was born in Mississippi, but she called Boston her home for 
the last 26 years of her life and she became a legend in our city. She 
lived on the streets, but her plight never deterred her gentle spirit. 
She found a home and a family in the volunteers and the fellow guests 
at the Women's Lunch Place, the famed daytime shelter in the city for 
poor and homeless women. She went there every day after the shelter 
opened in 1982, and she became a familiar face and beloved friend to 
many other members of the community.
  Stella had an amazingly positive impact on every person she met. She 
is very fondly remembered as very grateful, very amicable, and very 
kind. Year after year, the Women's Lunch Place tried to persuade her to 
accept housing, but her indomitable spirit led her to decline such 
assistance. Finally, when the pressures of daily living on the streets 
became unbearable even for Stella, she graciously accepted the help of 
those around her and spent the last 2 years on her life in the Pine 
Street Inn.
  Even then, Stella unfailingly came back to the Women's Lunch Place as 
often as she could, to seek out the familiar faces and friendships she 
cherished so much there. Sadly, Stella passed away on New Year's Eve, 
in the company of those who loved her for the joy she had given to 
their lives. In many ways, Stella exemplified the power and the spirit 
of giving and the extraordinary importance of human kindness. She'll be 
deeply missed, but the impact she had on all who knew her is 
immeasurable, and the lessons she taught will never be forgotten.
  Mr. President, I ask that the obituary of Stella written by Women's 
Lunch Place Executive Director Sharon Reilly and an eloquent column 
about Stella by Rachelle Cohen in the Boston Herald may be printed in 
the Record.
  The information follows:

               Stella Taught Us All About Grace, Dignity

                   (By Rachelle Cohen, Jan. 5, 2009)

       We lost Stella on New Year's Eve.
       Even as the city prepared to usher out this year that 
     nearly everyone agrees they couldn't wait to see end, this 
     woman who had little and complained little died in the 
     company of those who cared about her and for her.
       For at least a quarter of a century Stella lived on the 
     streets. And we only know that much because she was there 
     when the Women's Lunch Place, a daytime shelter for poor and 
     homeless women, first opened its doors 26 years ago.
       For all those years she'd come for breakfast, a shower, to 
     do her laundry, maybe take a nap and stay through lunch. For 
     all those Thanksgivings and Christmases she had found a warm, 
     accepting place.
       She was there when I reported for my first stint as a 
     volunteer, by then Stella was an undemanding kind of queen 
     bee--occupying her favorite spot against the wall in the 
     dining room. She was engaging and gracious, accepting a 
     pancake with butter and syrup as if it were a special gift.
       Stella became the ultimate challenge for Lunch Place staff 
     over the years. The confusion that reigned in her head--which 
     often

[[Page S208]]

     made her insist she was descended from royalty or needed to 
     return to her real home in Jerusalem--also made her refuse 
     any kind of housing.
       For more than two decades this tugging and pulling 
     continued. As one former staffer put it, ``she broke your 
     heart'' when she left the shelter at its 2:30 p.m. closing 
     time, heading out into bruising heat in the summer, into the 
     cold and the snow on wintry days. Housing--temporary or 
     permanent--wasn't for her, nor was the medication that might 
     have allowed her to see the world differently.
       But her decades on the streets began to take their toll on 
     Stella. And, frankly she was no match for the Lunch Place 
     staffers who were tireless in their devotion and relentless 
     in their efforts to make whatever time remained for Stella 
     safe and comfortable.
       So for the last two years of her life Stella had a roof 
     over her head and a place to call home.
       And at the end of her days she had what so many others with 
     so much more in material wealth would envy. She had at her 
     bedside people who loved her. They loved her--we all loved 
     her--for the simplest of reasons. She returned our affection 
     and our kindness ten-fold. She taught us that grace and 
     dignity aren't a function of wealth or power. And at the 
     beginning of a new year she reminded us--even in death--that 
     being poor or homeless or mentally ill doesn't rob you of 
     that grace or that dignity. That comes from within. Stella 
     taught us that.

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