[Aztlan] Kathryn Josserand

[nhopkins at mailer.fsu.edu]

Hi to everyone, and I´m sorry to be remiss in not posting this 
earlier--and thanks to my brother-in-law for doing so.  Kathryn and I 
have been in Mexico for about a month, taking three students around for 
orientation and writing up some of our Chol material with the help of 
our long-time colleague Ausencio Cruz.

We had a good day Tuesday.  Kathryn did several loads of laundry left 
from our trip to Yucatan, where we had stayed at the Hacienda Uxmal 
unexpectedly, and visited with the family she met during her 1960s 
field work in Pustunich, near Uxmal.  On that swing we had also dropped 
in on Willie Folan in Campeche; Willie was in the final throes of 
writing a paper for a conference in Seville, and what was supposed to 
be a quick visit turned into several hours´ work while Kathryn made 
Willie´s text intelligible to the ordinary human, for which he promised 
co-authorship (he´s using some of her ideas anyway).  We were getting 
back to work in Palenque after all the students had headed off to their 
respective field work, and Kathryn had a good work session Tuesday 
afternoon and was in a really good mood.  We ended the day´s activities 
with a long visit with Moises Morales, and Kathryn related to him her 
story about how he was the person who had sat with her and a friend at 
the railroad station in 1965 on her first real visit to Palenque, 
telling them about the stars.   She went upstairs to bathe before 
supper, and when she didn´t come back down for a good long time I went 
up to check on her.  I found her laid out in the shower stall, the 
water still running, completely unconscious.  I stayed with her and 
tried to keep her warm while we called for a doctor and later an 
ambulance, but she never showed any signs of response.  Her breathing 
was heavy and she had a good pulse, but was totally unresponsive.  We 
got her to the hospital in Palenque where they did what little they 
could, but apparently she had a massive cerebral haemmorrage that 
probably took her totally by surprise; we think she was effectively 
dead before she hit the floor, quickly and without pain.  The doctors 
wanted to send her on to Villahermosa for tests and such, but before 
they could get an ambulance, around 11:30 PM, she stopped breathing and 
could not be revived.  The doctor in attendance did not think there was 
any chance for any sort of recovery, anyway, so death was not the worst 
alternative.  Also, thank God we didn´t end up in Villahermosa.  People 
here in Palenque and everywhere else have responded to the news with 
great shock and sympathy, and are doing everything they can to help.  A 
Tzeltal friend set up an altar with flowers and candles at her work 
desk, and I am convinced her spirit came back last night to try to help 
me cope.  I am making arrangements to have her body transported to 
Gloucester, Virginia, where my family has a plot in a church yard, and 
where we had always planned on being buried (our only shot at 
consecrated ground).  I will let people know what the plans are for the 
burial service (at Ware Episcopal Church); I can´t plan anything until 
she is actually there, and we are still in early stages of the 
paperwork.  There will also be memorial services in 
Alexandria-Pineville, Louisiana, and in Tallahassee, if not elsewhere, 
when I can set them up.  Thanks to everyone for expressing your 
thoughts and feelings and for offering help.  I will need a lot of it 
as time goes by.

Nick Hopkins



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