Last week one of my colleagues, Cristina Yu, passed away after a struggle with an illness. We knew she was sick for a while. I actually measure it in library time, because I first realized she had more than a cold last ALA. She was an energetic member of the library faculty, her husband is a faculty member on campus, and she had two daughters, one of whom is a Wake Forest student.

Her memorial service was held on campus yesterday. It was beautiful. Her daughter spoke way more eloquently and personally than I would have thought possible, the library dean spoke on behalf of the library and represented all of our thoughts for Cristina and her family, and a close friend of hers gave a touching tribute that perfectly encapsulated Cristina. Her sister also read Thich Nhat Hanh’s This Body is Not Me, which I found especially meaningful.

I’m missing Cristina, though it’s hard to believe she’s really not coming back to the office just down the hall. We talked about the library, but also about raising children, the daycare Leif is in (and that her daughters attended), healthy eating, and tea. I actually still have some tea on my desk I meant to give her, as we traded teabags when we had something new and interesting to share.

I’m posing this to my blog because in our interconnected library world, many of us know each other, and I figured some of you might have known Cristina in some capacity. She was our interlibrary loan librarian, so if you ever received a book from us, she played a role in it. If you knew her and would like to see the official statement from the university, it’s posted on our “inside WFU” website.