June 20, 2000 Dear Women of Women for Sobriety, It is with great sadness that we announce Jean Kirkpatrick's passing on Monday, June 19th. For those of you who were at the conference and wrote notes of gratefulness and caring to Jean on the quilt, we want you to know she did receive the quilt and was quite touched by your words. This is a difficult time for all of us and especially for those who knew Jean well. Her life experiences and recovery journey, expressed so well in her books and the WFS Program, have had such a personal and positive impact on all our lives. We owe her a debt of gratitude for leading the way to emotional sobriety. On behalf of the Board of Directors, we request that if you wish, to please consider a donation to WFS in memory of Jean. This was her greatest heart's desire - that WFS continue after her passing so that not one single woman would have to take the journey to recovery without the support of capable, competent, caring and compassionate women such as yourselves. The highest honor we can give Jean is to practice the Women for Sobriety Program. Her life goal gave each of us a priceless gift... recovery. Because of her we walk with our head held higher. Jean truly believed that as a woman thinketh... The final services are brief and private as Jean wished. We will be making the August issue of Sobering Thoughts a memorial tribute to Jean. We want to offer each of you an opportunity to share your thoughts and feelings about Jean and the program she created. For the next 3 weeks we will be accepting written contributions to the newsletter for this memorial tribute. Sincerely, Women for Sobriety Board of Directors