RIP to a legend (to me)
I just received the sad news of the passing of Dame Elinor Windemere of the Moors. I didn't know her well as a person, only as an ideal. I'm sure there would be people to line up to tell me her flaws, but death at least allows her to be thought of in a better light. I only know her kindnesses to a new girl just starting in the SCA, and sensing for the first time what REAL power was.
I remember seeing Elinor walking across a field at a Leodamas of Thebes event in Calafia. She had been a Baroness, a Peer and any number of things. But I didn't know any of that. I saw an older, heavier-set woman, dressed rather simply that day in a linen chiton. As she walked across the field, I saw people make a path for her, turn towards her rather than away. When she spoke (I'll never know what she said, as her speech at the time was quiet and measured), things started to happen. She wore no mark of rank or office, but even a young person could see that she had INFLUENCE. It shaped my vision of what I wanted for myself in this game. It wasn't about having a coronet or a title, it was about being able to make SOMETHING happen.
I remember her generousity towards me when I first started in the SCA. I attended a newcomers class she was teching on how to use commercially available patterns to make SCA garb. If it took me 30 minutes to copy down information on an envelope she was holding, she held it there the whole time until I was finished. She didn't stop her class, but there was no sighing, rolling of eyes or any other indication that I was in any way an inconvenience. I purchased one of her old gowns at a Baronial fundraiser. It really was a monstrosity left over from her early years as a costumer, but I was so proud to have it. ELINOR of the MOORS made it...(and it was far fancier than anything _I_ could have made at that time...maybe even now, hahahaha). And I felt like a queen when I was wearing it. When she saw me at an event, her first words were not to point out that I was wearing her cast off garb, but to tell me I looked far better in it than she ever had. I probably wore that dress another year just based on that sweet praise. I know that generosity of spirit (from Elinor and others) is what kept me coming back to the SCA and was like a lifeline to a new person trying to swim in a sea of unknown customs and culture.
I didn't know her in any real sense, but I will miss her. I hope I can remember her best attributes and carry them forward. And that people will forget her worst.