- Home
- About
- Datebook: Events Calendar
- Women's Philanthropy
- Subscribe to e-newsletter
- Young Adults
- Contribute
- Where Your Money Goes
- Professional Groups
- Community Resources
- Volunteer
- Local Jewish News
- Search
Jewish Community News
JCN: December 2006
Elizabeth Edwards speaks in Los Gatos
By Cecily Ruttenberg
Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former vice-presidential candidate John Edwards, spoke at the Levy FamilyCampus on Tuesday, Oct. 24, about her new memoir “Saving Graces”— a forthright account of her pain following the death of her son in 1996 and her 2004 battle with breast cancer.
Edwards said that through both of these experiences, her ‘saving
grace’ was a network of friends and supporters. “I was able
to fall into this huge tapestry that I had created,” said Edwards.
“It was not only my friends, and the UPS guy who still gives me
hugs, but an online community of people that I am still very close with.”
Edwards advises people, when they come upon hard times, and “if
you haven’t had bad times you will, because this is life,”
to reach out, to ask for support and help and ask for what you need. “Really
the truth of the matter is, people need one another.”
Edwards read raw email notes that she sent to friends in her online grief
support group. One particular note, written to ‘Steve,’ Edwards
describes as one of the most therapeutic notes she wrote.
Steve was a young man whom Elizabeth met online. He was distressed with
grief over the death of his mother.
Edwards told him that every day she asked G-d to take her instead of her
son Wade. “If G-d had listened,” she said, “I imagine
my son would feel much the same way you feel now.”
Edwards then read a letter she had written to Steve, as if he were her
own son Wade, if Wade had lived and she had died. The letter outlined
everything that she wanted for Wade (Steve). She said it pained her that
her death, bestowed this grief upon him. And she pleaded with him to carry
on her legacy and live out the life and love that she had poured into
him.
Edwards also answered questions about her husband’s consideration
of a 2008 presidential run, and the political landscape of the Democratic
Party.
Obituary Submissions
If you have news to include in this column, please contact Cecily Ruttenberg You can call Cecily at (408) 357-7505.
News
Features
JCN Issues
Information