One of the first people I met while working at The Brooklyn Children's Museum was Handy Withers. Handy, on the board of the museum, was also a steady volunteer. We partnered up in the mandatory FISH customer service training and found out that we both were arts lovers who liked to watch TV dance competitions and read New York Magazine. We often shared good conversation during our lunch break on the upper level of the museum and I teased him good-naturedly about the salt and pepper shakers he brought from home to season his food.
After I was affected by a round of layoffs in November, Handy sent me an email encouraging me to follow my passions. He said that a message to that affect was posted on a door of the hotel which he used to run in Brazil.
Yesterday, I learned over lunch with a former colleague at the Children's Museum that Handy had unexpectedly passed away earlier this year. I was in shock to learn this news. He was a vibrant, active man.
To get a sense of the lives that Handy affected, you can visit the guest book which his brother established for him.
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