This is a show I made back in 2008. I’m running it as a tribute to my friend Greg Sharrow. Greg was one of the first people I met when I came back to Vermont in 2003. I didn’t have many friends, I didn’t have a job or really any plans, and it was the middle of winter. And then I met Greg at his office in the old Vermont Folklife Center building in Middelbury. It was crammed with books, and we sat down and talked for two hours, and it was that kind of talk where you’re almost gulping each other down. And he became one of the funnest, and maybe one of the most important friends of my life.
Greg Sharrow died two days ago at his home in North Carolina, with Bob and their dear friend Brian at his bedside.
This is a story about Greg, and his husband Bob, and Greg’s mother, Marjory. Marjory had dementia in the years before her death. This is a show about what remained for them, after the forgetting. Welcome.
For a longer version of this show, and an additional interview with Greg, click here
Photos by Evie Lovett
Music by Karinne Keithley Syers and Doris Day
Erica, I wish had met him. The story of you meeting him, your description of him as making every day great (I might have paraphrased that), and then picturing you and him in old sneakers just taking a stroll in the water? Such a beautiful friend he must have been. Thanks for sharing the piece from 2008. I had never heard it. It is beautiful.
Erica,
What a marvelous, intimate, oh-so-appropriate tribute to our friend Greg. It has allowed me to draw closer to the loss, to begin to feel the loss. Another powerful gift of human moments and stories captured, and treasured.
Thank you, thank you.
John
In the early 90’s I answered an ad for a transcriber of oral interviews, and thus began my friendship with Greg, Jessica and their daughters. I was able through Greg to stay home with my young children, making a small income from VT Folklife. I would put the kids to bed and then stay up all hours listening and typing. I tried about a year ago to reconnect and did not know where he was living, and was about this time I found your interview. He was such a treasure in my life and I will always hear his voice after all those wonderful hours of being a part of his conversations with so many.
Erica,
This is a lovely tribute to Greg, an amazing human being. He made you feel like you were the most important person in the world and was so passionate about life! I met Greg while taking a course for teachers through the Folklife Center….each day was a brilliant new adventure and I learned so much about interviewing and recording oral histories.
These recordings really capture his essence. Thank you for sharing them.
Wendy
Erica,
Thank you for this very loving visit with Greg, Bob and Marjory.
I first “met” Greg when, as a new legislator, I was given a copy of “Under the Golden Dome,” an oral history of the Vermont General Assembly, and Greg was the voice that knit together all the stories — and perhaps he did much more too on this project.
That disc, with its dozens of interviews with past legislators, interspersed with historical segments, gave me, as a new legislator, a profound sense of the culture and history of the institution I was joining — it was not just a loving portrait, it was an introduction that told me how much I had to live up to, not in a way to intimidate, but to challenge each of us to do our best. I cannot think of a better contribution to helping share, explain, and support the legislature, not as an institution unto itself, but rather as yet one more manifestation of Vermont’s wide and lively sense of community.
Thank you again to Greg, with whom was always a pleasure to talk, and thank you Erica, for sharing this piece.
Thank you, Erica,
This is such a sweet thing to listen to now.
I love what Bob says: “…if you’ve got to make a change at the end of your life, learning how to say ‘I love you’ is a damn good place to be.”
Heartbroken to hear this news. Rest in peace, Greg. Your legacy will continue…
Hearing both Greg and Marge again makes me wish with all of my heart that there is an afterlife. I have heard this story before, but it certainly holds new meaning now. Everyone should record interactions with their loved ones like this, what a treasure. It makes me recall what a hot ticket Marge was, what a kind soul Greg was and how lucky Uncle Bob was to have them both to love. Thank you.
I was so sad to hear that Greg had passed away. He was a real part of our life as he was for so many and helped to preserve the memories and legacy of my mother before she passed away. Through him I was able to reclaim our family traditions of basketmaking. Personally he was one of the warmest most caring and loving people I have ever known. My heart aches for Bob and I feel a deep sadness that this amazing human being is no longer with us. I am so grateful that he was able to find such deep love in his life and he touched so many lives. He will be sorely missed!
I can’t begin to describe how much we all owe to Greg, and how profoundly he will be missed. Thanks, Erica, for reminding us once again what an extraordinary person he was.
Greg was my 5th and 6th grade teacher in Braintree. I had not thought about him in years, and I am only now discovering all the work he did after his stint as an elementary teacher. He introduced me to my love of grave stones. I’m sorry he is no longer in the world with us, but I’m glad to be reconnected with his story. Thank you