Ori Jean May, 1928 - 2007
Kurson Q&A with Ori Jean and more Celebrating the Life of OJ May, a Special Memorial Video Tributes Celebrating Ori Jean at Enchanted Hills Memorial Ori Jean Home Page

Thank you to everyone who attended the celebration. It was a beautiful day filled with memories of OJ, great music, and lots of warm fuzzies!

We have a CD of photos from the OJ weekend as well as a DVD video of the ceremony available for those who contribute $100 or more to the Enchanted Hills OJ fund.

I am so grateful to everyone. This was such a great team effort. I didn't get a chance to acknowledge Rob Reis who brought his professional sound system at the last minute and produced the musicians on the fly. I was assuming I would be doing that and the fact that I didn't was a huge relief not to mention being able to have a sound system that reflected the quality of live music being played. Mike


I was so high coming home from the memorial, that I just had to tell you. It was such a wonderful day on so many levels.

As I lay in bed that night I imagined what OJ would have been thinking about the day. I think she would, first of all be very proud of her family for pulling together an event that honored her with such a moving and special tribute. She would have gotten such a charge at seeing all these 50+ year old camp counselors reconnect as if no time had passed. She would have joined in the laughter and the memories shared with great enthusiasm. She probably would have had a few stories of her own! She would have insisted that the foods in the lunch be announced with a Spanish pronunciation, and she would have loved the music most of all.

There were some profoundly special moments for me: sitting by the lake and letting the wash of beauty, remembrance and emotion flow over me; feeling the little catch around the heart when another old friend was recognized and greeted with open arms; to see photos of OJ from her youth and learning how incredibly beautiful she was; singing the Water is Wide with Rick undid me.

Of course, having Stevie there was definitely the icing on the cake. It was the only time in my life when I felt that I was absolutely in the presence of musical genius. He was so warm and personable and added such a lot to the celebration. What a day!

You should be very proud of the celebration you created. Sometimes when you are working hard, it is difficult to enjoy the result, but you celebrated your mom's life in a way I think any of us would be lucky to experience. I'm sure, sitting on that cloud with Sola, she is grinning from ear to ear.

Thanks for letting me be a part of it.
Love, Liz

Memorial Guests waiting for the ceremony to start Memorial guests
Memorial Guests OJ's Children: from left to right Diane, Patrick, Mike, Margie, and Theri
Patrick with friends and family Diane and family
Theri and CharlotteMike and KathleenTony reading an OJ tribute
Mike speaking
Liz reading her tribute to OJ Robert Kurson speaking about meeting OJ and how much she influenced him
Sara Beck and Stevie Wonder singing Amazing Grace Mark Babin on the guitar and Stevie Wonder on the harmonica
Mark Babin, Sara Beck, Park Chisolm, and Felix Bannon playing music Stevie Wonder and Mike