Evelyn Hope
Neely,
writer, historian and
archaeologist, died on Nov. 16, 2011 at age
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Hope, as her family and
friends knew her, was born on June 21, 1938 in New York City, but
was, like the rest of her family, a true and devoted Southerner,
and, as a child, grew up primarily in Bay Minette with her
grandmother, Lauda Dale (Mixon) Leak. She also spent time going
back and forth to New York with her mother, Evelyn (Leak)
Neely.
While at Montevallo,
where she earned her bachelor’s degree, Hope was a Miss Alabama
contestant, a painter, a musician and a dreamer, but this is where
she began to really hone her writing
skill.
She was a woman and
writer of varied and uncommon gifts, by turns romantic and cynical,
realistic and ethereal, lyric and colloquial. Her insight into
grief, nurturing, compassion and adventure could all be seen and
felt clearly when speaking with her or reading her
work.
Though most of her adult
life was spent in the South, primarily in Mobile, the New York
theme arose again in her early adulthood when, during the tail end
of the Beat Movement, she lived in the West Village on Perry
Street, and could, as she put it “…see Miles Davis sitting on his
windowsill, practicing his trumpet.”
The writing and politics
of this period certainly influenced Hope in her life and in her
writing, as did her time painting in New Orleans, and working as an
archaeologist in Mexico and in the delta of Mobile
Bay.
Later on, it was her many
beloved, rescued animals that inspired her and gave her succor, as
she strove always to answer her moral imperative, and save those
that were “cast by the wayside of
life.”
Never though was there a
greater inspiration to my mother, be it in literature or life, than
E.Y. Harburg’s lyrics for “Over the Rainbow,” from “
"mso-bidi-font-style: italic">The Wizard of Oz
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"mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Somewhere over the rainbow,
Way up
high,
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There’s a land that I
heard of
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Once in a
lullaby.
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I will miss you Hopie,
over the rainbow.
In memory of Hope, the
family requests that a donation be made to her grandsons’ general
education fund: Log on to
target="_blank">
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"3">www.paypal.com
click on the Send Money link, and send to
"http://us.mc1808.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=catherinelair@gmail.com" target="_blank">
"color: blue; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none">
"3">catherinelair@gmail.com
either via credit card or your own PayPal
account.
Alternatively, a memorial
donation in Hope’s name may be made to Maddie’s Fund Foundation
with the Mobile Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
620 Ziegler Circle W., Mobile, AL 36608, 251-633-3531,
"yshortcuts">
"http://www.mobilespca.org/">
"#0000FF">www.mobilespca.org
Hope is survived by her
son and only child, Sabin; her daughter-in-law Catherine; her
grandsons, Severin and Baldewin, who all reside in the New York
City metropolitan area; the Corwin family of Montgomery and
Tuscaloosa; the Davis family of Montgomery and Atlanta; the
McCafferty family of Mobile and New York, the Gefaell family of
Charlotte, N.C.; the Leak family of Orange Beach; the Limbaugh
family of Birmingham; the Mitchell family of Clarksburg, Md.; the
MacKnight family of Athens, Ga. and Alexandria, Va.; and numerous
friends and other relatives.
Memorial services will be
private
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Arrangements by Hughes Funeral
Home and Crematory, Daphne.
