Personal Documentary - And Immortality

Because I could not stop for Death, / He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves / And immortality.
Emily Dickinson

Bee Gibbs died one week ago today surrounded by her family. "This is a good dress rehearsal," she told her kids gathered around her bed.

Bee was the "92 year old on Facebook" whose family asked me - earlier this year - to make a personal documentary about her life. And so I did. Our local newspaper wrote a story about Bee; and I hosted a screening of her personal documentary for a large group at her home on April 5. I wrote a Blog about Bee that I understand touched many people.

Bee's declining health did not stop her demonstrating on film her watercolor talents; and in her documentary she took us to her Facebook page and groaned, like we all do, with the endless chatter and interruptions that Facebook inevitably involves. Although at Bee's age, she was probably more impatient on that score than me.

And during the whole filming process, nothing could suppress Bee's joy and her obvious sense of humor. And her intelligence.

I sometimes dip into Emily Dickinson, the greatest poet on the subject of time and eternity, at moments of sadness and death.

Strange really - because her poems are mostly inexpressibly sad.

But something in that sadness is comforting. I suppose her poems help us see death as a Universal - something we all have in common.

Some, too fragile for winter winds,
The thoughtful grave encloses,—
Tenderly tucking them in from frost / Before their feet are cold.

These lines of Emily Dickinson could have been written about her own life. Like Bee, she was born in Massachusetts and loved literature. But doughty Bee went out into the world and made it to 92, while fragile Emily became reclusive and died at just 55. Both achieved a kind of immortality, both will be remembered.

I spoke to Bee's daughter when I got the sad tidings. I was filming on the east coast and heard the news late. She told me that all the family were happy about and grateful for the personal documentary, and "for making Bee feel like a star". She said that the project exceeded her expectations in every way. Truly, the pleasure was all mine.

Bee lived a full life and she left behind a record of her life's achievements and a record of her wit and her personality. Her family are to be congratulated for their initiative in commencing and then seeing her personal documentary through to completion. There are many distractions in our modern lives, and we don't always do the things that, in hindsight, only then seem so obvious. Not so for Bee's children. They preserved Bee's life in a way that will ensure she survives vividly in their memories and will be known to future generations.

Personal documentary - and immortality.

There are few comforts in death. But knowing that you have preserved the life with a personal documentary or a video biography is something, at least.

Ample make this bed. / Make this bed with awe;
In it wait till judgment break / Excellent and fair.   

Be its mattress straight, / Be its pillow round;
Let no sunrise’ yellow noise / Interrupt this ground.

Rest peacefully Bee Gibbs.

Jane Lehmann-Shafron is a video biographer who co-founded Your Story Here LLC Personal Documentary, a video production company that specializes in preserving family history. Based in Orange County CA, she was recently featured in national women's magazine "Woman's World" and her award-winning films have been featured in festivals in the United States and Canada. She can be contacted on 949-742-2755 or through her website.