Dear Aurelia's birthday was on my calendar every year - for remembrance. It is possible that I knew her longer than most in the lace community. She lived in New York City when we met. Her younger sister, Addie Busch, was a moving force in the 1968 beginnings of the Manhattan Chapter of The Embroiderers' Guild of America. We met via this connection. There was friendly rivalry between the two sisters. One devoted to lace, the other to embroidery. EGA, a rather new organization in America and off-shoot of the EG in England, presented (in those early years) huge embroidery exhibitions in a corporate building's gallery on Park Avenue, New York. It was on the second floor, with wall-to-wall windows. This made possible a glorious view of the colorful embroideries inside, especially at night. A 1976 exhibition catalog confirms that Aurelia exhibited her work. She was, in fact, responsible for the 21-page exhibit catalog. Needle lace is considered (by embroiderers) to be embroidery, and so lace passions often grew from roots planted in EGA. Early issues of the IOLI Bulletin indicate Aurelia served as editor. Several covers of the IOLI Bulletin (after color and fancier bulletins were introduced) featured wonderful laces by Aurelia. For years, she served as a IOLI Bulletin proofreader. In 1989, Aurelia's 19-page catalog "Lace - The Origins & Development of Handmade Lace", for a exhibition at The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, was published. ISBN 0-911886-36-2. Aurelia wanted this to be in my Maine lace library, and sent a copy at Christmas 2006. Her summary of the history of lace is wonderful. Many will recall the exceptional exhibit of the Cone Laces at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 2005. I visited this exhibit three times, and was very enthusiastic about the intelligence behind the exhibit's excellent explanatory labels. This research was, I am fairly certain, contributed by Aurelia.. About this time frame we had a face-to-face chat, and a chance to reminisce. She recommended out-of-print lace books to me right up to the time she left Maryland to live near her son. As a long-distance member of the Chesapeake Region Lace Guild (near Washington DC), I noted in their newsletters that right up until the time she moved to Michigan, there were four smaller groups of this lace organization meeting in Aurelia's home on a regular basis. Wow! Aurelia was a graduate of Columbia University, NYC, with a PhD in Psychology. Yet, most lace makers never knew about this side of her life, and her other accomplishments. All who personally knew Aurelia will imagine her in that special place reserved for all good people, sharing her vast knowledge in most beautiful surroundings with lace makers of the past. Farewell, dear friend. Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center ---------------------------------------------------------- I've just had an email from Aurelia's son, Jonathan, that Aurelia passed away two nights ago after a long illness. I believe she would have been 97 this coming October 31st....quite a long life for a remarkable lady and lacemaker who, just a couple of years ago, posted a link on Arachne to her instructive needlelace blog. Aurelia contributed substantially to the cataloguing of the Cone Lace Collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art and continued to make bobbin and needle lace throughout most of her life, and graciously hosted classes and gatherings of lacemakers at her home in Baltimore. She moved to be near her son in Michigan in the last few years. She was a unique character and will be missed by those of us who knew her. Vicki in Maryland
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