Faith Marilyn Koller - Online Memorial Website

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Faith Koller
Born in Illinois
80 years
204164
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Life story
January 14, 1932

Faith Koller
Born on January 14, 1932

Faigela bat Moshe v’Rivka

Birth is a beginning and death a destination;
But life is a journey.
A going, a growing from stage to stage:
From childhood to maturity and youth to old age.
From innocence to awareness and ignorance to knowing;
From foolishness to discretion and then perhaps, to wisdom.
From weakness to strength or strength to weakness and often back again.
From health to sickness and back we pray, to health again.
From offense to forgiveness, from loneliness to love,
From joy to gratitude, from pain to compassion.
From grief to understanding, from fear to faith;
From defeat to defeat to defeat, until, looking backward or ahead:
We see that victory lies not at some high place along the way,
But in having made the journey, stage by stage, a sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning and death a destination;
But life is a journey, a sacred pilgrimage,
Made stage by stage...To life everlasting.
                        (By Rabbi Alvin Fine)
 
For Faith Koller, life was not just a journey, it was an adventure.  Life was something to be studied, to be explored, to be experienced, and to be cherished.

Faith’s life was ultimately a sacred pilgrimage filled with acts of love and devotion to her family and friends, a pilgrimage fueled by righteous indignation about the injustices in the world, as well a pilgrimage filled with acts of courage that came from a deep desire to always do the right thing.

The poem I just read by Rabbi Alvin Fine recognizes that even if life is not always easy, it can be meaningful.  We all go through difficult times, but the real test of character is how we respond to life’s challenges, what do we learn from them, and how do we go forward from them.
 
Faith was dealt two devastating blows early in life, the death of her mother when she was only 9, and then the death of her brother during WWII, when she was just 13.  Two horrible losses, but instead of withdrawing from life and from love, she embraced both.  Looking around at Faith’s family it is clear that she did not take the blessing of her loved ones for granted.
 
When I was speaking with Faith’s family the other day, as they shared stories of her life, I was struck by how two core Jewish values were played out over and over in both her personal and professional life.  These values are Tikkun Olam - the imperative to try to repair the world andTorah Lishma - learning for the sake of learning.

The Jewish tradition teaches us that each person has a responsibility to leave this world in better shape than how we found it, to actively work to bring healing to the world, and it’s inhabitants - this is the essence of what tikkun olam is about.  And it is how Faith lived her life.
 
At her core, Faith was both a healer and a teacher, an activist and a student, she was a woman who did not live life on the sidelines.  But rather through her work as a nurse, and as an educator, as a wife, a mother, a daughter, and a sister, a grandmother, and a friend,  she actively worked to make life better for others.
 
In many ways Faith was a pioneer and an adventurer, daring to follow her heart, to do and to say what she felt was right, even if society wasn’t there yet. 
 
She came out to Sacramento from Chicago to start a family with Mark when she was only 18 years old.  And together they had four wonderful children, Larry, Shelli, Lanie, and Scott.  Four children who were always a source of great pride for Faith.
 
Faith loved being their mother.  She was the type of mom who urged them to hurry up and finish their chores so they could play, and would treat them with picnics on the floor with pizza and watermelon, and take them for summer trips to Santa Cruz and to visit family in Los Angeles.
 
She taught them a love of reading, and delighted in taking them to the library. 
She gave them a love of music and the arts.  And she taught her children that they should believe in something, and they should stand up for what they believe, as well as for themselves.  She taught them to be fair.  But most of all, she was very accepting of each of them, really just wanting them to be happy. 
 
Faith’s love of music led her to make the best purchase she ever made.  It was back in the mid-1960’s, and she responded to an ad about a piano for sale.  She purchased it, and as it turns out it came with a husband and four step-daughters. 
 
Blake and Faith had a wonderful marriage, it was filled with laughter and love.  It was the type of marriage where there was the space for both Blake and Faith to be themselves, to be different, and to be appreciated and accepted for who they were.
 
Faith and Blake each brought four children to the marriage.  And it says so much about their marriage that the eight children are so loving to each other as well as to Faith and Blake. 
 
When Faith spoke to me about their children and grandchildren, she didn’t distinguish which were “hers” or “his”, they were all one family.   The time of year that symbolized the coming together of their family the most was Thanksgiving. 
 
In the Koller home, Thanksgiving is a two day celebration, Faith and Blake would routinely have two dozen people on the first night and up to 30 on the second night, with a full meal and a full heart being served on both nights.
 
Blake shared a story with me that speaks to Faith’s character.  When his father was dying of cancer, he came home from the hospital to live out his last days.  And Faith and Blake stayed with him.  Faith not only nursed and cared for him, but for Blake’s mom as well.  She cared for them as she would have for her own parents.  That is simply who she was.
 
And it is clear that she has passed those same values down to her children and grandchildren.  Because when the time came for Faith to be the one that was being taken care of, it was her entire family that came forward, to comfort her, to care for her, to bring meals to her and Blake, to shower her with all of the love and affection that she had given so fully and freely throughout her life to all of them.
 
Faith was taken too soon, there was much that she still wanted to do, to see, to experience.  But I believe that even had Faith lived, like Moses, to be 120, she would have still felt that there were things left for her to do.
 
Birth is a beginning and death a destination;
But life is a journey, a sacred pilgrimage,
Made stage by stage...To life everlasting.
 
Zichrona livracha - May the memory of Faith Koller forever be a blessing and an inspiration to those who knew her and loved her.
  

Rabbi Mona Alfi

Congregation B'nai Israel

May 20, 2012
Faith Marilyn Koller passed May 20, 2012 at the age of 80 as a result of lung cancer. Her life ended before her passion did for family and dear friends, nursing, teaching, travel, music and library work. She was a woman who truly made a difference and will be intensely missed by her husband Blake, 2 sons, 2 daughters, 4 step daughters, daughter and sons-in-law, 19 grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren, sister Selma Hirsch as well as Aunt Ruth Lerro and many nieces, nephews and cousins. She accomplished much, with so much more to do.