Stewards of Our Democracy©️💁🏻👉𓆰♕𓆪by Felina Silver (copyright 2025)

In loving memory of two of our former Presidents

Harriet Koch & Shaari Mittel

With quiet sorrow, we mark the passing
of two who once stood at the helm,
steady hands guiding our shared work,
voices shaping what we became.

Harriet, whose leadership lives on
beyond Brookline’s borders,
whose years of service remain
even as time and distance carried her elsewhere.
We knew her strength,
and we honor it now.

Shaari, taken from us too soon,
still among us in purpose and practice,
serving, leading, believing💁🏻👉𓆰♕𓆪
her commitment unfinished,
her presence deeply felt.

They were giants not in volume,
but in dedication;
not in acclaim,
but in the quiet persistence
of showing up, again and again,
for democracy, for community,
for one another.

We hold them now in shared memory,
and in gratitude,
and in the resolve
to carry forward the work they loved.

In sympathy,
and in remembrance.