Dear Friends of Lace Fairy - Lori Howe: If you have been reading Arachne for many years, you will remember Lace Fairy. It is my sad task to tell you of her death on January 7, 2016. I just learned this from a local person who is a member of Lori's church. In recent years, Lori had suffered from a variety of serious ailments, probably made much worse by a broken heart. Her friends tried to distract her with activities that she enjoyed. However, in the last few years it became impossible to reach her by telephone or e-mail. Snail mail was sent to her, but there was contact only when she reached out for something her 3 adult children could not provide. The last time I went to see her, Fall 2014, she called to ask me to buy her lace collection. She was in bed, barely able to move. Chatting about lace did not cheer her. Lori was sent to me 21 years ago by The Embroiderers' Guild of America. She wished to take embroidery lessons. Of 20+ students in my one-session-per-month class, she had the most embroidery experience! Whenever a new type of embroidery was introduced, it was my custom to bring out finished items from my collection - to show the possibilities. One evening, the class was to learn variations of the buttonhole stitch. To stimulate interest, I arranged a surprise display of Alencon, Halas, Hardanger, Point de Gaze, Point de Venise, Reticella, and Youghal laces and lacy embroideries. This began Lori's focused lace journey. She was welcomed into Lacemakers of Maine, which sometimes met at my home. One day, we discussed a web site in Europe called BLEN (Bobbin Lace European Network), which showed laces belonging to museums in the Czech Republic, Finland, Portugal, Spain. BLEN claimed to be a Virtual Museum. We discussed how difficult it was for people in remote locations to visit museums and to get lace information. Lori decided to take up this challenge. At the time, we knew of no lace guild web sites and none had been mentioned on Arachne. Lori first suggested naming it "The Lace Museum", but there was already a facility by that name in California that had not reserved their name for future internet use. We decided to let that facility realize they needed a web site, and Lori named her Virtual Museum "Lace Fairy". She taught herself how to build a web site. It was difficult, time-consuming, and mostly-unacknowledged work. It became a resource for all in the international lace community for the next dozen years. People all over the world sent information to Lori. To avoid copyright issues, she began to buy laces that she could photograph. She provided history, grouped laces by "families", showed the laces of today. There was an entire section of photos of identified lace - sorted by nation. In addition, there was information about bobbins, instructions on how to make lace pillows, how to make stands for the pillows, etc. Also, lists of important contacts, books, suppliers. To do this was costly to one on a very limited income. She went to great expense for digital cameras, computers and software that had to be upgraded often. As with everyone on Arachne, there was no mention of the high cost of bringing Lace Fairy to people. Access was free. In those days, if you searched "Lace" she made sure her site's address was the first that would pop up. Toward the end of her nearly-healthy years, Lori's focus shifted to quilting. We did not see new entries on Lace Fairy. The recurring costs for keeping the name and contents of Lace Fairy available finally became too much for Lori. She gave me a "flash drive" of the contents, which she was assured would be resurrected. It was sent to a person qualified to carry on. The current status is that everything has been preserved and is being added to a new website that will offer a scholarly approach to Lacemaking. There have been numerous funding and technical problems. We hope to be able to announce it later this year. Obituary: http://obituaries.centralmaine.com/obituaries/mainetoday-centralmaine/obitua ry.aspx?n=lorraine-howe-lori-giroux&pid=177217362 Naturally, my colleague in saving some of Lace Fairy's work was consulted today. She noted that in reading the obituary it occurred to her that Lori may have had an early exposure to lacemaking. Lori attended the Academy of St. Joseph, and according to the early history of the Sisters of St. Joseph in LePuy France, they turned to lacemaking as a means of supporting themselves when the town fathers were no longer willing to support them. Though the school Lori attended is closed, there are Sisters from this order throughout the U.S. - including 3 in the Philadelphia area who have taken bobbin lace classes from my friend. Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center
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