Caroline Kosmas

Dearest Caroline,

I have said the prayer below many times over the past few weeks and it seems to be the only thing that makes me feel better about you leaving this world. I hope your homecoming is as sweet as the love that you shared with all of us. ~Julie

“O Lord, O Thou Whose mercy hath encompassed all, Whose forgiveness is transcendent, Whose bounty is sublime, Whose pardon and generosity are all-embracing, and the lights of Whose forgiveness are diffused throughout the world! O Lord of Glory! I entreat Thee, fervently and tearfully, to cast upon Thy handmaiden who hath ascended unto Thee the glances of the eye of Thy mercy. Robe her in the mantle of Thy grace, bright with the ornaments of the celestial Paradise, and, sheltering her beneath the tree of Thy oneness, illumine her face with the lights of Thy mercy and compassion.

Bestow upon Thy heavenly handmaiden, O God, the holy fragrances born of the spirit of Thy forgiveness. Cause her to dwell in a blissful abode, heal her griefs with the balm of Thy reunion, and, in accordance with Thy will, grant her admission to Thy holy Paradise. Let the angels of Thy loving-kindness descend successively upon her, and shelter her beneath Thy blessed Tree. Thou art, verily, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Generous, the All-Bountiful.”

-‘Abdu’l-Bahá

My last encounter with Caroline ensured that her spirit will forever be in my
home and for that I feel blessed.. Tha story is this. Caroline and her mother
were selling their art in the Caswell Hill annual ‘Art in the Heart of Caswell’
event in August of last year. It was the end of the long beautiful day of
music, sharing, community, and art when I discovered their ‘booth’ on the east
side of the local chruch where it was being held… Caroline and I hugged, she
introduced her mother as the meritorious artist, we chatted for a bit and I
bought a some of their pieces. But at the end of the day, there was alot stil
left to sell. All of the beautiful mosaic pieces were already underpriced, but
at that point in the day, Caroline suggested that perhaps, in addition to the
pieces I had purchased, I might want to just take a last one — to give away to
‘some silent art auction’ for a community group — so that she would not have to
load it up and take it with her. I obliged, we laughed, hugged and I said
good-bye and good luck. That was the last time I would see her.

Everything said today in that lovely and heart-breaking service in her memory
affirmed what all of us knew of Caroline in an instant. Her sincerity and her
generosity of spirit was a gift few possess.

I am deeply sorrowful, though I knew Caroline for only a brief time.

I only hope that you who knew her well will continue to support each other –
especially in difficult times. I wish you all the best. Take care of one
another, and take care – even of those who you don’t know.

Sincerely,
Lori Hanson

Tribute to Caroline Kosmas:

By Rachel Gough, done in conjunction with Chad Hamre whose stories are not included below. Tributes written in collaboration with members of the College of Medicine Class of 2009 and Caroline’s friends and colleagues from Engineers without Borders.

In 2007, there was the SOS Medicare 2 Conference, an event aimed at continuing Tommy Douglas’ vision of universal public health care in Canada.

Many of us were excited to attend this event, but no one more than Caroline. She started to organize. She assembled a working group, shared her vision with us, started spreading the word and within days there were emails flying around all of the health science colleges at the U of S, letters were being sent and delegates were visiting classes all over campus. Caroline organized funding for student attendance and even managed to pull together a carpooling system to get as many interested students to Regina as possible.

In the end, over 30 people from our class were there (not to mention those from other years and other colleges). But the organizing didn’t stop there. To the surprise of many, Caroline had contacted a number of the conference delegates, including Alan Blakeney, Monique Bégin, Roy Romanow, Micheal Rachlis and Steven Lewis and had set up meetings during the lunch hour breaks to discuss how to better educate health science students about the Canadian health care system, so that we might become the leaders of tomorrow and put into action Tommy’s vision, wholeheartedly shared by Caroline, of Medicare part two. Many of us participated in these meetings and when we got back from the conference, we had the vague idea of how we wanted to integrate the ideas generated into our curriculum. What remained an idea for many of us became reality when 6 months later, the Dean of the College of Medicine agreed to pay the tuition for the first cohort of students who would take the Community Health and Epidemiology course Health Care Systems in Canada. A course completely designed by Caroline, with the support of a few key players along the way. I think Tommy would have been proud…

And in the words of Tommy Douglas:
“Courage my friends, ’tis not too late to make a better world.”
– Tommy Douglas

In 2008, I had the great pleasure of presenting Caroline with flowers for the amazing work she had done over 3 years organizing the Student Wellness Initiative Toward Community Health (SWITCH) Women’s Pampering night. SWITCH is a student-led, inner city, after-hours clinic run out of the Westside Community Clinic that offers clinical, social and programming services to the overwhelming disadvantaged residents of Saskatoon’s core communities. And the Women’s Pampering night was Caroline’s attempt to bring a bit of beauty, joy and also a much-deserved break to the lives of women residing in this community. She brought people together year after year to pull off this huge event that saw well over 200 women on this 3rd annual get their hair done, nails painted, pictures taken, shoulders massaged and stomachs filled, while their children were being cared for by a small army of health science and other students. This 3rd year was especially impressive, because Caroline wasn’t actually living in Saskatoon at the time. But somehow, while living in Regina, she had mentored the new coordinator of this event, Tara who is here today and together they (and a not-so-small army) pulled it off in all of it’s service-oriented glory. Over the past few days I have received an overwhelming number of messages full of love, sadness and admiration for Caroline and many people talked about Caroline in her work with the SWITCH Women’s Pampering night. I would like to end with a quote from one of these emails:

‘She had that quiet confidence that no matter how big or small the task was, it was no sweat. I admired the way she interacted with the clients at SWITCH, she really met them where they were. She took the time to listen to them and made everyone welcome. I truly enjoyed working with her.’

Thank you Caroline.

TRIBUTE

To me, Caroline was a collaborator, and Andrew was her greatest partner in crime.

To me, Caroline was the person we all aspired to be.

To me, Caroline always saw the good/beautiful in everything/one/place – especially the peculiar.

To me, Caroline was humble, someone who never took the credit.

To me, Caroline was playful – always so playful.

To me, Caroline was an organizer – quick to action

To me, Caroline was a self-proclaimed workerbee – but was secretly the stongest leader in the hive.

To me, Caroline was a smiling face and a hand extended out to whoever needed it.

To me, Caroline had tremendous dreams – a vision to make the world better

To me, Caroline was inspiration – giving confidence to other people.

To me, Caroline was love, Pure, kind and radiant LOVE

Caroline was many things to many people.

How did Caroline inspire you?

Please help to support Caroline’s work, by supporting her foundation. carolinekosmas.org

I was one of the “out of province” students in our med school class. I remember one of my first days of med school when everyone was standing around talking and I felt a little out of place and awkward. Caroline noticed that I was standing alone, and came right up and introduced herself and tried to help me feel comfortable and welcomed. She even offered to help show me around the campus and the community. This stood out to me at the time and is a small example of who Caroline was. She was very aware of the needs of those around her, and always strived to help others feel a little more comfortable.
Thank you Caroline
love Evan

Caroline we all miss you; when we found out on Dad’s 75th Bday we were all shocked especially your 3 little favorite cousins Alexas, Ashiton and Alana. We all enjoyed coming over to Andrew and your house for fun times like everyone else! Rest in Peace. Love: Amy the kids and of course your Big Cousin Bruce

I remember when I first started volunteering at SWITCH, one day Caroline came, very excited, with a bag of materials, all set to do the Women’s Programming that evening. It piqued my curiosity to see what the materials were for and what type of services she was doing at SWITCH (I had not yet heard of the Women’s Programming). I asked Caroline what it was all about. She said that the materials were for the activity she was leading for Women’s Programming that night. She explained Women’s Programming and said anyone who is interested can join the Program Committee and come to meetings to plan and lead activities for the programming. This sounded like fun to me so I went to the next meeting. Caroline was the Program Committee Chair at the time. I was instantly in love with being a part of the Programming Committee and a part of my excitement was due to Caroline’s gentle and caring nature and way of leading the meetings. She was always open to what everyone at the meeting had to say and open to new ideas for activities for programming. I had just moved to the city the year before, and before SWITCH I had only known my 10 classmates and not really anyone else in the city yet. I really enjoyed getting to know more people and getting involved in Programming and have the pleasure of working with a great person like Caroline. She also invited anyone on the Programming committee to join the Women’s Pampering Night Committee, which Caroline was also the chair of) to plan Women’s Pampering Night. This evening was an idea of Caroline’s that she devised and implemented the year before with great success. I got involved in helping to plan that as well, and got to see what great benefits this great event had on the community of women, as many more women came out for it that year than the year before and all the women greatly enjoyed the evening. I have been involved with the Programming Committee and Women’s Pampering ever since, in fact I am now the Program Chair this year and I started the wheels in motion for the 2009 Women’s Pampering night to continue on with Caroline’s great work and ensure her ideas are sustained. I thank Caroline for all the work she did for SWITCH, as well as the warmth and caring she gave me as she guided me through Programming to be able to follow in her footsteps! I will miss you Caroline

Caroline, you will stay in my heart and will hold always a special place. I am so sad that I was not able to take you and your husband to Bosnia. I will miss you lots and love you lots.
Rest in peace,
Your Lana

Caroline, you are an incredible person and will be greatly missed by all who knew you! You made an impact in so many lives and in this world.
Andrew & family, my heart goes out to all of you.
Thinking of you always & forever

Caroline, I will always remember the heart to heart chat we had on the bus ride to La Ronge. You love others selflessly without judgement and the genuine happiness that radiates from your smile will never be forgotten. I am blessed to have had your beautiful spirit touch my life.
Love, Gini

I remember Caroline as a profoundly caring and dedicated person. The story that I want to tell is one that was lived on the Class of 2009 houseboating trip. Larissa and Rick had the incredible idea to organize the trip, which included a scavenger hunt on the 14 hour drive, organized activities and unorganized mayhem including boats caught in the wind and rock farting competitions. Caroline and Andrew were, of course, the life of the event. During the trip Caroline showed her determination, passion and caring. She spent hour upon hour fishing, in an attempt to catch her first fish. My grandfather Norman Fuller taught me to fish. I was probably 8 years old when I caught my first Pickrel from Candle Lake. Grandpa considered Northern Pike not to be fish so catching those did not count. I still remember the elated feeling I felt when my first fish was on the line and I reeled it in. My grandfather’s quiet (you don’t want to scare the fish after all) but elated grin is etched in my mind. On the houseboat, Caroline was focused on achieving her goal of catching a fish. She spent hour upon hour at the back of the boat rod and reel in hand. Cast after cast she was unsuccessful in her quest. At one point Andrew had to remind her that she was on the trip to have fun with her friends and not to spend time “swimming with the fishes”. Then, suddenly, we heard a scream from one of the houseboats. Caroline was reeling in her first fish! The entire group of friends came running. With the cheers from the crowd, Caroline brought in her first fish. The entire group of about 50 people was jumping up and down, cheering “Caroline caught a fish! Caroline caught a fish!” This joyous celebration lasted about 2 minutes. Let’s just say we were not to worried about scaring the fish. Caroline had the biggest grin I have ever seen on anyone’s face. She was so happy to have caught her first fish. In typical Caroline style, she promptly let the fish go to live it’s life and flourish. I think this is the message that Caroline leaves to us all. Live life and flourish. Let us all go with the memory of Caroline in our minds and hope to have the positive influence that she has on so many lives. In this time of pain, remembrance and celebration let us all provide to one another the caring and love that friendship brings. In memory of Caroline Kosmas.

PS. I know that there is photo evidence of the fish event. If you have a photo please send it to me fuller.daniel@gmail.com or upload it somewhere.

Caroline did many great things for many people, never asking for anything in return. I think this is a great opportunity for us all to give back just a little of what she gave, and to support the causes she worked so selflessly for.

Caroline; I only had the opportunity to spend a weekend with you and Andrew, but those two days were more than enough time to see that you have a beautiful heart. To me, you seemed to embody kindness and caring, and your ambition was inspiring. I also loved that you cut out dozens of fish on colourful construction paper and taped them onto your shirt to be a ‘School of Fish’ at the halloween party…it was pretty hilarious scrubbing beer and chip-encrusted paper-fish remnants off the floor the next morning I hope you can see the number of people you have touched, and that you know that your passion will live on within them.