Beth Holmes Memorial Central



June 24, 1973 — March 23, 2004

In Loving Memory
Beth was a truly amazing person with a
wide variety of interests. In an attempt
to honor that aspect of her life, I have
tried to set up several places where people
can make contributions depending on how they feel.
I have also tried to consolidate all the various
memorial activities that are being done in her name.

On this page:

Lost in the Woods

 4/30/05: When Beth was a little girl, she wrote a cute story called Lost in the Woods.
Beth's parents decided to print it up, and got a neighbor to help with the pictures.
I think it came out really nice; you can email me if you'd like better pictures, or a hardcopy.


Bench in the Desert Garden at The Huntington

 We have placed a bench in Beth's memory at the Huntington Botanical Gardens,
in the Desert Garden in San Marino, California.

11/21/04: We've installed the new plaque, with a picture from Beth's work, and fixed
the dates. Click here for some images.

8/28/04: We've installed the bench, and I have posted a few pictures here.
The plaque has a slight mistake that we will remedie shortly. Also, we're planning
on putting an image of a star superimposed on an image from Beth's animation (see below)

7/7/04: From now on, please send donations to the Sally Ride Foundation
as we will are finalizing the arrangements now. Thank you!


Sally Ride Foundation (Imaginary Lines)

 Sorry, but I'll have to update this when I hear from them... Apparently Galileo education isn't doing the funding any more for the science camps.


Kenmure Tree Planting Ceremony

 On May 27, 2004, in Kenmure (in Flat Rock, NC) where Beth's parents live, they planted a tree
in Beth's memory. Click here for some pictures of the event. The tree was a Red Bottle Buckeye.

The dedication ceremony was attended by many people, and residents at Kenmure funded
the project. The tree is the first in a new park that also includes a sundial.

St. Theresa Catholic School Activities

 In November, 2004 Jeannette Holmes (Beth's aunt), her children Shannon & Parker, and Beth's
parents are helping to sponser, in Beth's name, the Starlab Planetarium program by Moble Productions, Inc.,
a group that brings science and education programs to schoolchildren. They will come to the St. Theresa
Catholic School and present (that's where Beth's aunt Jeannette used to be principal). There will be five
class presentations, sponsored by Jeannette, Shannon and Parker, and two family evening presentations
sponsored by Beth's grandmother, Dorothy Holmes, and her aunt and uncle's family, Anita, Jim and Bill Mahood.

American Heart Association

 Many have donated to the American Heart Association. Click here for information.


As of now, over 50 people have donated to AHA! Thank you all.

Obituaries and Tributes to Beth
  • Beth's collegue Tim Thompson has sponsored a memorial tile for Beth at the
    Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. The tile is at the new Shark Lagoon
    exhibit. Here's the tile, and here's the wall it's on.
  • STATUS has printed a nice article about her in the June, 2004 issue (scroll to page 25).
  • At the AAS meeting in Denver in May 2004, Beth was scheduled to have a poster session.
    Her collegue, Karl Stapelfeldt, remembered her in his presentation for which she was a major
    collaborator (and dedicated the resulting paper to her). For her poster session, her collegues
    at JPL put up this poster in the spot she had reserved.
  • Chas Beichman, Beth's advisor at JPL has written a nice obituary for Beth to be published
    in the AAS newsletter over the summer. Here is a PDF of it. It was published as part of the AAS Bulletin (Vol 35, No 5) in January, 2005.
  • Beth's obituary in the JPL Universe newsletter.
  • A note in the web-log of STATUS (the status of women in astronomy).
    Beth was a co-associate editor of STATUS, along with her friend Joannah Hinz.
  • Dedications in AAS papers — at the upcoming AAS meeting there will be several poster
    sessions where Beth's name will be mentioned. Beth was hard at work on Spitzer when she died.
    Beth also was scheduled to give a poster talk, and her spot will have a picture with a memorial.


Beth as Scientist: Credits, papers, etc.


JPL Memorial Slide Show

 Click here for the PPT slide show I showed at the JPL memorial (please be patient, it's 18M long!)

Pictures

 Stay tuned, I'll put up as many pictures as I can in the coming weeks/months.

Other Memorial Sites

I miss you, Sweetie



Beth and I used to repeat an impromptu version of this to each other
almost every night for nearly the whole time we were together:

   
I love you
more than words can describe
more than all the stars in the milky way
more than all the stars in all the galaxies in the sky
more than all the dust around all the stars in all the galaxies in the sky
more than all the dark matter around all the galaxies in the sky
more than all the dark energy (whatever that is) around all the galaxies in the sky
You are my angel, my sweetheart, my one-and-only
I will always love you
more than words can describe

    

I miss you, Sweetie.
More than words can describe.


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