Ernie often said he felt as though an angel sat on his shoulder and guided him through his wonderful life.

Happily, Jill Gardner interviewed Ernie several years ago and documented that wonderful life for us. The interview tells Ernie’s story in his own words, far better than can I. If you want to read it, click here.

That being said, what am I going to do?

I’m going to read two poems, one written by the Israeli poet, Zelda, and then I will paraphrase her poem to fit our situation.

Zelda’s poem

Each of us has a name
Given by God
And given by our parents

Each of us has a name
Given by our stature and our smile
And given by what we wear

Each of us has a name
Given by the mountains
And given by our walls

Each of us has a name
Given by the stars
And given by our neighbors

Each of us has a name
Given by our sins
And given by our longing

Each of us has a name
Given by our enemies
And given by our love

Each of us has a name
Given by our celebrations
And given by our work

Each of us has a name
Given by the seasons
And given by our blindness

Each of us has a name
Given by the sea
And given by our death

It’s also been said that actually we have 3 names:
The name our parents gave us
The name by which we know ourselves
And the name by which the people know us

After our community learned of Ernie’s death there was an outpouring of love, admiration, and gratitude – all names in their own right.

I’ll now paraphrase Zelda’s poem, using the names by which our people knew Ernie.

Ernie has a name
given by his gentle nature and
given by the sweetness of his smile

Ernie has a name
given by his kindness and

given by his endless generativity

Ernie has a name
given by the terror he knew as a child and
given by his profound capacity for empathy

Ernie has a name
given by his experience as a refugee and

given by his remarkable open mindedness

Ernie has a name
given by his devotion to Ina and
given by love for his children Elizabeth, David, and Steven, and for his grandchildren Julian, Zoe, Sam and Rebecca.

Ernie has a name

given by his love of our field and
given by his wonderful contributions

Ernie has a name
given by his joy in teaching and
given by the clarity and depth of his explanations

Ernie has a name
given by his strong, but quiet voice and
given by his deep, but also constantly questioning, conviction about the explanatory power of Self Psychology.

Ernie has a name
given by the pleasure we had in being with him and

given by the loss we felt when we learned he was gone

Thank you, Ernie,

for a life so well lived,

and for so happily sharing it with us.