Evan Wadler

"I knew Evan as well, if not better than anyone in his life and certainly longer than anybody other than his family. He was amazing not for what he did but for who he was.

He was so bright, funny and sharp nothing ever got past him. Perhaps that's part of what made him such a pained one. The absurdity of the human condition never left him long. I'm glad I knew him when he was in his early teens. When I met him he was whole; full of life and joy. It was before sexuality defined any of us. We were just people and we fell into each other's sphere of existence and relieved each other's adolescent angst. We spent time together without self-conscious limitation. All the years between that memorable time and the awful day I walked into that hospital room full of cruel machinery to begin saying goodbye, were a fascinating dialogue.

As adults we were not always close, but always in touch - as he travelled to California and back, living many years there. I visited him on Laguna Street in San Francisco several times. Our visits to Golden Gate and Land's End for sunset are treasured memories. For the most part he was much happier there than he ever was here. One of his happiest times was when he visited Hawai'i and that was the inspiration for the quilt panel I've designed. I'm not sure why he loved it so much, but I suspect it was how much he could strip down to the basics of being human again - free from all the emotional morass which seemed to entrap him so in the modern "civilized" world.

Evan was a very profound thinker and I feel it was a pity he never was able to really express his worldview in a book or some other form. As awful as it may seem to say, there is a way that I feel Evan released from this 'veil of tears and trouble'. There were ghosts who haunted him relentlessly and never let him be at peace for long and then the AIDS dementia slowly added the final paranoia and torture to the situation. It culminated in lithium being mistakenly prescribed, a brain hemorrhage and finally a blessed end to all the pain at one. The strange symmetry of this Jewish boy born and dying on Christmas day.

Evan, I always tried to be your friend and only regret that I could never do more that actually helped. Goodbye and sleep well!"

-Tribute bio by Teriananda