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| Claudene Christian on the HMS Bounty |
"When the heart weeps for what
it has lost,
the Spirit Laughs
for what it has found."
Sufi
December
1, 2012 will forever be etched in my memory. It was a day filled with
sadness for what was lost, and gratitude for what remains. Words
cannot describe the bittersweet sadness of this day. To be asked to
give the eulogy for Claudene Christian was such an honor.
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| At the Memorial Service. Photo by Rick Blood. |
Conversations
after the service were deep, rich and meaningful. Over and over again,
people said that although they didn't know Claudene, they felt like
they knew her now. The feedback was so affirming, so wonderful to know
that people really got a clear idea of who Claudene was, and what she
accomplished.
It's time you knew her too.
Claudene
Christian was a free spirited soul who lived life to the fullest. She
resonated on levels most folks have forgotten even existed. While many
of you knew her better, I learned things about her that I believe she
would like me to share with you.
Claudene boldly extended herself to meet people where they were.
She
greeted new crew members with, “Hi! I’m Claudene Christian, the great,
great, great, great, great granddaughter of Fletcher Christian. If you
need anything, or have any questions, just ask. I want you to know you
can trust me.”
That’s one powerful statement to pull out of a “How do you do?”
Born on October 18, 1970,
Claudene learned to go after her goals early. When many little girls
played “house,” “nurse” or “school teacher”, Claudene set her sights on
something else. Her playroom had an office. The phone never rang, and
there were no real customers at Trott Tuttle Investments, but four year
old Claudene didn’t let that faze her pretending to be an
“Entrepreneur.”
Once,
when I asked her how to do something on the ship, she winked and said,
“Fake it ‘til you make it.” Claudene spent a lifetime putting that
motto into practice. She wasn’t afraid to take a bold leap into
something new and learn it along the way.
In
high school, she did the things that many talented kids do: sang the
lead in the high school musicals, competed in gymnastics, earned 16
Varsity letters, and sported 2 tiaras as Miss Alaska National Teen-Ager
and Miss Alaska All American Co-ed.
Marketing
was also one of her developing talents. Always looking for new
opportunities, savvy Claudene figured out how to host a high school
dance at the town Convention center. She
took the initiative to pre-book dates, and posted flyers at high
schools all over town. She arranged everything from the food to the DJ
to clean up. Nobody knew that the high school student behind the dance
parties was pocketing a chunk of change for her efforts.
In
college, she was one of two girls out of 600 to become a USC Song
girl. The status quo of practices, games and socializing in addition to
studies did not suffice. When she saw a holiday wish list from the
school newspaper asking for a “USC Song Girl in my pocket,” the spark of
inspiration hit her, and she began what became a 4 year quest to make a
cheerleader doll.
Claudene had an indomitable spirit.
She was not one to let anything hold her back.
One day, she needed information from the Business Library, but was turned away because she was not officially enrolled in the Business School. She
went back with a borrowed ID, and got in the door. She needed to
research manufacturers willing to make dolls in smaller lots of
3000. Well you know Claudene. She got what she was after, and then
some.
It
would take her entire college career to work the details out for her
company, but Claudene was unstoppable. Three years after the initial
crazy idea, and just before the last game, 100 brand new Cheerleader
Dolls sat on the shelves at the school bookstore. The logistics of
where to park the other 2900 dolls soon became part of the
entrepreneurial gauntlet she was only too willing to run.
After
that game, orders poured in for 1000 more dolls. A few years later,
Mattel would dare to challenge Claudene’s endeavor, they sued her and
won!
She
didn’t let that stop her either. Instead, she counter sued. After 8
years of legal wrangling, she won. After the judge’s ruling, she had
her picture taken with the Mattel representative, because to her, it was
a victory lap.
Obstacles
did not impede her. Claudene didn’t hear “No” very well,
either. Instead, she always found a way to get things done. The
challenges of her endeavors brought her to new levels and introduced her
to people willing to help her succeed.
It
was the wisdom of these experiences that she stood upon. That’s how
the newest volunteer crew member could extend her hand and tell you who
she was with total confidence.
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| Claudene and I in Boothbay after the HMS Bounty was hauled out. Photo by Steve Frederick. |
Claudene
was thrilled to sail aboard the Bounty. Her family’s history with the
Bounty was an important connection. Sailing Bounty fulfilled a desire
lodged deep within her DNA.
“While
everyone shivers during breezy nights at sea, this native Alaskan
relishes in the cold temperatures. Although no longer a cheerleader at
USC, you can often find her cheering on shipmates as we haul the main
top halyard. Claudene has worked for Fox Sports and Churchill Downs in
Corporate Marketing. Though Bounty might be her greatest quest yet, she
is quick to state that she never backs down from a challenge! It is with
great pride, respect and appreciation that she takes this journey in
memory of Fletcher Christian and carries on the family tradition to live
a “Bounty-ful life.” Although Bounty is both proud and fearful to have a
descendant of the infamous Fletcher Christian on board, our Captain
hopes that this familial bond does not include leading a mutiny.”
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| With the Mounties in Halifax, NS July 2012 |
Claudene was always learning. She delighted in stretching herself to meet new challenges and make new friends.
If
she didn’t know something, that didn’t stop her. She trusted herself
in the moment, and even if it was much later, she would learn what made
things work the way they did.
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| Painting the hull in Boothbay Harbor with Jessica Hewitt. |
Claudene
was in her element aboard Bounty. She loved the water, the ocean,
loved being a part of something so big. She enjoyed meeting new people
in every port. She made it a point to get to know the new crew. I
truly believe that if the Crew had a chance to cast a vote, Claudene
would win the title of “Miss Congeniality.”
Claudene
especially loved being a part of the crew. The girl who arrived with a
rolling suitcase packed with shower gear and a hair dryer was the same
one who loved immersing herself in the dirtiest jobs on the ship. She
happily volunteered to do grubby tasks like crawling down to the anchor
chain locker to flake the chain, or scrubbing out bilges or tarring the
rigging. She was most happy with streaks of tar on her face and a
grin.
One
day, a close friend of hers came by on a boat and waved hello. Claudene
was up the main top halyard, having just crawled out of the chain
locker. She was sweating and flushed, covered in mud, blond hair
flying. She was having the time of her life.
Her cabin mate, Eliza shared an even more personal look at life with Claudene.
“She
had so many clothes in her bunk that she could barely fit - there was a
little hole that she burrowed through and, when she was asleep, all I
could see were her fuzzy socks sticking out. Quite often her clothes
would fall out, especially if the ship was rolling. She'd collect them
in the morning and shove them back into the bunk.
She had neon lights strung up near the end of her bunk, which she would turn on late at night to make me laugh.
There wasn't much wind this summer but one day on the Chesapeake,
Bounty was heeled way over, flying through the water. We had to hold on
tight as we hurried across the deck to set sails. Claudene told me
later that she had been afraid, scared that Bounty would capsize, until
she looked over and saw Laura laughing in the wind, and then she wasn't
afraid anymore.
 With Laura Groves in Boothbay Harbor, ME |
That's
the memory I think of most when I picture Claudene in the days before
the Bounty sank. I wasn't there, but Doug said she was having the best
time ever on the best sail ever, and I think that on that transit,
before everything went downhill, she was laughing right alongside Laura.
By then she was a sailor at heart.”
Thank you Eliza, for sharing that glimpse of Claudene.
I saw Claudene dancing in a vision afterwards, during a performance by Alasdair
Frasier and Natalie Haas at the Boothbay Opera House. It’s a place
where the veil is thin. People and entities gather there because they
like the music. Before going inside, I asked for a sign that Claudene
and Robin were OK in the next level.
I
sat on the front row, beside two empty chairs. From the first note of
music, the tears began seeping, and suddenly I was reeling from the
enormity of it all. Only 2 weeks ago, I’d seen the ship off, from the
dock a few blocks away. How very much the world has changed in those
short weeks.
Natalie
began playing a song called “Josephine’s Waltz” on her cello. It may
as well have been called “Claudene’s Walz.” The notes poured forth like
chocolate silk, richly beautiful deep tones moving in a slow, loving
cadence. I closed my eyes to absorb it, and my heart open.
Then a picture came to my mind’s eye.
Out
of the blackness, a tiny orb of light floated. It began to glow,
brighter and brighter. The light stretched into a long, pink ribbon. I
watched it slowly twirl, and expand until I could see a hand, then an
arm, then her face.
Claudene
Christian looked at me with those clear blue eyes and radiated, big,
full of life, happy and smiling. She was dancing, with the ribbon on
waves of pure joy. The light expanded, and I saw others standing
around her in a circle. Robin was there too; smiling at her like he
smiled at us all when he appreciated something about us. Claudene
stopped, curtsied and invited him to dance. Together, they waltzed out
to the center of the floor.
After
Natalie finished, Alasdair shared his fondness of wooden boats; telling
a story of a concert once played under a ship’s upturned hull and the
wondrous acoustics that resulted. With that, he put the bow to the
strings, and struck the first notes of “Wooden Ships” in a tribute to
the HMS Bounty. The sound of his fiddle, pure and bittersweet, filled
every molecule in the room.
The
music took Robin and Claudene into a new spaceThe circle of light
opened wider, revealing more loved ones who have crossed over. They
were all in attendance at this Bounty party on the deck of the ship, a
place where many parties and good times were had by countless numbers of
people. Familiar faces jumped out at me. My Dad, my grandmother, my
great aunt. Two more special ones were there, the ones whose passing
gave me the freedom to say Yes! To sailing on the Bounty.
And
that’s when Robin and Claudene stretched their hands out to me and
invited me to dance. I leapt up from the chair and took a turn around
the floor, the clump of us somehow all dancing in our own ways, yet in
sync.
I
believe the ribbon in Claudene’s hand was symbolic of heart energy
connecting us, weaving through all the people as they were dancing on
the deck of the ship. The ribbon was pure love, and light, the highest
level of joy, the purest form of heart energy there is. Claudene was
sharing it with everyone, wrapping it around them like a soft blanket.
As
the last notes of Alasdair’s song faded, they struck a new chord within
me. The love of wooden ships and the sea are a common bond of
connection shared by many the world over. The loss of loved ones who
live life by the sea is one thing that comes with the unpredictability
of that love.
The
magnitude of that vision and its message are clear to me. If we were
to imitate her, we would happily take the experiences that life gives us
and squeeze every drop of them dry.
We would make time to say, “I love you. You matter to me.”
We
are to open and share our hearts, to choose to engage, and reach beyond
our comfort zones, just a little farther than we believe we can go.
The
Bounty experience showed us how to do that. It is possible to live
harmoniously, with understanding, acceptance and at least as much
compassion for each other as for ourselves. It showed us how we can
harness the collection of our individual talents as one, and channel
them to a greater purpose, one that involved sailing a fully rigged ship
around the world.
In
so doing, we shared this fantastic experience with all hearts that
gazed longingly upon her masts, her decks, her billowing sails.
Claudene
knew there was something special about being a part of Bounty Crew.
She enjoyed living in community, stretching herself to grow and learn
and be more than she could be. Bounty was a dream come true for her, as
it was for many of us.
On
the outside, it’s apparent that Claudene was successful because of what
she accomplished. To those who knew her for any length of time, her
successes were much richer, her life more bounty-ful than we can
imagine. She showed us how to love each moment fully extended, her
heart leading the way. She demonstrated how to dance in the joy of life
with delight and streaks of tar on her face. And she is dancing,
dancing, dancing…
The tide recedes, bright seashells on the sand,
The sun goes down; gentle warmth lingers on the land.
The music stops, yet goes on in sweet refrain.
For every joy that passes, something beautiful remains.
Rest in peace, Claudene Christian. Your life will always be sweet music in our hearts.
In Loving Memory of Claudene Christian
October 18, 1970 - October 29, 2012
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