Adrienne Martha Najarian Rabkin
My mom was born February 25, 1929 and died November 22, 2022. In addition to being charming and kind, and possessing great intelligence, she led a great life, laughed heartily, and had a terrific smile, all of which are in evidence in the photos below.
On November 29, 2022, my dad hosted a memorial event at Lasell Village. The speakers were my sister Julia, me, Rhoda Mann (my mom’s close friend from college), and my dad. The video below captures our remarks.Â
On January 15, 2023, we hosted a celebration of Adrienne’s life for family and close friends. The speakers were Julia, me, my two children, Joshua and Alexis, and my dad. Rhoda was unable to join us. This video captures our words; unfortunately, we failed to capture my father’s. To read all our remarks, including my dad’s, which – no surprise – feature a hilarious story, click here for the transcript.Â
The one thing my mom mentioned wanting in an event about her life was that we play Galuppi’s Piano Sonata in C Major. Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785) isn’t a particularly well known composer. The fact that she chose a piece by him is a testament to her musical knowledge, ear and remarkable memory. She would have been thrilled to share this recording, which features a magnificent pianist – Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995) – with us.
In our remarks in January, both Julia and I refer to a piece of music that brought tears to our mother’s eyes and prompted her last truly coherent words to us: “It’s so wonderful.” My mom loved this album, Free Spirits by jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams, and introduced me to it when I was young. It might be my all-time favorite record. Click below to hear “Baby Man, Take 2,” the song in our story. The full album is available here on YouTube.
This gallery features photographs projected in the background while we were speaking at both events, images from the day Adrienne was born through to the summer of 2022. A few feature my dad or Rhoda without my mom. One features a group of family members, all wearing garments Adrienne knit. Scroll through, or click any image to expand it and view the entire set as a slideshow.
