I lost my dear friend, Liz Conrad, to cancer Wednesday morning. It was a shock to everyone. She’d been dealing with the cancer for a while, but everything was going so well - she never even lost her hair. Tests proved the cancer had been destroyed where it was first detected. Unfortunately, two weeks ago the doctors found out that it had moved. They planned an aggressive attack, but the cancer was faster. So very fast.
We spent the most marvelous day together just a few weeks back. We went to Little Five Points, had lunch and meandered through all the shops. She helped me pick out the blue flapper dress that I wore in Los Angeles. I’m so glad we had that day. It was the epitome of everything I loved about spending time with Liz.
We met years ago at an SCBWI Southern Breeze conference and ogled over each other’s work and our (at the time) mostly pre-published status. From then on, we attended and roomed at conferences together, had dozens of wonderful lunches and when I became Illustrator Coordinator for our region, Liz was my right arm (and creative cohort). She and Vicky Alvear Shecter are/were my posse. After so many lunches we started sharing our work with each other and became an impromptu critique group, based on friendship and extreme mutual respect.

Liz was always the most positive person I have ever known. Her artwork was filled with such joy. You can see some of it here and here and here. I went to her for smiles and clear thinking. Next to my husband, she was one of those rare people whose moral compass points true north. Absolutely and perfectly.
I had hoped we would grow old together. I had visions of us at the family cabin, grey beyond reason, and going over our latest manuscripts together. I’ve missed her so terribly in these two weeks as she declined, I know I will miss her forever. It’s hard to get my head around the fact that she won’t be here. The world needs more people like Liz in it, not less. I am heart broken.

Hi All, Many of you have already found the blog tribute I wrote about Liz the day after she left us - there are already 74 lovely comments and stories posted as of this writing. If you would like to see (or add a story or comment) go to: http://dulemba.com/2009/08/in-memoriam-liz-conrad.html . I'm also glad Julie has set this up as a gathering place for all our good memories. Liz was a rare light in this world and I miss her terribly. e