Archives, Sibs, and Toss

Moving box with a Fragile sticker and a hand-written label — The last unopened box of Richard’s personal papers. “Studs” refers to the community organizer Studs Terkel.

Four acid-free boxes on shelves labeled Poethig. — The final destination of the Richard and Eunice Poethig personal archives at the Presbyterian Historical Society. “They filed us as a family,” notes Kerry.

Richard and Eunice left behind a 100 boxes’ worth of personal papers and family records. Margaret and her sister Kerry must dispose of it all.

The sisters sequestered themselves for several weeks near the storage unit in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as they sorted the papers. To get through it, they first dealt with the anger and frustration of being saddled with this burden, and then found ways to lighten the mood.

In the end, “We deconstructed the family,” says Kerry. And they delivered their parent’s intellectual work to its final resting place.

Music Credits

The Silver Hatch by Blue Dot Sessions
Comma by Blue Dot Sessions
Entwined Oddity by Blue Dot Sessions
The Gran Dias by Blue Dot Sessions
Plate Glass by Blue Dot Sessions

Keeping Dad Alive

Conversations between a dad and his children capture the sheer joy of talking, singing, and laughing with Richard, a man of simple pleasures, expansive intelligence, historical perspective, and progressive politics. In Season 1, Richard is living under lockdown in his senior living residence during the coronavirus pandemic. It tells the story of Richard’s resilience and of the family’s efforts to ease the psychic impact of his isolation. In Season 2, Margaret asks Richard why he talked so much about vocation when she was growing up. Richard offers the wide arc of his theological understanding—from the need to care for working people to the cosmic Spirit that holds the universe together. They decided to devote an entire podcast season to vocation.

Archives, Sibs, and Toss

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Music Credits

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