Who is Louise Borsoi, and how did I know her? Louise was, among many things, an educator, scholar, organizer, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. She wore many hats, literally and figuratively. I’m writing this to honor her as my friend, missing her now, as she passed away last month.
The photo here—of today’s memorial service program—captures Louise’s warm and loving disposition. Many folks can testify to that. The church service was packed with people from the church, her family and many friends from different crossroads of her life.
I met Louise in about 2007 through the Rollins Women’s Association. Although we were not close friends, we occasionally sat together at RWA lunches and Rollins events, and got to know one another. Without a doubt, she made me feel treasured and supported, especially in my work as a writer.
For instance, after I published my memoir, Undertow, Louise brought about an exceptional, synchronistic event involving my story. After Louise read my book and attended a couple of my cult-story presentations, she told me she wanted to introduce me to a particular longtime friend of hers (I’ll call her Sally).
Sally lives here in Orlando and is a member of a couple of book clubs. Louise had told Sally about me and Undertow. Turns out that Sally grew up in Van Wert, Ohio, during the 1940s. Van Wert is where my former cult leader, Victor Paul Wierwille, was a minister during that time but was dismissed from his church. Afterwards, he started a fellowship in his Van Wert house, taking some church members with him, and that group eventually grew into becoming The Way International located on his old family farm in New Knoxville, Ohio. It’s still in business today.
Back to Sally. Louise was excited about introducing me to Sally. The three of us met in a local cafe, and then Louise took off so Sally and I could get acquainted and connect the dots about how our lives had crisscrossed. On the cafe table, I saw a large book she’d brought with her. Within minutes, Sally opened it—her high school year book. Inside, she turned to a page with a senior portrait of none other than Wierwille’s oldest son. She remembered him as smart and funny, all those years ago, but at a class reunion in the 1980s, she saw him there and afterwards heard he’d gotten involved with his father’s “ministry” and things weren’t going well. I could attest to that.
When Sally was in high school, she told me, one day her mother made a comment about Wierwille to the effect that “something is very strange about him.” We talked about that “strangeness” and my own experiences with the man. We sat in amazement over how my story validated her mother’s intuitions from long ago. In the coming months, Sally was so interested in Undertow that she invited me to speak with the women in her book clubs. I did.
So, thank you Louise for your friendship, sincere support, and caring nature. You touched me and many others with your kindness, making life more meaningful for all of us.
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Thanks for reading!
Your writer on the wing,
Charlene
Kathleen Brandt
It’s trite but true: it’s a small world. Imagine her having been in high school with Don W!
Sounds like a great lady.