If you plan to make a gift to AJU, please know that they closed the Wagner Program down some time ago. The "replacement" program really has nothing in common with it. It is very upsetting.

Hilarie has been on my mind a great deal in the last year. I still remember her challenging my point of view on a variety of subjects,  I  miss this so.... I still hear her voice in my head, and her laughter!  What a joyous thing, when she laughed at life and its oddities!!! I miss her very much.

Diana, I am sad to tell you that her father joined her on January 18, 2019.
I agree with you. The best thing we can do is try to be like her in at least some of her multitudinous wonderful ways to keep her ripple spreading in the pond and pay it forward. It is hard, but she would feel so honored.

Hilarie was a  person who was always good to know,  to trust, and to be with at ease.  I will  cherish her memory and try to be more like her, as I have over the years.  I knew her for over 40 years. I will miss hearing her voice out loud, Although I can still hear her in my head,  it just doesn't feel like enough right now. To her father, thank you for raising such a wonderful soul on this earth. 

I was a client of Hilarie’s for almost 27 years, twice a week. To paraphrase someone else below, she saved my tuchus again and again. I would have been gone long ago if not for her. She taught me so much. I don’t know how I will go on without her. We were all so blessed to have her in our lives. She was there for me through everything and never, ever gave up on me. I referred to her as “my other mother,” and my actual mother died 3½ weeks earlier. But the loss of Hilarie is the one that is beyond devastating to me. My life revolved around her, even as I have tried to adjust since her retirement six months ago. I have nine messages from her open in my email that I read every day, in which she told me things like “everything will be OK” and to “take things one step at a time.” But how can anything ever be OK again without her on the planet?

My pseudonym is President of Hilarie’s Fan Club, which I was for many years.


My condolence to the beloved family, relatives and, close friends, may the memories of Hilarie's life and the legacy she left live eternally in your hearts, and may the compassion of God provide peace and comfort from e sting of death. 

I'm devastated.  I didn't know until now that Hilarie passed away on Sunday.  I would have wanted to be at the funeral.  But, Hilarie would be the first one to tell me that life is not always fair and that things tend to happen for a reason.

I was I think Hilarie's longest-term client.  I first saw her when she was still getting her license.   We were also 3 months apart in age.  And I talked to her ever since  until last  Thursday.  I could tell in that last conversation that things were very bad but I don't know exactly what happened in the end.   I won't belabor all the circumstances in my life here, but Hilarie was the one through-line in my life.  She literally saved my life countless times.  She was at my wedding.  She was instrumental in raising my daughter, now 20.  She knew me better than anyone else in my life ever has really.   She was the greatest voice of kind reason.  

I'm sure she was incredibly special to a great number of people.  I don't make special claim to her.  I know she was very close to her family and knew how happy she was with her wife, though in typical Hilarie fashion, I only learned that she was married a few months ago.  

Given that I know what a hole Hilarie's passing is leaving in my life, I can only imagine how that applies to so many.   
I also know that she was very unhappy with how things had been for her since December.  I hope she was at peace in the end.

It is with a very heavy heart that I say farewell to such a special person in my life.  I met Hilarie in 1999 when she began her first year at Wagner.  I could say a lot of things about her but it would really take me days and days. I've tried to put into a few words the deep conection that I had with Hilarie.  She came into my life at the perfect time (of course!).  It was a low point in my life but she managed to lift me up, instill in me confidence of my ability to succeed in a classroom setting and to succeed in my personal life.  She was a dynamic, yet soft spoken teacher-mentor.  She knew how to get the message across.  She hand wrote each of us at the end of each year a personal message.  I still have her handwritten notes. We had an ongoing relationship professionally until the end of last year when she retired.  She was a go-to person, a sounding board of strength and insight.  She brought a calmness to those around her and I will cherish the memory of her my entire life.  May she rest in eternal peace and may her loved ones be comforted by the memories of their lives together.

OBITUARY

Hilarie J. Blumfield Ph.D.

8 September, 1953 – 1 April, 2018

Groman Eden Mortuary & Eden Memorial Park

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