Larissa Nikolayevna Flores

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Larissa Nikolayevna Flores. 

She will be missed beyond words and loved beyond measure. Larissa was profoundly kind, funny, humble, intelligent, and resilient among many, many other amazing qualities. Her greatest legacy is the love and friendship she gave so generously, a love that will continue to live on in those who knew her. Her eldest son and daughter humbly dedicate a favorite and most cherished poem to Larissa in her memory.

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver (1935-2019)

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.