Sufi Remembrance

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One Memory for “Jenaabi Myla Lyons”

1. on 28 May 2022 at 1:46 am1Munira Tajaali C. de Neergaard

   Myla was such a good friend to me, always fun to be with and such a good listener. We met in another context, both as singers in the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra’s production of Mozart’s Mass in C minor. We were both cast as 2nd sopranos, although really best as altos. Music was her great love and talent. At the cast’s post-concerts party, we met under the dining table and found to our delight that we both had this enormous history together as Sufis and travelers, lovers of India, beauty, and Zikr. It cemented our friendship. Myla was an extraordinary storyteller. One of her most wonderful tales was when she went overland from London to India. She also had detailed stories about the early days with Murshid Sam, Shabda and Wali Ali, then later with Pir Vilayat. I wish we could have recorded her memories.

   In her late thirties, she went back to graduate school in Southeast Asian Studies. At age 40, she decided to get practical after exploring life, spirit, and beauty. And so she got a full time job in the Marin County Sheriff’s Department as a dispatcher. She was one of the last to get a full pension and benefits before those things were cut for most workers. She bought half a duplex in Berkeley. She was faithful to her job.

   She still pursued her love of music as a singer until her life was cut too short by early onset Alzheimer’s. She faced it bravely. Her relatives moved her into a memory care facility, first in Berkeley, then in Kansas, where she died some three years after onset.

   Fare-forward Bodhisattva. You are loved.

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