Self Portrait
Self Portrait with Eros and Thanatos, 1986

Brian Williams
January 30, 1958 - April 15, 2002

"The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he
complains of my gab and my loitering.

I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.

The last scud of day holds back for me,
It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow'd wilds,
It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.

I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.

I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.

Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you."

-- Song of Myself by Walt Whitman

The Ceremony

  • Welcome by Rev. Joe McMurray, Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco
  • My Brother Brian by Genevieve Williams Obert
  • Il Mi'Amico Briano by Paolo Milazzo
  • "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven and "Morning Mood" by Grieg, performed by Molly Ann Obert on flute and piano.
  • Brian: Prince of the Tarot by Thalassa
  • Brian, Italy & Italians by Dr. Alessandro di Rocco
  • A Canto from Dante's "Paradiso" by Andrea Savini
  • What I Know About Brian by Jeff Gillman
  • Breaking The Urn by Jeff Gillman and the Williams & the Obert family
  • The Kaddish by Rabbi Oren Postrel
  • Closing Prayer by Rev. Joe McMurray

The Party

* Refreshments * Souvenir Drawings * Shards & Ashes * Brian's Costume Creations *

Honolulu, 1958
Venice, 1978

In the garden, 1985
Passover, 1997

This Memorial has been made possible by generous donations from:

Dr. Alessandro di Rocco, Wally Gorell, Ann Williams, Chris & Genny Obert, George Kimmerling & Larry Kressley, Charlotte Porter, David S. Brightman, Edward & Beverly Sigourney, Elizabeth Cherry Owen, Ellen Lorenzi-Prince, Jackie Wollman, Michael O'Loughlin, Richard Binkoff, Rob Tufel, Fred Hertz, Lise Apatoff, Sabina Magliocco, Nancy Newman, Paula Buel, Wendy Alderson, Luciano Tempo, Marguerite Sunshine Britton, Judy Osborne & Ingrid de Matta, Mark W. Plant, Jennifer Cherniss, Driscoll's Strawberry Associates, John Ballantine, Nobuo Yamaji , Mr & Mrs H.J. Furlong Jr., Esther Macdonald, Diane Dunn & others too late to print.

Thank you all for your love and support

Back to Brian's Memorial Page

light and shadowPoMorenaissanceminchiatebiographytravelhome