From Becky Chapman Weaver, who is heartbroken not to be at Flo’s memorial service:
Even a little bit of Flo made a big difference. I was fortunate to work with her for two years in the early 1980’s, and it changed my life. At the age of 25, I’d already had a couple of good bosses. Flo was my first great one. We didn’t use the word so much back then, but she wasn’t just a director, she was a mentor.
She taught me what I needed to know to build a career beyond my imagination – and along the way, she taught me some truths about fundraising, the nonprofit world, and life.
She was unflinchingly honest. Her goal was always to make things better, and to do that, she didn’t shy away from the hard stuff. When I did the wrong thing, she’d tell me. After we’d talked about it in all seriousness, she would give that penetrating look into my eyes, blink real big, smile even bigger, and move on. She expected the best of us all.
Flo was hard-working, but more fun than blowing bubbles from a hot-air balloon. Her laugh is one thing I will never forget. I treasure every time we got together over the years – from margaritas after work, to parties on the 4th of July, to the lunch she organized to let us all see Susi again. And the only thing that could make me laugh harder and longer than a story told by Flo… was a story told by Flo and Susi together.
When Flo spoke, people listened. Once I almost didn’t listen, but typical Flo didn’t give up, and because of that, my life changed. I was loving life at my museum job, when Flo called to tell me to go interview with a new cancer research foundation. I thanked her and said I wasn’t interested. She called again a couple of weeks later… I still wasn’t interested. Then I learned that my favorite curator was dying of cancer because there was no test that could have diagnosed him in time. Flo called again, and this time I listened. I’ve now spent more than 18 years at three organizations dedicated to cancer research. Today that same curator would have been diagnosed and probably live to study birds (his passion) for many years, because of the progress research has made. Many of us are fortunate to have played a small part in such things, because Flo Green taught us how to raise money and build better nonprofits.
Adding up my time at the museum, organizations for abused and troubled kids, and cancer research, I’ve spent 31 years, so far, raising money to help make the world a better place. If I had not met Flo, I would not have chosen this career, let alone known how to go about it.
I wonder, if we added up all the person-years that have been dedicated to the nonprofit world because Flo Green set someone on this course, how many lifetimes of a difference we would see that she made - how many careers she made more effective, how many causes she thus improved, and in turn how many lives she touched. It boggles the mind.
But more even more than all that, I treasure Flo for the loving, passionate woman she was and the person she inspired me to be. I was a small piece of Flo’s life; she was a huge piece of mine. Few of us can say we have a life as full as hers was, but surely we all aspire to it. Few of us can say we loved as much as she did, but please God, let us all try.