What a shock it was to hear about Taru’s sudden passing.  I was one of Taru’s Finnish friends.  We met at one of the Finlandia Foundation’s celebrations where I saw Taru holding her baby daughter, Aila.  We connected then but saw each other much more later when my family and I moved to Silver Spring, near her house.  Our daughters, although not close in age, became good friends. I would drive my daughter to play with Aila.  This allowed me to enjoy many chats and much laughter with Taru.  She was a special person - well-read, calm, honest and direct in that Scandinavian way with a wonderful, quirky sense of humor.  You could never guess what Taru might come back with to anything you said.  She was a realist, yet fascinated by royals and Scandinavian and Finnish folk-lore and mythology.  My daughter was very impressed one day to find Taru dressed in black when Princess Diana died.  Taru was also interesting in that she was Finnish but grew up outside of Finland as a child of missionaries.  Her stories of those times were fascinating to me.  I was hoping that once Taru retired we would re-connect and laugh together again.  That was not to be. Hyvaa matkaa Taru!