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When Katie Clarke died of ovarian cancer, she
was just as beautiful as she was the first time I met her.
Katie was my friend. She was my friend when she christened
me "Juicy Jane" our very first day as Mt Holyoke freshman
and she was my friend when she told me that she had ovarian
cancer. I remember where we were standing when she agreed to
"move' with me after freshman year; I was so flattered that
some one as nice as Katie would want to be my roommate! She
was my friend as she went off to the theatre and her
"theatre friends" - that was her home and that was where she
was happiest, but she was still my friend, as we took
different routes. We kept in touch sporadically in the years
immediately after college. We would cross paths
occasionally; I read proudly in Newsweek that she was "the
brightest young actress of the generation" and delighted in
taking my young son to see her in "The Dragonslayer" on the
big screen at the Boston Museum of Science. She and I
visited in the early '80's while she was living in New York
and I saw her perform off-Broadway a number of times. My
parents, who lived in New York, would make it a point to see
her in every one of her productions. Then for years she and
I fell out of communication for no obvious (to me) reason.
But it was fun to be surprised to see her pop up in a TV
series, to get a phone call from another classmate, "Katie's
on Law and Order - quick, turn it on. . . " Years later, on
a whim, I took a leap of faith and was lucky to be able to
reestablish our relationship, and we have been in close
contact for the past many years. I can't say we
reestablished our friendship; we never lost our friendship.
Katie would tell me that I taught her what friendship is,
but she was wrong. She taught me. When we reestablished our
relationship, it was as if we hadn't missed a day of each
other's lives since we were 22 year old girls. We laughed
("Jane - you are taking up crew at the age of 46? You are
out of your mind? You are going to be begging to rest!) and
we held hands when she was receiving chemo. She was never
afraid to share of herself. She loved the theatre and she
loved teaching and helping children. She was delighted to do
philanthropic work introducing NYC school children to the
theatre and then she loved teaching theatre to children in
all venues. She helped friends of each of my children with
their respective acting careers She always considered
herself a very successful actor, b/c she was always able to
support herself in her field. She thoroughly enjoyed
"keeping house" in Sewickley the last few years, taking
delight in each of her parents. She was proud of her sisters
and adored being an aunt. When I spoke with Katie a week
before she died, she was bright and cheerful and upbeat, and
had the red feather boa I had sent her close at hand. She
certainly didn't want anyone to be sad. But I just can't do
that for her. I learned from Katie that your friend is
ALWAYS your friend, no matter what.
Jane Homan Antin
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