Who Attended Cecil Williams Memorial Service In San Francisco?

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Janice Mirikitani, Glide Memorial Church co-founder, activist, poet and wife Rev. Cecil Williams, died Th forenoon, according to an announcement by the church building. She was fourscore years old.

The mail on the Glide website said Mirikitani passed away with family and friends by her side.

"Our hearts are full with both grief and the tremendous love that she embodied. Janice brought fierce courage and spirit to everything she did," the statement read. "She spoke her truth and inspired others to accept and celebrate themselves, each other, and all our differences."

Mirikitani was born February. four, 1941, in Stockton, to a couple who were Japanese immigrant farmers in the San Joaquin Valley. During Globe War II, she was interned forth with her family unit at the Rohwer War Relocation Middle in Arkansas.

She would go on to written report English and creative writing, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA and at i signal working every bit a instructor in Contra Costa County before finding her calling working for Glide Memorial Church building in the Tenderloin in the late '60s.

Mirikitani went from working as an administrative banana at the church to becoming its program director, beginning a lifetime of activism and advocacy for marginalized people and communities through her work with the church.

"Janice co-created then much of the early vision and the roots of GLIDE'south impact," the statement from the church read. "Her piece of work touched many areas, both in the Church and on the street in the Tenderloin and in San Francisco."

Mirikitani would ally Glide co-founder Rev. Cecil Williams in 1982, the same year she became the president of the Glide Foundation. She likewise connected her work as a writer, poet and editor, writing a number of books and becoming San Francisco's second poet laureate in 2000.

A number of San Francisco officials released public statements after news emerged of Mirikitani's passing.

"Jan Mirikitani was one of our City's true lights. She was a visionary, a revolutionary artist and the very embodiment of San Francisco'south compassionate spirit," read a statement issued by S.F. Mayor London Breed. "As a poet, including as Poet Laureate of this City from 2000 to 2002, she used the power of her words to further the fight for equality and to call for a more merely and peaceful world. Through her piece of work at Glide Memorial Church, along with her husband the Reverend Cecil Williams, she served our most vulnerable residents for decades and provided a place of refuge and honey for all."

"Whenever I went to Glide information technology was Cecil and Jan," Breed told KPIX. "Whenever there was any interaction, information technology was the two of them and she loved him so much. She had a way of making you feel like you were important to her. Peculiarly because she genuinely cared about what was happening in your life. She cared about including people and she cared about feeding people and supporting people and lifting people up with her words of wisdom but also her poetry."

San Francisco country senator Scott Wiener posted a memorial tribute on Twitter, saying "I'k heartbroken that our dear Janice Mirikitani has passed. Jan was i of the most infrequent human being beings I've ever met, combining forcefulness & dearest like no one else."

I'm heartbroken that our beloved Janice Mirikitani has passed. Jan was one of the nearly exceptional homo beings I've ever met, combining forcefulness & beloved like no 1 else.

My condolences to the love of her life Cecil Williams, the entire @GLIDEsf community & all of San Francisco.

— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) July 29, 2021

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin posted a brief clip of Mirikitani reading a poem during a recent online height on hate crimes and keeping the AAPI community safe.

Heartbroken to learn of the passing of Janice Mirikitani, SF poet laureate, cofounder of Glide, & a visionary, impactful person.

She read a poem at our recent Summit on detest crimes & keeping the AAPI community prophylactic, moving u.s. all with the power of her words.

Rest in power. pic.twitter.com/YJNRE4tXzv

— Chesa Boudin 博徹思 (@chesaboudin) July 29, 2021

SF Supervisor Matt Haney as well posted on Twitter in tribute.

Nosotros lost a fable today, the First Lady of the Tenderloin, a poet, someone who loved people, all people, and had endless compassion, grace, and vision. Rest in power, Dr. Janice Mirikitani.

I grieve with the Glide community and the countless people whose lives she touched.

— Matt Haney (@MattHaneySF) July 29, 2021

A memorial for Mirikitani is being arranged. A crusade of death was not announced.

© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This fabric may non be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press and KPIX 5'southward Andria Borba contributed to this written report