On Saturday, March 22nd, I attended the memorial service for Joan Throckmorton at the Community Church in Pound Ridge, N.Y. (Westchester County) and came away feeling upset with the industry’s lack of respect for this wonderful lady who gave so much of herself over a period of 30-plus years in our business.
It was a lovely and simple service. There were about 75 people there. A number of Joan’s friends and family spoke warmly about her love of travel, her interest in gardening, her successful business career (which, one explained, began when women were expected to be satisfied as secretaries). They spoke of the business honors and recognition she had received, of her lifetime willingness to be a mentor in order to help others achieve their potential, of her integrity and sincerity. I learned some things I hadn’t known about Joan, and was reminded of the many things I had always admired about her. Letters were read from two or three personal friends who could not attend.
What upset me was the very sparse attendance at the service by members of the direct marketing community (which is quite large in the greater New York area). At one point during the service, one of Joan’s personal friends asked that her business colleagues present in the church raise their hands so he would know how many people in the gathering knew what “direct marketing” was before he made his comments. About 70 of the people in the pews looked around to see these direct marketers with whom Joan had spent so much of her life. How embarrassing that only seven of our community were there to raise their hands.
Seven out of the many hundreds, and probably thousands, whose lives Joan had directly touched.
Thankfully, two of those seven shared some memories of Joan with the group.
It was a beautiful day in early spring and maybe people wanted to work in their gardens. It was a Saturday morning and maybe people wanted to relax after a stressful work week. It required a bit of travel to get to Pound Ridge.
There were surely other letters that were not read at the service. There was the competition of the Iraq war on TV. But none of this could be a good excuse for not being willing to devote just a few hours to confirm, with our personal presence, that Joan’s life in direct marketing had mattered, that what she accomplished in the industry and gave to the industry deserved our final personal recognition and respect.
I would ask my fellow direct marketers not to let something like this happen again.
Pierre Passavant
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[Re: Loose Cannon: Duck and Coverlet, Direct Newsline, March 24, 2003]:
My personal feelings aside, I think it’s just a bad idea to attempt to attach any kind of humor to this conflict.
John Crowley
Director, Marketing Development
Trilegiant Corp.
Norwalk, CT
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