Born Abbey Gwen Bookbinder in Brooklyn, NY, on April 9, 1955, our lean, long, headstrong Aries grew to graduate with a master's degree from Syracuse University before moving to Oakland, CA, to work with troubled kids. In 1990 Abbey (by then Kaufman) moved to Ukiah, CA, to work with special education students and ultimately with homeless adolescents before retiring and moving to Port Townsend, Washington in 2016, where she did volunteer work for the Marine Science Center, Centrum, Wooden Boat Festival, Port Townsend Film Festival and during Covid, the drive-thru vaccination clinic at Jefferson Health Care. Abbey loved Port Townsend. She found her way into the hearts of a large cross-section of the Port Townsend community.
Ever the Spiritual Goddess, over the years Abbey performed weddings, rituals and ruled many a dance floor. She loved all dogs, most people, and few politicians.
Despite her lifetime of good deeds and healthy affinities for daily exercise and organic foods, our beautiful no-nonsense warrior was beset by a series of senseless calamities over the years, including being run over in a crosswalk by a madman speeding through a red light, later enduring a mysteriously malfunctioning heart valve, and finally a year-long painful battle with an aggressive cancer common to elderly male smokers, of which she was none. Go figure.
A week after her 68th birthday, guided with exquisite love and tenderness by "Abbey's Angels" Scott Campbell and Leslie Lauf, our Beautiful Spirit passed into the mystic on April 16 following a bedside dog parade assembled in her honor. She received a sacred green burial at Hillcrest Cemetery on Bainbridge Island on the cusp of Earth Day.
Abbey leaves behind brother Jack Bookbinder and countless friends and admirers of all ages, races, and persuasions, who she touched with her bounty of "love and blessings".
Scott reveals, "In African cultures it is believed that people never die as long as they are spoken about. We will speak of Abbey for a very long time."
May her memory be a blessing ...
