Anne McCaffrey grave site

Anne McCaffrey grave site

My sister sent these two of Mum’s gravesite, so I figured I’d share them with you.

[Update: 22 November 2013] I’ve added the photograph of Mum’s new headstone which will be erected on the gravesite shortly.

[Update: 26 December 2013] Here are the photos I took when I first arrived in Ireland on the 3rd of December. I went straight from the airport to the grave (I was surprised I’d remembered the way – I’d only been there a few times). Isn’t it gorgeous? Didn’t Gigi do Mum proud?

32 Replies to “Anne McCaffrey grave site”

  1. Anne provided many wonderful hours of good reading and many vicarious trips to Pern. She will be missed. My condolence.

  2. I have read Anne’s book on Pern over and over. Anne will live on in all her works. Bravo Anne you did a wonderful thing in writing Pern. I imagine a lot of people who have read Pern may feel like they were on Pern flying dragons.

  3. A lovely resting place for a remarkable woman. I especially love the dragon at her feet. I have followed her journey through the Pern universe for the past 40 years, and have revisited it time and again. Her legacy is timeless. Thank you for sharing a touching moment with her “fan family”. God bless

  4. Todd
    My sincerest condolences on the loss of your remarkable mother. How often I enjoyed the fruits of her talent. May you find joy in remembering her as the beautiful soul she was. Now she no longer battles the infirmity of her age. She soars with dragons.
    With deepest sympathies of your double loss this summer.
    Linda

  5. What a great woman, She will be missed! I was introduced to her books by my 4th grade Librarian and loved her from the moment I read the first line of Dragon Song. I am now reading Sky Dragons some 36 years later, and feel the same as I did at 9! Keep writing Todd, you have done your mother proud!!!

  6. Thank you for sharing the pictures, especially the one showing the sleeping cat at her head and the dragon at her feet. I understand your sorrow over her death. I have buried both my parents some time ago. The pain does fade in time as the happy memories overshadow it if you let them. I am glad (and I’m sure she is) that you will carry on her dragon books.

  7. I was surprised and saddened to hear of Anne’s passing. I bet she is up in heaven flying one of her marvelous dragons! Rest in Peace Anne, and Todd, thank you for sharing with us and for continuing on with the Pern series.

  8. Just read that Sally Ride, the first US woman to journey into space died recently. If I am not mistaken she was also a great fan of your mom’s. So sad that they both are now gone. But they will never be forgotten!

    God Bless,
    Susan Hokama

  9. Todd,
    When I think of your mother’s passing, I have an image of her characters waiting for her on the other side, with Robinton in the forefront. If I was an artist, I’d try to paint it myself, but I’m not… would it be possible to get someone to do a painting of it?

  10. Scott,

    I don’t know, it’d certainly be cool, wouldn’t it?

    Come to think of it, you can get something similar with the cover of Robin Woods’ brilliant People of Pern.

  11. Susan,

    I couldn’t help thinking that quite possibly there’s a really, really neat science fiction convention going on up in Heaven.

    — Todd

  12. Todd
    I have loved your mother’s books ( and yours) since the first one was published – I also lost my mother this fall and know the emptiness that there is. Thank you and your family for sharing your mother with the rest of us. we loved her a lot and will miss her more than you can know. While I loved her Pern books – The Lady was the one that was my favorite. She will always have a special place in my heart. God Bless!
    TJ

  13. A new flower blooms in the field and it sees the light and knows its time to shine and reaches for the light.
    A new star shines in the night blazing to reach you, filling the night sky.
    god gave to you,
    A Flowered road to soften your walk to him.
    A star to guild your steps, to a him, who is needing you.

  14. Todd, I have spent from November of 2011 till now trying to find this way of contacting you with my sincere condolences for the loss of your mom, but I would like to lighten your grief by relating to you the story of a dream i had just one week before she passed. It started out with my family and I traveling to Ireland just to meet her and you, (A fan’s wish to meet the greatest lady of Sci fi and her son) but when we arrived at Dragonhold we were pleasantly informed that we just had to stay for dinner(i know wishful thinking lol) During the course of this dinner she and I had a great discussion on what we both liked about hers and your stories from Pern. In this dream you and I went outside for me to be able to smoke (yes i know a nasty habit i’m trying to stop) when we came back inside we found Anne and my new grand daughter Raven, playing while still at the table. And the delightful smiles they both had made us both laugh out loud. when your mom finally was getting worn out by my little angel, she smiled so warmly at Raven that Raven leaned and in and kissed her on the cheek. Then we were preparing to depart your mom decided that she just had to have a picture of here and Raven. So we set a nice shot up and took the picture which I gave my camera to you so you could immediately download it to her computer. which you did and then set it up as a wallpaper for her. then we all hugged and wished each other Happy Holidays. Then I woke up, with a big smile on my face. Sadly, because of my work schedule, my plan to send this to your mom was delayed until it was too late. But your mom’s work on Pern and other stuff has so influenced my life that I now read from her books to my Granddaughter whenever i can, I’ll make sure she is as much a fan of your mom’s as I am!
    Sincerely,
    D.S.Kemp

  15. Thank you for photos. Have, and are, enjoying the Dragon series so much. God bless Anne on a continuing wonderful journey of LOVE and LIGHT. Vanessa

  16. Anne McCaffrey was one of the first series of books I’ve purchased through out my reading life. I’ve read her books over and over each time finding something new and wondrous in them.

    I thank you and your family for loaning her to us, her fans, during all her writing “trips” and for the opportunity of becoming a part of life at Pern.

    Deepest sympathy for you and your family. Over all, I now thank you for following in her wonderful footsteps and continuing with her legacy. Thank you and as we say at home “Dios los Bendiga hoy, mañana y siempre!”

    Julie Ann

  17. To Todd and the rest of the McCaffery Family,
    I offer my most sincere condolences. Anne quite honestly saved my life when I was a teenager. Through her books I lived in a world where differences were celebrated, where it was the exception to the rule for someone different to be looked down upon, and where everyone strove to be the best they could be for the good of all. I shed tears, laughed aloud and was instantly shushed for it while in the library, and I yearned for the chance to see a dragon aloft. I sang through out elementary school and high school, and was often told that I had too much of a rasp, or gravely quality to my voice, and though I was pitch perfect I would never place well beyond the local competition. I shared my heart break with Killishandra, and never stopped singing. My children think quite highly of it in fact. I am in my late thirties now, and for nearly 3/4 of my life, I have felt like I have known at least a little piece of your mother. Her books all of them, not just the Dragonriders have inspired me, uplifted me, and helped me dream. Thank you for continuing the histories of Pern, and thank you for sharing your mother with any and all of us throughout the years.

    Dragons fly, go between.
    Feel the cold on dragon wing.
    Fighting thread to save our lives,
    Flying high with fire-y strides.

  18. I grew up with her stories of the great dragons of Pern and their riders and have quite a few of her books, including a printing of Dragonflight from 1968 –> http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/327/9/1/918d332ca1818008c45fbf4a300f27dc-d4h3bkc.png I actually knew one of her great nephews, Joseph Michael McCaffery, I went to high school with him in Lakewood Washington. I was very sad to hear of Anne’s passing, but she lived such a long and full life, I can’t help but be happy for her as well. I think it’s very fitting that the original true Dragon Lady is guarded in her rest by a cat and a dragon. May she forever fly on the wings of the dragons she loved so much. http://leathurkatt.deviantart.com/journal/Rest-in-Peace-Lady-Dragon-Rider-270564574

  19. My condolences on the loss of your mother. I was fortunate enough to discover her books over 30 years ago. I have read and re-read each one, discovering something new in each read. The picture of her grave being guarded by a cat and a dragon is so very appropriate. The dragon lady of Earth is well guarded and very much loved.

  20. ‘Skitty at her head, and one of her dragons at her feet… This is a beautiful set of photos, and what a great woman like Anne deserves. *love*

  21. I was 15 when I first discovered Pern. Your mom has been my favorite author ever since. I truly enjoy your writing as well Todd. I have so many questions I have always wanted to ask. I am so sorry I kept putting them off thinking it would be a bother to answer them all for your mom. When I found out your mom had passed I cried all day as though a beloved of my own had passed. I am now 39 and I keep checking for any new Pern books. I hope you keep in good writing mode. Thank You.

  22. Deepest sympathy…she was and is much loved! Hopefully they have dragons in the afterlife!

  23. Quite simply my most favourite of all books just re-reading the Crystal Singer for the 100th time. Helva the best spaceship ever, Rowan, Damia and the kids. Jaxom and the White dragon. They have all been my friends at one time or another.

    I owe your mum so many hours of peace and contentment. She may be at rest – her books will never be.

    Graham

  24. Something drew me to your site today. I just ‘needed’ a Pern moment I guess. I met Anne McCaffrey in the early 80’s here in Pittsburgh at Amy Kellman’s home. She was the head of children’s services for the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh at that time. She had invited me – a young African American children’s librarian, whom she had turned on to the wonders of Pern, to dinner to meet the wonderful Anne McCaffrey. I remember her white hair and the streaks of green and blue dyes she had put in ‘just for fun’. She signed all my little paperbacks and answered my questions and it was the highlight of my reading life. She was so kind and patient to me. The next evening at a community event, she specifically mentioned me to the gathering of dragon lovers as a new friend. Over the years I have followed my Pern friends and their adventures. I relish these stories and continue to want a fire lizard of my very own. I will miss your mum. And I will continue to cherish how her world has become a part of my world. Thank you.

  25. Sincere condolences to you and your family. I still find it a shock when I think about it.

    My family and I are all avid readers of your Mum’s books and now yours as well. My boyfriend introduced me to Pern in 1978 when I was 15. I identified with Lessa as my father left home when I was 11 and I had to run the household. The stories kept me going. Getting married young (having found my F’lar), I have since grown up with Lessa, and aged along with her! It was very dear to my heart how bonded they are right to the end and realise how lucky I am.

    Two of my children are named after Damia’s children (Jeran and Cera) We spelled it Ciara but she insisted on using Cera when she first went to school! I wrote to your mum (about a year before she died) to say how happy I was to see a character with dyslexia in Dragon’s Kin as my third child (now 20) had wrestled with severe dyslexia. The school would not recognise it or support her so she applied and succeeded becoming a member of Mensa. Desperate to read the Damia series we started her off with Damia on Audio tape – and she managed the rest. She went on to get 11 GCSE’s and study English Literature at A level even though teachers said it was too hard. Your mum has been an inspiration to many.

    Your mum very kindly emailed back and said she would try to get a really feisty determined girl character in her next book. I am looking forward to reading Sky Dragons and the book the executors are holding – just in case! Many Blessings Siaran

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