TRISH PEARLMAN, ASH
Remembering A Curious Collection
by Judith Freeman, ASH
On Friday, May 26, 2006, the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes lost a sister and I lost a friend when Trish Pearlman died of a stroke after a long struggle with cancer.
Being an Adventuress gave Trish great joy. She chose “A Curious Collection” as her investiture—that title described her well, for Trish was a multi-faceted person, a collection of many interests and abilities.
It was on the buffet line at the Baskerville Bash of 2000 that I first met Trish and her husband Jay. We worked together throughout the rest of that year on the Bash program for the following birthday weekend. The success of “This Is Your Life, Hugo The Hound” was due in no small part to their theatrical experience.
Trish’s wit and skill as a writer was evident in her contributions to Bash scripts and the Serpentine Muse, as well as the toasts and papers she contributed to ASH dinners and other scion events. Her “Interview with The Master” was the winning entry in the 2004 ASH Birthday Challenge.
Trish and Jay were active members of the Montague Street Lodgers of Brooklyn. At one meeting Jay demonstrated the use of stage makeup by applying a beard and mustache to Trish until she resembled one of the Smith Brothers (right). They also ran the Mini Tonga Society together. The computer-generated newsletter they produced for the society had a professional panache made possible by Trish’s skill in computer technology.
The Mini Tonga Society brought out her other creative abilities. She not only made miniatures, she would crochet and/or knit little things for the furniture she made. Only a devoted miniaturist would crochet doilies smaller than a dime.
But it was her warmth, her sense of humor, and her wide range of interests that made our long-winded conversations such a pleasure. I shall miss them. I shall especially miss hearing her answer the phone with (in her particular drawl) “Hiya, sugar.”
