Dear Mananya’s friends,
April 22, 2011
00:40 PM in Santa Barbara
This email is about my dear friend Dr Mananya Tantiwiwat, or Nammon (น้ำมนต์) who passed away on April 18, 2011, in Santa Barbara, California.
The Tantiwiwat family has made every attempt during this difficult time to ensure that this email only goes to those who know Mananya. If you feel that you are not related to this matter, please kindly ignore this email or reply with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the first line and your email address will be removed from the list. Please also accept my sincerest apology if you have received this email multiple times.
Now, for the updates …
== MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUNERAL
The funeral will be held at Temple Wat Phra Sri Maha Taat at Bang Khen (วัดพระศรีมหาธาตุบางเขน), Phahol Yothin Rd, Bangkok for 7 days from Sunday April-24 to Sunday May-1. Cremation will take place on May-1. If you are unfamiliar with a Thai-Buddhist style funeral, the following link can provide some insights (Thanks, Bier, for the link):
http://www.theworldunseen.com/Thai_Funeral.asp
Guests should plan arrive at the temple before 6:30 PM. Go to Sala 7 (the 7th pavilion) or ask for Mananya Tantiwiwat’s funeral (thai spelling: มนัญญา ตันติวิวัฒน์). The chanting sessions last about 30 minutes. People normally wear only black and white.
The temple’s location:
http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=wat+phra+sri+maha+taat&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
== MEMENTO CD/DVD
If you want to say something about Mananya, you can write it out (in plain text) or record a short video and send it to:
mananyamemory@gmail.com
It can be as short as a few sentences. It can be as long as few pages. It can be a poem. It can be a scanned image of hand-written messages. It can be in English or Thai or any other human language. Please be sure to put down your name. It will mean SO MUCH for Mananya’s parents and her extended family. 🙂
This will be given to her parents and we may print or include them on Mananya’s memorial CD/DVD (to be determined). Please kindly include your mailing address if you won’t be able to attend the funeral to pick up the CD/DVD. Thank you very much.
== MEMORIAL SERVICE AT UCSB
I will post the pictures of the memorial service at UCSB later. We thank everybody for attending and giving the family a chance to see how much people care about Mananya. We especially thank Prof Thuc-Quyen Nguyen and her colleagues + students for making this happen. You have done so much for Mananya.
== DONATIONS
The following is an updated information on how to make donations to help Mananya’s family offset the treatment/travel/funeral costs, or to support Mananya’s favorite charities:
[*** Way to help #1 ***]
You can send money to Manaya’s parents by transferring money to the Annie’s bank account:
Citibank Checking Account
Name: Teera Chantarojsiri
Account Number 40022408229
Routing Number 321171184
(*NEW*) Checks can be sent to:
Teera Chantarojsiri
PO Box 12151
Berkeley CA 94712-3151
(Payable to “Teera Chantarojsiri”)
You can also use PayPal by sending money to Annie’s account:
teerachan@gmail.com
(Please choose the option “Personal” gift, not as a “Purchase” which would incur a fee.)
All money (100%) will be given to Mananya’s mom and dad to be spent at their discretion. This is NOT a charitable donation and is NOT tax-deductable. Due to the extremely busy schedule of the family, we apologize that we will not be able to provide a receipt. But we will provide a summarized report when the time allows. As of the time of writing, we have received $1,770.00 (USD).
This plan has been approved by Mananya’s parents and Annie herself on April-19, 2011.
[*** Way to help #2 ***]
You can donate directly, in Mananya’s honor, to the following two organizations that Mananya cares deeply about:
1) The Cancer Center of Santa Barbara
https://secure.ccsb.org/donate/
2) The Susan G. Komen for the Cure
http://ww5.komen.org/Donate/Donate.html
The donations to both organizations are tax deductible.
Kayla Nguyen (a friend of Mananya) has organized an event called “Team Nammon-Relay for Life” to support the American Cancer Society. Please see the facebook page for more information:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_201866576513609
The University of California, Santa Barbara is in the process of setting up a fellowship fund in Dr Mananya Tantiwiwat’s honor. Details are emerging. I will keep you updated.
[*** Please note ***]
As a close friend, I know that Mananya would approve the above plan but would DEFINITELY OBJECT and RESIST any attempt to solicit donations in an aggressive manner. Please feel free to publicize this plan to people who care about her but please do not spam people on her behalf. Please keep that in mind. Thank you for your kind and thoughtful support 🙂
== CONFIRMED TRAVEL PLAN
Both Mananya’s body and her family (Mom Sureeya, Dad Manoonsak, and Brother Petch) will travel on the same flight.
Flight: TG795
From: Los Angeles International, Los Angeles, USA
Departing: Friday, April 22, 2011 11:20:00 PM
To: Suvarnabhumi International, Bangkok, Thailand
Arriving: Sunday, April 24, 2011 6:40:00 AM
== GOING TO THE AIRPORT
We welcome anybody who would like to caravan from the McDermott-Crockett Mortuary in Santa Barbara to the Thai Airways Cargo Department in Los Angeles. All the family members and some Thai friends, including Minister Wachira and Ms Somthavil from the Office of Educational Affairs, Royal Thai Embassy, will travel in the same caravan as Mananya. Her father will accompany her in the same vehicle.
If you are in/around Santa Barbara:
You may come to McDermott-Crockett Mortuary (2020 Chapala) at 12:30 PM. We will form a caravan and leave strictly before 1:00 PM for LAX.
If you are in/around Los Angeles:
You may come meet Mananya for the last time at the Thai Airways Cargo (6501 West Imperial Highway, Los Angeles, CA). The estimated time of arrival (ETA) is 3:30 PM, but that may change depending on traffic. There won’t be any formal service or even a casket display. In fact, the space may be very limited. Feel free to show up and give support to the family but please observe all the rules.
You may also show up at a restaurant in Thai Town (exact time and place TBA) as the family will be there after Mananya is sent off to the Thai Airways Cargo.
== DETAILED SCHEDULE FOR THE FAMILY
[ On Friday April 22, 2011 ]
10:15 AM – Ta picks up Mock and Dad, and Dad’s luggage.
10:30 AM – Mock and Dad are at Enterprise-rent-a-car. Ta goes back home.
11:00 AM – Mock rents a minivan or a large SUV. Reservation # 979399111. Mallory has confirmed that at least a minivan will be ready for us (confirmed at 6:50 PM of April-21).
11:30 AM – Mock and Dad will be at Mananya’s Apartment. Mom and Petch will be waiting, ready to board, all luggage ready to load.
11:50 AM – The rental minivan will be at Pam’s apartment, picking up Pam.
12:05 PM – The rental minivan must leave Pam’s apartment.
12:30 PM – The rental minivan must arrive at McDermott-Crockett. All related parties who wish to go along should have arrived for preparation. Provisions for the caravan’s details such as speed and rest stops will be discussed and decided.
12:45 PM – Ta will arrive at McDermott-Crockett with Gift, Minister Wachira, and Ms Somthavil (Sandy).This is the cut-off time for the caravan participants.
12:58 PM – All engines started. All passengers boarded. All cabin doors shut. All seat belts buckled.
Vehicle #1: Mananya, Dad, and the driver from McDermott-Crockett
Vehicle #2: Mock (driver), Mom, Petch, and Pam.
Vehicle #3: Ta (driver), Gift (driver’s driver*), Minister Wachira, Ms Somthavil/Sandy
Vehicle #4-n: whoever shows up by 12:30 PM are welcome! Please carpool if you can.
01:00 PM – All wheels rolled. The destination is at:
Thai Airways Cargo
6501 West Imperial Highway, Los Angeles, CA
(310) 670-8591
03:30 PM +/- 30 mins – All vehicles should have arrived at the Thai Airways Cargo. While the paperwork is being processed (McDermott-Crockett will take care of this), people will have a chance to meet and talk casually. Due to airport’s setting and probably some safety regulations, we will try to keep it quiet and no flowers, no cards, no public speaking. Mananya will be loaded and prepared for the flight. We trust the Thai Airways to do the job. We will respect all the safety rules and will not go into the TSA restricted areas. Mr. Nat/Sutsveta Svetasobhana, the Thai Airways general manager at LAX, agreed to take care of us in every way possible. We hope for a smooth and dignified process.
04:30 PM (or at any convenient time before 05:00 PM) – The family will depart for Thai Town, tentatively Rod Ded Restaurant (ร้านรสเด็ด) (5623 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles) to commemorate Mananya’s favorite cuisine. Warning #1: parking is very tricky. Warning #2: food is so good that you would have to come back every weekend.
07:00 PM – Mock (driver), Mom, Petch, and others will drive from Thai Town back to LAX.
08:20 PM – Everyone arrives at LAX international terminal, Thai Airways counter.
11:20 PM – TG795 takes off.
[ On Sunday, April 24, 2011, Thailand’s time. ]
06:40 AM – TG795 arrives at BKK (Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand). The sacred journey of Mananya will have taken her back to her motherland.
From then on, I will leave the job of organizing and coordinating everything to Mananya’s family in Thailand. I will miss hear dearly. 🙂
With Best, Best Regards, and Lots of Love,
– mock
(Panuakdet Suwannatat)
cell: 1-805-450-7320*
P.S.:
*Urgent matters only, please. Already 1,790 airtime minutes and counting! Also, already 2 big bags of cough drops and counting. Gladly, I “inherited” some great-tasting cough drops from Mananya (with her parent’s permission). Even now, she continues to help me. 😀