Funeral Service for Douglas David Jardine

I had just attended his lecture once and was looking forward to more. No death is timely, but Douglas’s departure surely leaves many of us regretful they can no longer learn from his vast and insightful knowledge.

R.I.P Douglas.

My life has been so enriched by my doug. He was my teacher and soul mate. He was the most beautiful person I will ever know. I am truly heartbroken. He lived out his dreams which is an amazing feat, and healed the world at the same time. Life will not be the same without doug in it.

In 2006, Mr. Robert Boulden at Bookworm in Hanoi introduced me to meet an artist from the States. I never forget my first impression of meeting Douglas Jardine, a very tall man, talking, smiling and his face and body gesture seems to be always in action. Anyone who meets Douglas would definitely have an impression of the friendliness, the sense of animated humor and comfortable feeling to be around.

After that day, Douglas and I agree to have the exhibition together at Bookworm called “Black and White”. The exhibition turned out to be a great project, even though our works are so different, we come to realize how much we had in common in the way we process our work. And with that process, we grow to learn and to get to know each other.

After that exhibition, we became really good friends and our friendship are much closer after many times of having coffee, eating noodle and sharing images of our works at the Viet Art Café on Yet Kieu street. Douglas has shared with me many stories of his travel, in which I never forget how much he loved India. He inspired me to travel and explore this country. With his voice, his gestures, his way of communication and all the stories, I can’t stop laughing so hard with his charming sense of humor.

Douglas is very knowledgeable person. And amazingly, he knows so much about the history of Hanoi after all his research on the Long Bien Bridge, on the history of my country. With his amazing photos of Long Bien bridge, Hanoi, and many others, I feel this man has put his heart into anything he does. Douglas truly does what he loves and loves what he does.

Last year, Douglas and his wife Huong came to my exhibition and we were both chatting, talking about when to meet again. He even documented a lot of photos of my works at the show, and still trying to make up a time to meet, so that he could send me the photos.

I met him at times at Troy University where we both teach, and each time I glanced through his class, I see a Douglas passionately walking up and down, with his hands, his face, talking passionately with students. No wonder why my students told me how much he enjoyed his classes very much.

I have been spending the last few days trying to make sense of what happen. It is a shock for me to accept the fact that a very dear friend is leaving and we haven’t said goodbye. I feel very sad, because someone so young, so talented, and so knowledgeable who contributes so much for life has left us very suddenly. And we all miss him very much.

To Douglas, thank you for being a wonderful friend to me, a great teacher. Thank you for your inspiration, your laugh, your smile and your wonderful heart. We will miss you and you will always in our hearts.