Camille Minichino, my dear friend of nearly 46 years, died Monday, May 6, 2024. She was companion, colleague, mentor, teacher, ally, and more to me and many many others. By any measure, she was an amazing person, one in a million, and will be sorely missed. It's hard to put thoughts into words at this point, so instead, I'll share a letter that was sent to those on her snail-mail "Christmas list." Below the letter, I'll add links to tributes, obituaries, etc., as I find them. If you come across any postings/articles, feel free to contact me and I will add them.
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| Camille Minichino, Ph.D. June 3, 1937 – May 6, 2024 |
Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues of Camille Minichino,
It is with sorrow we are informing you that Camille passed away on Monday, May 6, 2024, after a brief illness. What follows is an overview of her life, which in no way captures the amazing totality of a life "well and truly lived."
Born in Revere, Massachusetts, in June 1937, to Joseph and Helen Avallone Minichino, Camille was the first of two daughters; sister Arlene Minichino Polinene predeceased her. Camille often related how her father, a laborer, introduced her first to the joys of mathematics by showing her how to measure, multiply, and divide. After graduating from Revere High School, her love of mathematics and physics grew at Emmanuel College where several sisters took her under their wings and nurtured and encouraged her intellect and scientific curiosity. At the urging of these role models, Camille graduated with a B.A. in Mathematics in 1958. She then joined the Sisters of Notre Dame, where she remained for 18 years, and attended Fordham University, New York City, where she carried out experimental physics research in spectroscopy and obtained a Ph.D. in Physics in 1968, one of three women in a department of nearly 80 students. After leaving the order, she moved to California, and during her 30-year career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory worked in high-temperature, high-pressure physics, provided technical support to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in pre- and post-Three Mile Island, and consulted at commercial reactors throughout the country. She also worked on problems of nuclear waste management and co-authored a book on the subject in 1982 (Nuclear Waste Management Abstracts, with Richard Heckman).
As an educator and professor, Camille developed and taught physics, mathematics, philosophy, critical thinking, and interdisciplinary courses at all levels. She served on numerous academic faculties: Golden Gate University, San Francisco; Emmanuel College, Boston; St. John’s College, Boston; Dominican University, San Rafael, California; and John F. Kennedy University, Orinda, California. She also developed and taught writing classes and workshops at community colleges and through various writers’ organizations, including Emeritus College (Diablo Valley College), California Writers Club, and Sisters in Crime (an organization for mystery readers and writers). Which brings us to the third part of her professional journey…
Camille is the author of nearly 30 published mystery novels, plus numerous short stories and articles in both technical and popular magazines and websites. Her mystery series included The Periodic Table Mysteries, The Miniature Mysteries, the Professor Sophie Knowles Mysteries, The Postmistress Mysteries, The Alaskan Diner Mysteries, and the Sister Francesca Mystery.
She loved See's Candies, a well-crafted, bone dry, whole milk decaf cappuccino, Amici's margherita pizza (hold the sauce!), designing and creating "miniature" scenes and dollhouses, watching movies (especially The Godfather), throwing parties (including gatherings to celebrate the Academy Awards, Fourth of July, New Year's Eve, and birthdays), reading across the spectrum of fiction and nonfiction, and supporting her artistic friends by buying their jewelry, knit items, and crafts. She also was there to raise a hand when the call went out for volunteers for all the myriad organizations she belonged to, or when a friend, family member, or student needed a hand or a listening ear or just wanted to grab an ice cream cone and a chat at the nearby Loard's Ice Cream Parlor. Although she lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 50 years, she still considered herself a "New Yorker," and regular trips to the Big Apple, with its museums and bookstores, helped feed her city-soul.
On her blog site, The Real Me, Camille described herself as follows: "I've been a factory worker, a translator, a teacher, an experimental physicist, a nuclear safeguards engineer, a writer, a waitress, a miniaturist, a paralegal, a nun, a minister, a short order cook, a ticket taker, an editor, a crafter, and a cotton candy twirler... plus a wife."
No overview of Camille's life is complete without acknowledging the deep devotion she shared with her husband, Richard (Dick) Rufer. Camille and Dick met at "The Lab" and married in 1977. Dick was, without question, the great love of her life. They watched movies together, conspired on solving crossword, acrostic, and jigsaw puzzles and creating cryptoquotes. Camille often fondly referred to Dick as her "24/7 tech support" and/or "The Cable Guy." He was the inspiration for her book How to Live with an Engineer. Over their nearly half-century of marriage, they exchanged nightly love-notes. Dick was always there for her, and she for him. Dick predeceased Camille by two months, shattering her world. Although her death certificate states a medical cause of death, all who knew Camille and supported her for those months after Dick's death know that she really died of a broken heart.
Camille is survived by a number of cousins and second cousins, and by legions of friends, colleagues, and students.
Yours in shared joy at having had Camille in our lives,
A small committee of Camille's friends
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LINKS AND OTHER TRIBUTES
- Mystery Fanfare: Camille Minichino, R.I.P.
- Camille Minichino obituary in:
- The East Bay Times
- The Independent
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's In Memoriam
Thank you, mystery author Gabriel Valjan, for creating the lovely visual tribute below that captures all of Camille's mystery titles...
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| Credit: Gabriel Valjan |
My heart breaks for you, Ann. I know what good friends and traveling buddies you were. xoxo
ReplyDeleteStill trying to deal with her death. An incredibly caring and talented person. The world truly is diminished by her loss.
ReplyDeleteHi Dani and Priscilla...
ReplyDeleteThank you for your hearfelt comments. It's been a very very difficult week for me and for so many others. May she live long in the memories and hearts of us all.
May you find comfort that she is at peace in her God's heaven!!
DeleteA wonderful tribute, Ann. She was, indeed, a special person. God broke the mold, as they say.
ReplyDeleteWhat a touching tribute. I will revisit her books with a whole new understanding.
ReplyDeleteShe was sui genesis, one of a kind. Cheerful, supportive and always digging in her purse for a little gift to give a friend. I will miss her. Special condolences to you Ann who was always at her side.
ReplyDeleteI'm very sorry to hear this. She was always so generous and helpful to other writers. At least I got to see her one last time at the 2023 Bouchercon in San Diego. Here's a link to a photo with Camille, you, Cara, Robin and me (via Google Drive):
ReplyDeletehttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1wsPEFPOR0ApELqy34hD27L5snderSYZJ/view?usp=sharing
Such a lovely woman and great loss to us all. My thanks for sharing how many she touched in this world, Ann
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, Ann. This is so sad. Thank you for capturing the flavor and sparkle of Camille's life. Thank you for a good and caring friend to her.
ReplyDeleteAnn - a beautiful and touching homage reflecting Camille's multifaceted brilliance.
ReplyDeleteHer memory will be a blessing as was her life.
Thank you all for your comments... Camille will live on through everyone's memories (and photos! Thank you, Mark, for the link.). She is much missed by many...
ReplyDeleteAnn, I've never met you but I thank you for sending the letter regarding Camille's death. I received it just 2 hours ago and I wrote a comment on this particular site (I think) but I don't see it now. Perhaps it will show up once it's vetted.
ReplyDeleteM.C.B.
Hello M.C.B.,
ReplyDeleteGlad you got the letter; that was actually a group effort, getting it written and sent out.
I don't see a comment waiting for approval/moderation, so perhaps you commented somewhere else?
Thank you for getting in touch here...
- Ann
Ann, here is what I thought I had posted under "Anonymous". .Thank you for your reply.
ReplyDeleteAnonymousMay 28, 2024 at 3:27 PM
In the first 10 minutes of meeting Camille Minichino, I was both crushed and elated. Here was a person my age... we were both in our mid 20s and living in a house of studies...but she had read The Divine Comedy in Italian, quoted Saint Augustine constantly in Latin, was working on lasers for her doctorate, and had highly opinionated views of classical music and urban culture whereas I had never read The Divine Comedy, had read only Augustine's confessions in English, was struggling with medieval English literature, loved pop music and some classical music, and barely knew the bus lines in New York City let alone anything else about Urban culture. But I was lucky enough to have months of late night conversations with Camille who had amazing energies despite staying up so late night after night and I learned to love Dante and learned much about religious life and lasers, tons of inside jokes about science, Italian food, and kindness (she talked to me into going to a movie with a friend of hers who had lost his girlfriend and somehow assured him that it was a very pleasant experience for me... I told her she owed me big after that).
I lost touch with her for some 25 years and when I reconnected I was again impressed that she had moved from her field of physics to that of a mystery writer and, no surprise, she was so successful in that enterprise. I will miss Camille enormously. She was not just a friend or a learned woman or a poet or a mystery writer. She was a profound experience.
M.C.B. (the friend whom Camille named her Sister Francesca character after).
Hello M.C.B. -- Thank you so much for sharing your memories of Camille! She was a woman of many talents and many "lives" (so to speak)... That's wonderful that Sister Francesca was named after you! Camille did love to populate her fiction with her friends' names! :-)
ReplyDelete