Lea Froman (nee Kahn) 28.02.1966 – 15.12.2020
It is with the heaviest heart that we are forced to acknowledge the loss of one of Earth’s angels, our beloved founder, Lea Froman. Those of us who were blessed to have known and loved Lea will never forget her twinkling blue eyes; that amazing smile; the lilt of her Dutch-tinged voice; the soft touch of her gentle hands; her endless kindness; her authenticity; her warm embrace; her love of yoga, dance, poetry and nature; her enjoyment of a simple Hout Bay sunset; her delight at taking a walk on the beach hand-in-hand with her much-loved husband, Dave, and their dogs; her adventurous free spirit; how she jumped at the opportunity to sail across the Atlantic; and how she nurtured our souls with her spiritual teachings and our stomachs with her wholesome food. Nor will we ever forget the image of her balancing effortlessly on her paddle board, her then white-blonde head thrust back, as she laughed with joy at the dolphin that breached the water to greet her. Lea’s aura was magnetic. Those who loved her, strangers, even dolphins, wanted a part of her joie de vivre, had to get to know her better, closer, more. She lived to do only good in this world and she touched the lives of all she met. She strived for a life of purpose and she really showed us what a life of purpose means:
We are here to love and to be loved. There is nothing more.
Lea loved deeply and widely. Her greatest loves were her husband, Dave; her three wonderful daughters, Jamie-Lee, Jessie and Gili-Jo; her parents, Hilde and Dennis; her brother, Jonah; her late sister, Jessie; her wider family; and her friends. But she also loved all of humanity. She joined and formed many community groups in her desire to bring people together to find commonality and work together for the greater good. Her latest effort has been the love she spread through her founding of Courage, which has recently merged with Gracie to form the aptly named Love-in-a-bowl.
The root of the word “Courage” is cor – the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.” Lea told her whole heart when she launched Courage in April this year, on the eve of her first round of serious invasive surgery to try to beat her pancreatic cancer. She said then that she had no fear, as she knew how loved and supported she was in her battle to survive her greatest challenge, and that she was launching Courage as she wanted to support the hungry of Hout Bay, so that they, too, could face life without fear in their battle against the myriad of challenges spawned by Covid-19. Lea’s Courage played a critical role in the lives of so many in the Hout Bay community during lockdown. It supported and sustained tens of thousands of needy families by providing them with meals. Now, through Love-in-a-bowl, and the amazing food gardens they have created, the aim is for Lea’s Courage to continue to feed the hungry for as long as they are in need.
Anais Nin wrote that “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage”. When faced with life’s toughest challenge, Lea chose love and courage over fear: she chose to put her energy into working to nourish and sustain others, rather than turning inward, and through her inspirational efforts to help others, and to eliminate hunger, her soul truly grew, and her life expanded exponentially. She became the teacher, the inspiration, the wise, the healer of herself and others: she provided love in a bowl to those in need.
This is what Lea was all about. She was all love and loved by all.
She will never be forgotten. She will always be missed. She will remain forever in our hearts.
Lea may have passed on to another, hopefully better, world, but her spirit lives on forever in this world through all of us, her utterly heartbroken family, and the thousands of people whose lives she has touched.