Juliana Hess Ramalho Ortigao

IN LOVING MEMORY
JULIANA HESS RAMALHO ORTIGAO
born 07/02/2008 - died 03/03/2019

It is with unfathomable sorrow that we communicate the loss of Juliana Hess Ramalho-Ortigao, which occurred on 3 March 2019 after a year-long battle against DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontice Glioma). Juliana was born 2 July 2008 in Fort Collins where her family resides. She first attended Global Village Academy (GVA), transferring to Ridgeview Classical Schools for the start of 3rd grade. She was last enrolled in Mrs. Stephens 5th grade class at Ridgeview. Juliana also swam with the Fort Collins Area Swim Team (FAST) with the Hammerhead level class for 9-to-11 year-olds. Juliana was a very vivacious, curious, sassy, and loving child. She loved animals and the outdoors, especially visits to Rocky Mountain National Park in the company of Fred the family dog. Juliana enjoyed biking and camping. She loved reading and storytelling, and was affectionate of fantasies and drama. Juliana is survived by her parents, Marcelo Ramalho Ortigao and Tanja M Hess, her brother Felipe, and her large extended family in Brazil, Portugal, the USA, and Germany, including both grandmothers, uncles, aunts (including Amelia and Nedda Ramalho Ortigao), cousins, and many of her dearest friends in Colorado, Maryland, California, North Carolina, Virginia, and overseas.

In the words of British theologian, Richard Rooker:

[Think of]…your child, not as dead, but as living; not as a flower that has withered, but as one that is transplanted, and touched by a Divine hand blooming in richer colors and sweeter shades than those of earth.

Juliana's legacy will remain through the establishment of a scholarship award fund for 4th and 5th graders at Ridgeview Classical Schools, and a swimming award at FAST, with details forthcoming. Donations to either scholarships will be accepted. Additionally, donation in Juliana's behalf can be made to MarcJr Foundation ( https://marcjr.org ) and to be directed to research and/or activities associated with family support for children suffering from DIPG.

Death is nothing at all
By Henry Scott-Holland
I have only slipped away to the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect.
Without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?

I am but waiting for you.
For an interval.
Somewhere. Very near.
Just around the corner.

All is well.

Nothing is past; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before only better, infinitely happier and forever we will all be one together with Christ.


Other commentaries
IN MEMORIAM

Today is a sad day and no amount of eloquence can make it less so. Ridgeview is without one of her Hoplites and she shall never be given back. The passing of Juliana Hess Ramalho Ortigao, an exceptional child by any measure, was perhaps most exceptional owing to her unrelenting good cheer. If ever there were a student who has exhibited all of those categories that we deem most important under the most extreme duress, it is hard to call to mind a person more fitting of our esteem than Juliana.

She came to us in third grade and made a home for herself in Miss Belsterling's class. In the midst of her myriad treatments, Juliana returned to Ridgeview and waited in the hallway for a break in class in hopes of giving Miss Belsterling a hug. Over the course of the next two years, Juliana would be in Mrs. Roebuck's and Mrs. Stephens' classes, and her affection for these teachers was no less than she had had for Miss Belstering. She loved school. She loved her teachers. She never wanted to be away, and I can think of no one for whom the simple act of attending could possibly have been more of a challenge.

If Juliana's sense of humor ever flagged, we never knew it. She loved Calvin and Hobbes. She volunteered for things freely and participated gladly. She wanted to know everyone and easily gave her friendship to anyone willing to listen, play, or laugh with her. She adored dancing and was free enough in her spirit to sing aloud in the car on the way to school with her carpool friends. She loved her dog, Fred. And, she loved to read stories. She read The Land of Stories and Finding Gobi with her father, and Mrs. Roebuck, Mrs. Nichols, and Mrs. Stephens. She even went on the radio station at the hospital and spoke to the other children in Latin. She loved the water and participated on the swim team.

Seneca wrote that "Light griefs are communicative, great ones stupefy." The loss of a child is a great grief that cannot but stupefy. We are wont to say, "This is unimaginable," but our stupefaction lies in the very fact that it is imaginable. We are hurting because we can imagine how profound the loss to Juliana's family and friends must be, and we know something of what Juliana brought to our lives in the short time we were permitted to be with her. That time was a privilege and an honor, and our school and our world are less for her loss.

Now, we must be here for her family and for her friends. This place that she loved, loved her. It will continue to do so even in death, and though we shall grieve and mourn her passing, we shall also recall to mind those happy moments Juliana has left us with, the incredible courage she showed in facing her circumstances, and the enthusiasm she brought to all she did. We shall preserve our memory of her by emulating those aspects of her character that she had the fortitude to exhibit under the most unforgiving of circumstances. Our thoughts and our prayers are with her and her family.

Juliana Hess Ramalho Ortigao (2008-2019)
Requiescat in pace


Below is a transcript from a text written by Ridgeview's Principal

"…While those of you who knew Juliana will rightfully feel privileged at having known her, those of you who did not should know that she was a vibrant, curious, and cheerful girl who attended Ridgeview from 2016 until this illness made it utterly impossible for her to continue attending. She was just ten years old, but the courage with which she faced her tragic circumstances, and the perseverance she exhibited in continuing to come to school for as long as she could, shows her to have been everything we could have wanted from one of our own.

In thinking of Juliana, I was reminded of a line from Addison who wrote, "Though I am always serious, I do not know what it is to be melancholy." In the moments that I shared with Juliana, I found her to be serious about school, about books, about animals, about her love and respect for her teachers. As disease [DIPG] strangled her body, I never witnessed a melancholic moment. She was strong and her parents were strong. It is now our turn to be as strong."

Derek Anderson
Principal
Ridgeview Classical Schools