Barbara Blaze
Born June 18, 1936. Atlantic New Jersey. Barbara Blaze went to prison as a juvenile for murder. When she got out of prison she dedicated her life to helping Junkies. She died from Liver Cancer in the year 2000.
Blaze told me – When you are a fat kid, you are the joke. I wanted more than anything in the world to be a ballerina. but I ended up in the Roller Derby. What else can you become when you look like me? Then came Jail and it was no more tears ever again.
Fuck with me now! Hate became my best friend; it was always there. Now I had a room full of friends who were scared to death of me, saying Anything you want Blaze. The God Mother of Narcotics Anonymous passed away last night. Barbara Blaze from Atlantic City, NJ, has gone on to be with so many other heavy hitters; gone on to that big NA meeting in the sky. She passed with 26 years clean in NA. I wish to pass on to you a poem she wrote:
To All My Clean Babies In NA:
The Junkie Mother.
Now through you….
My dreams can come true….
Remember my years heavy with sorrow….
Make of these years ….
A torch for tomorrow…
Make my past…..
A road to light….
Believe in yourself….
Let none push you down….
Look upward to the stars…
For I will be with you….
Till no one dares keep you down….
The children of a junkie mother…………From Blaze.
May the light from the love she has bestowed on this fellowship,
burn so bright, if the sun never shone again,
we would be warmed by her love.
Hi There, My name is Gillis L. and I live in Regina, Saskatchewan. I was looking for some NA humor……. we are having our twentieth convention and I’m MCing it. That’s why I was looking for some good jokes. On Sept 18/01 I lost a good friend of mine to brain cancer, he lived to do 12 step work and do a lot of 12 step work he did.
So out of curiosity I clicked on the link of addicts that died. …….and once again I seen another friend of mine on your site. That addict was Blaze, I had the privilege and honor to spend about a week with Blaze when she came to Regina to speak at a Convention about 10 years ago.
She spent her entire time with me and my family, she refused to get a hotel room and said to me that she wanted to spend her time here with a family, a real family. Well we had a gas and had some real memorable moments, one in particular was that after the convention on Sunday we went out to the reserve, where I have plenty of relatives and I took her to her first powwow.
She was totally amazed by all the colors and bells and even more so by the heavy beating of the drums. I never really noticed the impact that would have on a person until I lost track of her for a moment I then looked around the tent to see her sitting by some drummers and watching the dancers.
When she looked at me there were tears rolling down her face, she walked slowly over to me and said she has never felt anything like this before in her entire life. I now look at powwows a little differently.
I then got some of friends to come over and meet this women from NewJersey, they had the full native outfits on and we got some picture of her and her new Indian friends. She then asked my friend Dutch, if she could pack him up and take him home. We all had a great laugh.
I then took her to my cousin and introduced her to him, and telling her he was the Grand Chief of all the Indians in the province of Saskatchewan. She was could not believe what she was hearing and then asked him if he was a real Chief.
He started to laugh and asked her where she was from. We a great visit with him and she was so interested to learn about Indians. She then asked him if she could pack him up and take him home. We had another
great laugh.
But the interesting part comes now, When wife then and I parted of course we go through pain and I was staying with my brother. All of a sudden the phone rings: Hello … Hi is Gillis there speaking Gillis, this is Blaze That’s all I needed to hear and I fell apart on the phone,
I told that last night I was so full of pain that didn’t think that I was going to last the night. She told that in the middle of the night she felt that I was in pain and that she had to phone me the following day to find out what was going on. we talked for a long and this what friendship and love the NA way is all about. Thank for posting that picture of her, I love her dearly. Gillis
From: Don F
Date: Mon, Apr 9, 2012 at 1:25 AM
Subject: blaze rip
Chris!
You dont know. me and Im not much for writing but I felt
compelled to do so.
I stumbled upon your page of dead friends and had tears streaming
down my face.I was wondering what ever happened to blaze and googled her name
I have this dreaded disease, Blaze and Greg where my idols.
Greg once shared that WE have a disease that we will all die with but most will
die from. I read his story with 20 days clean and three days later he was the main speaker
at east coast convention 1986 Im clean 5 months now
I almost died from this illness once again. As he said.. dont work the steps as long as you can stand it
Blaze was like a shooting star A one of a kind.. They broke the mold,, What a card
I got to know her some being from jersey.Dutch and Blaze to Jersey like peas to carrots
God Bless you for your kind words of such great trail blazers. My best friend died from this illness
and was 8 days unidentified in morgue.He had 9 years clean at one point.
I went to h and i meeting today. Need to give it away.. as you did for me tonight