Miffany Ann (Miffy) Colby

COLBY, SAYRE, WILCOX, GINSBERG, GENNET, EVANS

Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 11/14/2022 at 11:41:32

Miffany Ann (Miffy) Colby, 57, died unexpectedly of cardiac arrythmia on October 26, 2022.

Her legal name was Anglicized from the family heritage name, 'Myfanwy,' given by her Welsh paternal grandmother, Enid.

Miffy graduated from Iowa City High School in 1983. Unfortunately, she suffered from disabling mental illness from her teenage years onward. She endured an odyssey of stays in psychiatric hospitals and inpatient facilities, punctuated by extended periods of better health when she could live more independently in apartments or group homes. Amazingly, she made the best of her circumstances. During periods of stability, Miffy’s wonderful qualities re-emerged: her intelligence, imagination, sense of humor, kind heart, and generosity. Ultimately, the toll of her chronic mental illness compromised her physical health and shortened her life.

Miffy loved animals. She was fortunate to have two cats, Buster and Bella, during the times she lived independently. She relished updates about her family’s pets, too. Miffy enjoyed watching comedies and nature programs. She also loved music and art. She cherished visits to her parents' homes and the Refle family farm in Clayton County.

Miffy had recently moved to the Solon Nursing Care Center after the closure of the Grinnell Care Center, her previous residence. Her parents thank the nurses and staff at the care centers and also Grinnell Regional Medical Center, Allen Hospital in Waterloo, and the University of Iowa Hospitals during her recent hospitalizations for serious infections. Over her lifetime, innumerable medical staff, health aides, social workers, and other professionals cared for Miffy with compassion and skill. Her family is deeply grateful to them all. They are also grateful for Social Security and Medicaid, two public programs crucial for supporting many people’s basic needs, Miffy included.

Miffany is survived by her parents, Dr. Anthony Colby and Hutha Sayre; her sister, Jen Colby (Rich Wilcox) and her stepsiblings Gordon Sayre (Marsha Ginsberg), Nathan Sayre (Sasha Gennet), and Laura Sayre (Michael Evans). Miffy was preceded in death by her stepfather, Robert Sayre. She is also survived by numerous cousins, aunts, uncles, extended and chosen family and friends. Miffy had an especially close relationship with her aunt, Marie Colby.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date. Donations in her memory may be made to the Iowa City Friends of the Animal Center Foundation, CommUnity Crisis Services, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Johnson County. Acts of service and kindness to people and animals in need in her honor are also appreciated. Condolences may be shared at www.lensingfuneral.com.

A POEM BY THE DOCTOR/POET WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS SPEAKS TO THE MOMENT:

The Yellow Flower
"What shall I say, because talk I must?
That I have found a cure for the sick?
I have found no cure for the sick but this crooked flower which only to look upon all men are cured.
This is that flower, for which all men sing secretly their hymns of praise. This is that sacred flower!
Can this be so? A flower so crooked and obscure?
It is a mustard flower, a single spray topping the deformed stem of fleshy leaves in this freezing weather under glass.
An ungainly flower and an unnatural one, in this climate; what can be the reason that it has picked me out to hold me,
openmouthed, rooted before this window in the cold, my will drained from me so that I have only eyes for these yellow, twisted petals?
That the sight, though strange to me, must be a common one, is clear: there are such flowers with such leaves native to some climate which they can call their own.
Buy why the torture and the escape through the flower?
It is as if Michelangelo had conceived the subject of his Slaves from this--or might have done so.
And did he not make the marble bloom?
I am sad as he was sad in his heroic mood.
But also I have eyes that are made to see and if they see ruin for myself and all that I hold dear,
they see also through the eyes and through the lips and tongue the power to free myself and speak of it, as Michelangelo through his hands had the same, if greater, power.
Which leaves, to account for, the tortured bodies of the slaves themselves and the tortured body of my flower which is not a mustard flower at all but some unrecognized and unearthly flower for me to naturalize and acclimate...and choose it for my own."
Our beloved Miffy was that sacred flower.

Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
 

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