Tara McCarthy tribute

Much loved ABC Producer Tara McCarthy died last week while in France. radioinfo has been sent this tribute to her life by Katie McCarthy Serotkin.

It is with infinite sadness that we have been notified that Tara T. McCarthy died in Vannes, France.

Tara had recently been diagnosed with a faulty heart valve. She died in
her sleep a few days before she was scheduled for a hospital procedure.

Tara adored life, being with others, laughing, and savoring everything. But mostly, she loved people: all sorts of people: particularly you, her
friends. The interest and joy she enjoyed in you is your intelligence,
humor, compassion, and clear sense – and a shared passion for life.

Her family is desolate. When you hear a good joke and think “Tara will
love this!” -that is how we miss Tara, every moment.

Her coffin will be covered with bougainvillea, for Australia,
evergreens for Canada, roses and asparagus fern for England, Jasmine for
the
Carolinas,
heather for Ireland, fleur de lils for France, and her favorite flower,
lilac, for her childhood American home.

A few nettles may be added as a reminder that no one is perfect.

Tara’s real home encircled the whole world.

Tara was born January 4, 1939 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, the first
child of two Washington, D.C. journalists from the Washington Post. The
first
of five children, Tara attended the Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and
Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

With supreme self confidence, but only a few bucks, Tara moved to
London,England and worked as a work-for-hire chef, nanny and barmaid until
she
joined Westinghouse Broadcasting , Corp., in the news bureau as a
stringer and freelance journalist.

For the next 15 years, Tara circled the globe four times, and in
passing,interviewed the Dali Lama twice, as well as the changing parade of
heads of states.

Her most notable stories were more often things like the Aussie
snake handler, Canadian flapjack king, or the boatman for the tour of
the sewers of Paris.

Although Tara was well known by her colleagues, the public rarely heard
her voice. She edited it out of her radio broadcasts to let the story
speak
for itself.

In her fourth circumnavigation, she stopped in Sydney, Australia and
stayed (with occasional retreats to a sheep-shearing shed). Tara continued
her
broadcast career with Australian Broadcasting Company. She was
particularly
happy with her work for the broadcast series “Australia-All-Over.”

A born naturalist, Tara co-authored a seminal work on Aboriginal
medicinal plants: “Australian Medicinal Plants” with E.V. Lassak.

Tara always was ready to explore life. In September of 2000, she moved
to Vannes, France to see what she might see. Within weeks she had new
friends, new adventures, new laughs, new tastes, new colours, new sounds.
In
August, she finally passed the dreaded French Driving License exams.

Now she has a new country to explore, and we hope that “death is only a
horizon, the limit of our sight.”

Tara is survived by her brothers and sisters, Thomas, Hilaria,
Kathleen, and Cormac.

But her friends were her constant family. We love her very much.

We do not yet know Tara’s final wishes, but we may hold a cheerful
service for her somewhere in the world in 2003.