Beatrice Asken

It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Beatrice Ann Taylor Asken, who died peacefully on December 30, 2020 of Covid 19. She was 91 years old.

Beatrice was an accomplished musician, and was an active participant in her communities in both Connecticut and Maine. She will be remembered by her family and her many friends as someone who accepted everyone for who they were, and spread love and kindness wherever she went.

Beatrice was born in the Bronx and grew up in Brooklyn and White Plains, New York. She was a graduate of the High School of Music and Art and Brooklyn College, where she studied fine arts and graphic design. After her marriage she lived in Switzerland for five years before settling in Connecticut in 1961. She moved to Maine in 2001. Bea taught recorder for many years in the music departments of the University of Bridgeport and Sacred Heart University in Bridgeport, Connecticut and music at the Unquowa School in Fairfield, Connecticut. She played the viola, viola da gamba and recorder in a number of community orchestras and early music ensembles in Connecticut and Maine including the Cinquepace Consort, the Calderwood Consort, the Bridgeport Civic, Bridgeport University and Seton Hall University Orchestras, the Androscoggin Valley Community and Bates College orchestras, among others. Bea was also a classical music radio announcer at WMNR in Monroe, Connecticut for many years, where she reached thousands of listeners as one of the station’s favorite and most knowledgeable announcers. She was a dedicated volunteer at the Naples Maine Public library, worked at Fare Share Food Co-op in Norway Maine, and taught recorder at L.O.O.K., the Oxford Hills summer enrichment program.

Beatrice is survived by her children Andrea AskenDunn and husband Michael of Harrison, Maine ; Dara Asken Teste and husband François of Paris, France ; Chandra Asken and partner Karen Hoffmann of San Francisco, California ; Fren Asken and wife Tamar of Los Angeles, California ; and Ariel Asken of Los Angeles, California ; as well as her grandchildren, Asher and Sorrel Dunn, Lio Teste, and Neev, Erez and Lena Asken. She is also survived by her ex-husband, Saul Asken and her extended children, Aliya Asken and Abby Frey. 

She was preceded in death by her parents, Hy (Schneiderman) Taylor and Ada Brown Taylor, and her brother, Ira Taylor of Hicksville, New York, and sister, Jane Taylor of New York, New York.

A celebration of her wonderful life will be held later this year in Maine. You can honor her by making a donation in her name to your favorite arts organization.

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Bea recently posted the following quote, which we feel beautifully represents her outlook on life:

When Einstein gave lectures at U.S. universities, the recurring question that students asked him most was: — Do you believe in God? And he always answered: — I believe in the God of Spinoza.

Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher considered one of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy, along with Descartes.

(Spinoza) : God would say:

Stop praying. What I want you to do is go out into the world and enjoy your life. I want you to sing, have fun and enjoy everything I've made for you.

Stop going into those dark, cold temples that you built yourself and saying they are my house. My house is in the mountains, in the woods, rivers, lakes, beaches. That's where I live and there I express my love for you.

Stop blaming me for your miserable life; I never told you there was anything wrong with you or that you were a sinner, or that your sexuality was a bad thing. Sex is a gift I have given you and with which you can express your love, your ecstasy, your joy. So don't blame me for everything they made you believe.

Stop reading alleged sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. If you can't read me in a sunrise, in a landscape, in the look of your friends, in your son's eyes... you will find me in no book!

Stop asking me "will you tell me how to do my job?" Stop being so scared of me. I do not judge you or criticize you, nor get angry, or bothered. I am pure love.

Stop asking for forgiveness, there's nothing to forgive. If I made you... I filled you with passions, limitations, pleasures, feelings, needs, inconsistencies... free will. How can I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? How can I punish you for being the way you are, if I'm the one who made you? Do you think I could create a place to burn all my children who behave badly for the rest of eternity? What kind of god would do that?

Respect your peers and don't do what you don't want for yourself. All I ask is that you pay attention in your life, that alertness is your guide.

My beloved, this life is not a test, not a step on the way, not a rehearsal, nor a prelude to paradise. This life is the only thing here and now and it is all you need.

I have set you absolutely free, no prizes or punishments, no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one keeps a record. You are absolutely free to create in your life. Heaven or hell.

I can't tell you if there's anything after this life but I can give you a tip. Live as if there is not. As if this is your only chance to enjoy, to love, to exist.

So, if there's nothing after, then you will have enjoyed the opportunity I gave you. And if there is, rest assured that I won't ask if you behaved right or wrong, I'll ask. Did you like it? Did you have fun? What did you enjoy the most? What did you learn?...

Stop believing in me; believing is assuming, guessing, imagining. I don't want you to believe in me, I want you to believe in you. I want you to feel me in you when you kiss your beloved, when you tuck in your little girl, when you caress your dog, when you bathe in the sea.

Stop praising me, what kind of egomaniac God do you think I am?

I'm bored being praised. I'm tired of being thanked. Feeling grateful? Prove it by taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships, the world. Express your joy! That's the way to praise me.

Stop complicating things and repeating as a parakeet what you've been taught about me. What do you need more miracles for? So many explanations?

The only thing for sure is that you are here, that you are alive, that this world is full of wonders.

—Spinoza