Hi Rebecca,
Here’s the best I can do without becoming maudlin or too long in saying. There was so much more I just can’t seem to say or remember.
In January of 1976 when I was an investigator newly assigned to the Oakland Police Sexual Assault Unit, I met one of the most beautiful people ever to come into my life. Oleta Abrams was the first Victim/Witness Advocate of the Alameda County District Attorney’s office.
Oleta’s mission was to minimize additional trauma from the criminal justice system to victims of violent crimes (and others who were on the periphery), and she accomplished that mission far beyond anyone’s expectations. As a side benefit, she made our jobs much easier. She relieved us of the burden of making sure everyone was treated correctly, so we could devote ourselves to doing what was needed to put the bad guys away. She helped us work with groups such as Bay Area Women Against Rape, which she had earlier co-founded. If witnesses were reluctant, she would often help in persuading them to cooperate – but only if she felt the person would not suffer because of it. She was our right arm, our mother confessor, and advisor.
Oleta was instrumental in developing protocols and procedures for law enforcement agencies, the D. A.’s office, and especially medical facilities in the investigation of sexual assault crimes. She made all of us more aware of the need for special considerations in dealing with special victims.
After a while, Oleta was more than a colleague of mine. She and her husband Mel became close personal friends. I have special memories of gatherings at their wonderful home in Berkeley: All the men on New Year’s Day with moustaches soaked in the best eggnog ever made; the huge Irish wolfhound, the pit bull, and the teacup poodle; the well digging party during the drought of ’76 that located a source of water – the sewer pipe.
After I moved from the Bay Area, Oleta and I didn’t see each other as we should have. That was truly my loss, and I’ll always regret it. But I never will forget her and how much she added to my life.