Tenaya Natalie Tabler
1990 – 2023
With sadness, we announce the death of Tenaya Natalie Tabler at the age of 33 years. On August 4, 2023, Tenaya died in her sleep from liver disease at her home in Sunrise Beach, Missouri. Although Tenaya faced many challenges in her life, we will always be grateful for the decades of fond, loving, joyful, and cheerful memories of her that will never, ever fade. Tenaya had an amazing life journey that we will carry with us for the rest of our own lives and we thank you all for being a part of her dreams and memories. Tenaya’s smile always warmed up the room and her wonderful laugh was so infectious. Tenaya is survived by her father, Stan, and her uncle, Craig, both of Santa Barbara and her mother, DeeDee, of Santa Fe, New Mexico. In late October, we held a family celebration of Tenaya’s life on the shores of Lake Tenaya in Yosemite, which was her favorite place in the world. Yosemite was a very special place for Tenaya and being a consummate writer, upon a 2010 visit she wrote “Being in Yosemite reminds me of the serenity inside me, and whispers the possibility of carrying that with me forever, no matter how far from here I may be.”
Rather than dwell on missing Tenaya in our lives, we will continue to treasure her memories as we believe in what David Harkins wrote in his uplifting poem:
She is Gone
You can shed tears that she is gone,
Or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back,
Or you can open your eyes and see all she has left.
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her,
Or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her and only that she’s gone,
Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back,
Or you can do what she would want….smile, open your eyes,
love, and go on.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Tenaya’s honor to the Yosemite Conservancy:
https://yosemite.org/giving/gifts-in-memory-honor/