THE WHISPER THAT STAYS by Deborah Weed

Not everyone gets a Burt Kempner in their lifetime…

He was a wisdom keeper, a story sculptor, and a soul-seer.

Burt didn’t just listen—he heard. He could reach into the raw truth of your story, cradle it like a fragile jewel, and reflect it back as something breathtaking. Not polished to perfection, but burnished with meaning. Braver. Brighter. Real.

He was my mentor, yes. But more than that—he was a sacred mirror.

When I brought him my work, he didn't edit my voice—he amplified my soul.
When I was lost, he didn’t just guide me—he reminded me I already held the compass.

He loved deeply. Quietly. Steadily.
I saw it in how he held space for his wife through her health battles—every gesture steeped in tenderness.
I saw it in the way he continued forward after losing his son—though I know something shattered in him that day.

And now that he is gone, you might expect silence.
But no.

There is a whisper that stays.
A whisper that says,
“Keep going.”
“Make it matter.”
“Polish it like the jewel it is.”
That whisper lives in every creative risk I take.

​In every moment I dare to speak from the deepest truth.
In every time I ask myself “What would Burt say?”

He may have left the room... but not the conversation.
His words, his kindness, his soul prints— they’re etched into everything I create.
And I will carry him forward—not in mourning, but in momentum.
Because honoring Burt Kempner isn’t about pausing in grief. It’s about creating from it. ∎