Rodney E. Miller: Tandoc a part of rich artistic fabric

Tanya Tandoc was my friend. That is to say, we knew each other casually and socially, not enough to normally call it a friendship, but in Tandoc’s case to know her was to be her friend.

Our relationship does not qualify me to be a spokesman for her legacy, and that is not my intention in writing. Many people far more qualified have posted their eulogies on just about every form of social media there is, and The Eagle has been generous in its reporting on this senseless tragedy and the good woman who was its victim. My intent is somewhat different.

Tandoc was an artist. She was a chef who approached food as an art. She was a graduate of the Wichita State University ceramics program, she played cello, she danced, and she encouraged and helped other artists. Everything she did, she did as an artist. That artistic attitude was partially responsible for her openness and acceptance of others.

For any community to truly thrive, it must be a conglomeration of many diverse elements – business, education, health care, social services, transportation, churches, law enforcement, etc. The more diverse these elements, the higher the quality of life.

The arts and artists are part of the basic infrastructure of any thriving community. Wichita is a far more diverse city than most people realize. The wonderful quality of our life here is much more dependent on our artistic community than most realize as well.

John D’Angelo, the city’s director of arts and cultural services, and the Arts Council diligently report and proselytize the benefits of the arts to this community and how they contribute tens of millions of dollars to our general welfare each year.

Tandoc, and the life she led, made Wichita a far better place to live. She enhanced the quality of people’s lives who had never met her or didn’t even know who she was – because of the artistic things she did to make Wichita a more livable community. She is a symbol for thousands of other artists at work in this community, people who enhance your life and mine on a daily basis without our giving them the notice they deserve.

In her own unique way Tandoc is irreplaceable, and this tragedy leaves a hole in the fabric of our culture that will not soon be mended. Her death, however, reminds us of the richness of that fabric that she helped to weave and how indispensable she and people like her are to the health and happiness of every person in this community. Her greatest legacy will be the perpetuation of that happiness.

This story was originally published June 13, 2015 at 8:30 AM with the headline "Rodney E. Miller: Tandoc a part of rich artistic fabric."