I'm posting two photos in commemoration. One was probably taken in a New York City hotel in the late 40s or early 50s, her second time there (her first was for the World's Fair, probably in 1940) and the last time.
The other is my favorite. It's in the tiny kitchen at my grandparents' house in Youngwood. My mother, my sister Kathy and my grandfather are visible. That's my sister Debbie's hair in the foreground. They're reacting to something in their card game. I had squeezed myself between Debbie and the kitchen sink to take the photo. I thought I was pretty daring to take a candid "action" photo. I salvaged this from the only print I had. But that expression on my mother's face is familiar, characteristic.
She was 54 when she died of cancer. She died on March 22 at 2:22 a.m. I missed a lot of years with her, including the more recent years when I got more interested in who my parents were, how they experienced the events in their lives that became more real to me. And my late-found ability to appreciate them as people. I missed her experience and support more than once. Now that time is a daily mystery, it's hard to say more.
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