In remembrance of a favorite aunt

                                Photo taken on a NYC leave during WWII, Sara's first trip
                                to New York.  She brought home a statuette of the Statue of Liberty.
                                To me, a young child, it was exotic and fascinating.
                                You can see the sense of fun and humor in their faces.

    Last month, I traveled to a small Georgia town to attend the funeral and memorial for my dear Aunt Sara.  It seemed strange to visit her town without being able to talk with her and laugh with her.  She was my dad's sister, the youngest of four.  I used to love to listen to their childhood stories.  Tales of climbing trees where they ate cornbread and drank buttermilk, stories of helping dig a huge hole as a fort in the back pasture, and having imaginary adventures with their many nearby cousins.  

My aunt saw the humor in life and loved to laugh.  She and her husband always had a funny story to tell. As was the custom in those days, they married young.  Sara was just 20. I loved it that they had a little dog named Pest.  They also had two children whom I always considered lucky to have such funny parents.  I'm sure they weren't always funny, but it seemed so to me.  My contact was limited, however, I was around them only as a young child then my family moved 400 miles away. 

One reason I loved Sara was that she was always kind and attentive to me.  She remembered my birthdays with a card and note even when I got to be a little old lady.  She was sympathetic when my parents were ill.  My dad enjoyed her telephone calls and news about their family.  She could cheer him.  

Her life was not always rosy.  She cared for her older sister when she was ill with cancer, and later her husband, who died at 67 with cancer.  She was quietly devout and volunteered at the hospital gift shop until her 80's and with Meals on Wheels until she was 90.  She lived a long, useful life, dying just two months short of her 95th birthday.  I will miss her; I already miss her.  One legacy she will have for me is to remember her life, her kindness, her humor and try to emulate her.  

So young, so beautiful, both of them

Sara on her 80th birthday. She was

always youthful and stylish.