I have known Patty all of her life. I held her in my arm when she was a baby. Her family left Ottawa and settled in Seattle. Our family moved to St. Luis for four years, then to the San Francisco Bay Area, then to Carlsbad, San Diego and finally back to the Bay Area. Somehow after all these moves, we never lost contact.

Once Patty’s mom drove me and four kids from Seattle to Vancouver. Patty, my daughter, my son and Patty’s brother. At that time, there were no cell phones, we couldn’t find the way back to our host’s home. We got in early morning and were so hungry that we finished a pot of meat stew in the kitchen. In the morning, our host couldn’t find the dog food cooked night before.

On my 60th birthday, Patty sent a lovely note . It brought back a lot of memories. During her college years, we were together quite often. My daughter and son were away from home, I was fortunate to have Patty nearby. I remembered the holiday gatherings and I remembered some quiet afternoon two of us chatting, keeping each other company!

Fall of 2019, we visited Seattle. My husband said we are getting old , if we don’t make this trip we may never see our old friends again.
Patty heard of our visit, she made the trip to Seattle to meet us. We hadn’t seen each other for a while. When we met again, we held each other tightly, I couldn’t hold back my tears, she looked pale, but I had no idea that would be the last time we would see each other.

I appreciate that she took the effort to see us. She was a cute baby and beautiful young woman to me. Most of all she was very loving, caring and thoughtful. She didn’t grow old, so she would be young and beautiful forever.

I was saddened by her departure, but what comforted me was she was surrounded by loved ones during the Pandemic. Most touching was her last word, (I want to be with Peter! ) Thank you, Peter, for being the best for her, we love you both!