Our beloved matriarch just passed away peacefully in her sleep. She was 96 years old. She lived a blessed life except for declining health in her final years. When I think of how things have changed over her lifetime, it’s truly astounding.

When she was born, the U.S. had just entered WWI, Russia was in the throes of revolution, Charlie Chaplin was at the height of his career, the suffragists was protesting for women’s voting rights and the Balfour Declaration was issued. My grandmother lived through interesting times and yet she managed to pass through it all unscathed. She was untouched by the great flue epidemic of 1918, she was hardly affected by the Great Depression and, though she spent her childhood in Chicago, she remembered nothing of the mobs. She did remember Prohibition and the speakeasies. She remembered the early (electric) cars and attending silent films.

My grandmother married young and enjoyed a wonderful marriage. She only had one husband and, after his passing, claimed she saw a new star in the sky. I suppose now there are two, twinkling side by side.

mom2 at 16

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