You were goodness personified.

Exceedingly thoughtful.  Nice to everyone.  Even the bad guys.  Never a grudge.

Here to help.

Linda said you didn’t answer phone calls from friends with ‘Hello’, but ‘What’s wrong?’

What everybody saw, was what they got.  No pretense.  No hidden agenda.  It was at once, your most endearing quality and your most troublesome.  Oftimes, you were a bit too honest.  Take my husband….please.

Everyone, and I mean everyone,  knew I took you, kicking and screaming, out west, away from your family.  Everyone knew I lost the bronzed baby shoes.  In fact,  everyone knew all the stories, like when you were pregnant with jody, sick in the bathroom at 4 a.m. , and your idiot husband yelled, “Can’t you throw up a little quieter?” People I didn’t know would ask me if a certain story were true.

So ‘nice’ didn’t mean ‘quiet’.  If you had an opinion,  it was heard.  You were never shy.  People trusted that.  I figure 25 or so elections; from multiple times AHS Booster President to many multiple times  CHS or PHMS Site Councils, Leadership, etc,  You always, always got the most votes.  I remember one year, when 11 people had run for 4 spots.  People weren’t talking about who won or lost; they couldn’t believe you came in second.   Even when the srudents chose from 20 electives, the drama class was always second, to library aide.  At CHS, you ran the entire high school student body’s social life.  At PHMS, you ran the entire middle school staff’s social life.

You knew nearly everyone by name in all our doctor’s offices, the dentist’s office, post office, supermarket, Toyota service,, hairdresser, and everyone knew you by name.  You always gave them holiday gifts, as you did for the secretaries, maintenance, and aides at school,.  And, throughout the year, you brought them coupons, children’s books, or qvc tzutzkes.

If somebody needed something returned, even if it’d been used for three years, they’d give it to you to  talk the store into taking it back.  Or if anyone needed help haggling a dealer for a car or negotiating a late fee.  You inevitably got your way.  Even if you had to do your fainting act.