Through The Years--A Pictorial

We started out finding each other in Kindergarten/First grade.  

Arlene, Beth, Judy B. me, Sally



First grade: Here we are in our Dutch costumes--I don't remember why the whole class dressed like Dutch Dancers, but we did.

By the fifth grade, we were the typical girls--some cute, some pretty, some just...whatever.

              Arlene has such a sweet face                                                        and Sally is already beautiful

You will notice in all of our pictures--we are always touching each other in some way.

Here we are in the 10th grade.  Emma had joined us by now.

Emma, Judy B. Sally, Arlene

Of course we went to Proms and the Winter Formal Dances

Arlene made her formal--beautiful

..and the last month of our Senior year, we went on a trip to D.C. and Virginia

Taking the long journey in a school bus

Sally, Arlene, Emma, Me, Beth

...and we were goofy

Me, Emma, Arlene, Judy B.

...and we all graduated--some with higher GPA's than others

(actually, theirs were all higher than mine)

...and we got married

Arlene was my maid of honor

We played together when we were little, and when we were big

Arlene and I did a whole lot of this

Then, she went to work and

Emma and I did a whole lot of this

(I taught them both how to play and 

they both ended up much better golfer's than me.)

We had class reunions along the way.

This is our 30th--1987-Judy B. is missing

We are still looking good

On December 9, 1995, Emma had an aortic aneurysm and passed away. That kind of shook us up because we were still young--56 years

Our 47th class reunion, at Bethie's house

Sally, Beth, Arlene--two Judy's in the back

We spent a weekend at Arlene's cottage,'

every summer for 3 years.

Then--we had our 50th class reunion--back to the original five

that started school together

August 2007

Shortly after our 50th reunion, October 2007,Judy B. went into the hospital to have hernia surgery and...she never woke up.  Shook us up really bad.  So unexpected.

Then, in 2008, I got a phone call from Arlene and she told me she had Ovarian Cancer.  She said she was too upset to call the others and asked if I would send "the girls" an e-mail telling them.  That really shook us up. 

You'd never know there was a thing wrong with Arlene, except for the hair and weight loss.  She kept coming to the luncheons--always cracking a joke, always smiling.  Her lifetime motto, "If I can't put my two hands around it (a problem) and fix it, I'm not going to worry myself sick about it."

March 2012

The last time Bethie and I saw Arlene.

She was in Hospice Care at the hospital

We talked and laughed and hugged and kissed her

goodbye with a "See you later".

but we all knew.........

Arlene died a few days later--March 28, 2012

...and I will never get over it.

 ...now, there is just Bethie, Sally and me.

Sure, we still have classmates that we get together for lunch every month, but I sure feel the absence of Arlene, Judy B. and Emma.  They would still be cracking jokes and keeping the luncheon jumping.  Bethie, Sally and I try, but....it's just not the same.