She was a very intelligent person for not going to college. She was self taught, I guess you would say. She loved nature and liked to go into the woods just to see what we could find. For her grave marker, I asked my dad if we could have the one with a nature scene on it. It has deer and pine trees on it. I think it is the one she would have picked.

She could speak on just about anything. I always said she was born a generation too early. She could have gone to college and done something with her intelligence. As it was, she worked at General Motors for 23 years. She was going to go to work for three months to help pay bills and it turned into 23 years of working on the assembly line. The last two or three years were hard for her because she had lupus, too. My dad's insurance wouldn't cover her so she worked for the insurance.

As far as temperment, she was a stubborn Greek. Would not change her mind about anything. She was a very loyal friend. If she liked you, she would do anything for you. If she didn't like you, she didn't pretend that she did. What you saw is what you got. If you told her a secret it went to her grave with her. She really didn't enjoy life like I wish she could have. She was as strict with herself as she was with everybody else. We did have some fun times and when they were happening, I told myself that I was glad I could have some fun memories of her. She was quite rigid.

My parents had a place they went to in Phoenix, Arizona for several years. I went there a few times and I love it to visit. I wouldn't want to live there, though. Not enough water around. I need water around me. I guess because I'm a cancer sign. Their place was on the desert and I loved to walk out onto the desert and find different stones and plants. My mother loved stones, too. She bought a rock polisher. They are beautiful after being polished. I have her stones. I think my dad got mad at me for getting so many pieces of dried cactus from the desert. It was so interesting.

My mother was a good seamstress. She made a lot of my clothes and nearly all of her own. One time she made a suit for my dad, but she said never again. She had a hard time with the trousers. She made all my dad's suit jackets and all her own suits. There really wasn't anything she couldn't do. One time my dad wanted to buy an organ. She didn't know why because she couldn't read music. She took music lessons and did quite well. If she put her mind to it, she did it.

My dad was on the U.S.S Gambier Bay which went down during World War II. She was the only aircraft carrier that we lost to a Japanese torpedo. He was in the water two days and two nights before being rescued. They lost a lot of men. I went to one of my dad's ship reunions and I don't think I want to do it again. It was too emotional for me.