patrick graham
my wife, barbara, and i and my father who lived in a house 5 houses away in whitefish bay, wi., first met linda and her wonderful family in about 1980. linda, always smiling that radiant smile, always vibrant, was about 10 years younger and so happy with her al, their two young children and their little dog. being around her was like being around the sun: nothing but warmth and, again, that word radiance. their kids played with our kids. barb and linda had nice chats every day. when the family moved to janesville there was a noticeable loss in our neighborhood. many years passed and al and linda moved back to the milwaukee area for a few years. nothing had changed with linda. still the same warm, genuinely friendly person whose two kids had now grown into young adults. after another move took al and linda back to texas, we heard that linda had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. at about the same time, my barb also contracted that horrible disease. barb left us in january and now linda has left us as well. the world has lost two of its champion wives and loving mothers and we are not the better for that but both linda, who is still smiling that radiant smile at us, and barb would not want us to live the rest of our lives in total sadness. we will try not to. they deserve it and much more.
Thursday February 9, 2017 at 6:47 am