I went to the memorial service for Dorothy Stringer, a friend from church today. She was 87 and despite that fact that she was almost as old as my mother, I counted her as a dear friend. We both lived on Sycamore Street, although she lived there a lot longer than we did. We sang in the choir together, gave each other rides to church and choir practice, and talked a lot. She was an amazing lady altogether. She worked her whole life, first to support her mother and sister after her father's death and then raised two sons on her own after her husband left them. It can't have been easy to be a single working mother in the fifties and sixties, but she did it in style. She sang like an angel, a true soprano who could have been an opera singer if her life circumstances had been different. She loved her family and she loved her church. She was an inspiration to me and I'm going to miss her.

I'm very thankful to have known Dorothy. So many of that generation are passing away now, and we really owe them a debt of gratitude for all they endured and accomplished.