For 50 years, she worked for my parents, cleaning our home and my dad’s office. But she was more than a maid. When my parents went out of town, which was often and sometimes for up to two weeks, Barbara stayed with my brothers and me, cooking the best meals and letting us stay up late to watch TV.
She had a very tough life, but was undeniably cool with a great sense of humor. I could always make her laugh. She never aged. She chain-smoked Marlboro reds, which would normally bother me, but this was Barbara. The smell of cigarettes will forever remind me of her.
Up until the last couple of years, whenever I was home visiting my mom, there was Barbara, ready to talk sports with me before I drove her home. (She never learned to drive.) Quirky always, and always there, which makes her being gone impossible to fathom and that much sadder.
Never forgotten, Barbara.
