Sunday, December 8, 2024
A picture says a thousand words, and this picture so vividly shows Aunt Doris's zest for life! She always made me (and my wife Mary Ellen and our children Keaton and Kendall, who were all fortunate enough to have known her) laugh and enjoy life just a little more when we were with her. I remember Memorial Day picnics at our house, Fourth of July picnics at Aunt June and Uncle Wally's (remember when Uncle Cy was flailing in the pool and they thought he wanted the beach ball so someone threw it and it bounced off his head?* or when Uncle Bud set the fence on fire with his fireworks?*), and Christmas nights at Aunt Doris and Uncle Bud's (where I got to play with all of Uncle Bud's new toys!). And the double deck pinochle games at our house that lasted late into the night, when I awoke the next morning to aunts and uncles sprawled on beds and couches and armchairs throughout the house. And the trip to Disney World, with Aunt Doris behind me on Space Mountain - she started screaming the moment the ride started, and she didn't stop until it did. And the time I saw her in action in Atlantic City - in and out of casinos until she won enough to treat everyone to dinner and drinks. And when Aunt Doris and Uncle Bud visited my mom and dad and us at the Smith's Gatlinburg condo, we had so much fun showing them around and hunting for bears in the parking lot each evening. And when Mary Ellen and I took the kids and my dad to Florida to see a space shuttle launch, Aunt Doris graciously opened her home to us as her guests for the week. And, as Kendall recalls, she always had a cake ready and waiting. It has always been a privilege to be her nephew, to be a member of her family. To my cousins Bob, Rene, Adele, Butch, and Curt, please know that we are thinking of you as we know that she will be greatly missed. Thank you Aunt Doris for so many memories, for so much magic!
All our love,
Bob, Mary Ellen, Keaton, and Kendall
*No Uncle Cys were harmed in the making of this memory, but the same cannot be said for the fence.
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