While going through ten more shoe boxes full of letters and cards, I found one from Ellen written in 1979 congratulating us on Laura's birth and giving an update on her life. I don't know that we communicated since then. Ellen's letter told of her remarriage and her work and her contemplating going back to get her undergraduate degree.
I looked Ellen up on Facebook and couldn't find her. I googled her and her obituary came up as well as a tribute written by her son 10 years after her death. She died in 2005 in a car accident that injured both her son and her husband.
We knew Ellen and her first husband when he and Jim had Fulbright years in Scotland. We traveled together in a little rented Morris Mini and celebrated holidays together. We lived in the same Georgian town house--the garden apartment for us, the third floor for them. We were very good friends that year. When our son was born, they made us a baby quilt that hangs on our wall. I have treasured it for years.
I looked for her son on Facebook and found him. I sent him a message but was not sure it would get through with FB privacy requirements. He wrote me back immediately saying that he knew almost nothing about that part of his mom's life. In fact he didn't even know that there was a first husband until five years after her death. That in itself is amazing to me and I am glad I was not the one to inform him of that part of her life.
At his request, I photographed a photo I had of her in Jeff's baby book and sent him photos of the quilt. It makes me very sad to realize that she is gone. I picture her as this smiling young woman with long hair and short skirts--a woman of the early 70s. I am glad she had children, finished her degree, and was buried from a church. I am thankful for social media that enabled me to get in touch with a young man who remembers his mother and was happy to hear from someone else who remembered her too.
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