Sunday, March 27, 2016
Art,
I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to send this. The word was a bit slow gettng out with Barbara overseas at the time, but I could have been faster. I met you back when you and Sandra were dating when she was still in Winston Salem. There hasn't been much contact through the years, but I did manage to talk to her once about our High School class reunions which were a bit difficult for her to even consider. There was a small group of us Presbyterians that were pretty close, Barbara, Lina NIchols Rice, Charles Barron, Penny Hunt Mayfield, Sandra, and myself primarily. Growing up in Seneca together was pretty special and since most of us are still pretty close by, we've stayed in pretty close touch. Sandra's death is a real downer for us, since she is the first in our "inner circle" to be in God's presence. That obviously is not a bad thing, but for us it is a current loss.
I have a slew of memories with our times together, one of the notable ones our being cast in the leading roles opposite one another in "Dear Ruth", our senior class play. She was Ruth, I was a dashing Air Force officer, ( I later became one ). They said we were quite good, Barbara was her younger sister, and we did have a great experience. She was a great friend, and although life and circumstance separated us geographically, I will always have the memories of our growing up together with a group of really great friends
I hope this finds you as well as could be expected, and hopefully friends and family will overcome the adversities of today. We lost a daughter to breast cancer at 34, so we've been there. You never get over it, but time will eventually move it to a positive memory, and allow you to move on. It's just a matter of getting through it.
My son in law has moved to Rochester, N.Y., so we will eventually get to up-state New York. Also have a close friend at Cornell, so if we make that trip, I would love to try to at least see you.
Sincerely,
Garland
