We took turns holding her hand until she lost consciousness and eventually flinched at our touch. She finally passed on three days later.

She was 98.5. She outlived much of her family and almost all of her friends, but a few chosen family attended the wake. My uncle’s friend of 59 years wept and said to my father, “she was my mother, too.” His own children were unable to attend but they asked him to thank her on their behalf.