Eileen and I were both attending Proviso East High School, in Maywood, Illinois.  I met her waiting for the bus that took us to school in the morning.  She had just moved in across Roosevelt Road in Maywood, and I lived across Roosevelt in Broadview.  We immediately became friends.  What fun we had on the bus, laughing and singing and just having fun!  This was in 1958 - the year we were seniors.  Later, after graduation, Eileen moved in with me and my family.  We shared a bedroom with bunk beds and one small closet.  Both of us found jobs nearby.  Living together was great and we were just like sisters.  Eileen had a rough early life and was in a orphanage until an aunt and husband took her in when she turned sixteen.  She had a brother in the Navy, but didn't get to see him.

Eileen was not one to complain and took everything in her stride! a wonderful sense of humour and caring for others got her through.  She and I were in Creative Writing together where she got to express herself with her talent.  Writing came easy for her and she used this talent all through her life.  She loved her life in Whidbey, Island.  Her son Marcus was a joy and she single-handidly raised him to be a fine man.

While I was married and rasing four kids, we drifted apart for awhile, but found each other again.  We called and wrote and even got to visit.  I went to Oak Harbor and later she visited me in Arizona.  I'll never forget her kindness to me and everyone she knew.  She never allowed Parkinsons to interfere with her desire to live fully and give of herself to others.  I was honored to be called her friend.

I loved working with Eileen and Tony because of the passion they shared for the stories they compiled. I left Sound Publishing while Eileen was still entrenched, but anywhere I ran into her, her infectious zest for life and storytelling simply radiated from her smiling eyes. She had smiling eyes even during her hard times, and she had those aplenty.

After she found a home in the "Still Talking" column, we spoke from time to time when I had a newsworthy piece to share with her, about Island Thrift or the VAQ personnel who volunteer to staff our gates during fairtime. Eileen was always on the lookout for a good story, and Eileen's stories were just that: uplifting, positive and glowing with praise for the special people on this special island and the special things we do for one another.

And in the end, that was her gift to all of us . how special she was.

Thank you, Eileen, for being warmhearted and endlessly kind in a trashy news world that focuses too often on the cynical, the twisted, the mind-numbing morbid bits of humanity. You lived with dignity and grace, and I will miss you.