I believe this was written when my Uncle Bob died. He was very young in his mid-forties when he died. He was a great guy. He could whistle so loud your ears would hurt. Uncle Bob worked in the Amityville, NY school system in music and out of no where he died. This happened when I was an undergraduate at Syracuse University. Uncle Bob was my first death and I could not believe it could have happened. I remember driving home from the funeral from Long Island and seeing all the car lights going and coming. I could not believe that my Uncle was gone.

My grandmother had three other children. Wilber who died of pneumonia at seventeen, my mother Frances, and my Uncle Ernest. Ernest was an art teacher and supervisor, an artists, and a collector of antiques. He died in his mid seventies. He would make money by building apartments and renting them in his two large houses. He put the antiques he collected into the apartments to furnish them. These apartments were very beautiful and creative living spaces. I can remember my brother and me having sword fights in his house with thousands of antiques, paintings, and statues. I spent many summers with my Uncle Ernest and my Grandmother and Harry.

After he died their will was that my aunt was the beneficiary and after she died the nieces and nephews of them both would then be the beneficiaries. When my aunt died she had given it all to her one living niece. This niece had an older sister who was a very beautiful women. She had committed suicide when she was I think in her thirties. She had two children from a first marriage in Italy and was them remarried. The new husband was their step father when Marie died. Many years later I met him and the two children. They had come to see their mother's grave in Utica and stop off to see their mother's aunt. He was a very handsome man and the children that were now a young man and woman were also very good looking young adults. He had stuck by them both with love and raised them. Maria's sister was also very loving to them and had been an important part of their lives. To know Marie and see that she had suffered so much and left behind so much is painful to this day.

I never felt bad about being cut out for one second because my Uncle did not betray his family. He died in good faith thinking of everyone. As far as my aunt's niece who I have known since I was sixteen that got it all I think I can also say that it is not her that did not act in good faith. It was my aunt's decision which she was legally able to make. As far as my aunt is concerned I also have no negative thoughts about her. As crazy as it sounds I am happy I had the experience of all of them. They have each added to my life. The experience was worth far more to me than any amount of money. Perhaps also to you as you read this. I do not speak for anyone else in my family.

My mother was in the Reading and English Department with the State of New York. My mother is a great artist. DM 11/27/07