1941
Main Street
Born in Linden Falls, Ohio, the pharmacist’s daughter. She grew up on the stools of the soda fountain at Hartley’s Pharmacy.
Her life
In six chapters, with the voices of the people who were there.
1957
A red ribbon
Met Walt Lawson at the ice cream social. He couldn’t say a word. For two years in the Army he wrote her every week, and she kept every letter.
Walt remembers
“Sixty-three years. And she still made me coffee… every single morning.”
1962
Crooked Lake
Her first July at the Lawson cottage in northern Michigan. After that, every July: coffee on the dock by six, the loons, and euchre every night. She was ruthless at euchre.
Molly remembers
“Not to mention, you’re literally the funniest person ever, and I just hope to be you someday.”
1963
Room 4
Married Walt in June, and that fall began teaching second grade at Maple Street Elementary. Thirty-four years, mostly in Room 4, with a claw-foot bathtub full of pillows for reading.
Claire remembers
“Thank you for giving me the grace that you give to your students, because tiny children need a lot of space and love. And boy, so do I.”
Kevin says to her
“You’re one of the most important people in my life.”
1964
214 Elm Street
Bought the white house with the green shutters and planted her mother’s peonies along the fence. They bloomed every year around her birthday.
Maya remembers
“I have so many memories of us dancing in the kitchen and playing the music super loud and singing at the top of our lungs to our favorite songs, even though we were always so off key.”
2019
Five weeks, once
Her first flight overseas, at seventy-eight: England and the Netherlands with her granddaughter Ava. The only spring she missed her peonies, so Walt sent her a photo of them every morning.
Ava remembers
“I think all the time about the time that we spent in Europe together. I can’t believe how long ago that was, but I also can’t believe that we just spent over a month with only each other.”
