Excerpts from 90th birthday speech

 

Our Dearest Aunt Carol

 

Do you ever get tired of hearing ''you look fantasic. You have'nt aged. I hope I look as good as you when I'm your age'. Well here's the truth Aunt Carol. It's all true! Your beauty is timless and ageless. But the most important truth is that your beauty and strength radiates from your very essence, Truly Aunt Carol your beauty comes from the inside and casts a light around you. We have all been lucky to have been near enough to step into that light.

 

One of my early memories was a summer visit by my sister and I to stay with you in ... I am not sure if you were a good cook, an aspiring chef or someone who did'nt even like to cook. What I do remember is that you got your hands on a recipe book in which every recipe contained generous amount of wine. We were your guinea pigs. I have to tell you Aunt Carol, we hated it. We grew up with tasty food but the most exotic spice my mother used was salt! Our novice palettes could not handle that level of sophistication.

 

...We loved visiting your home in... and were a very willing audience to the plays performed by your girls. While I am sure there was much adlibbing, I believe these performances replete with costumes (or innovative use of regular clothing) were actually rehersed under Amy's  direction. We sat in your living room and just laughed. Wonderful memories. It was an easy household filled with four firecrackers who used the furniture to travel around the room without touching the floor, who ran around with the energy of rocket ships, and look how they turned out. You raised four wonderful human beings...