Mary always loved doing everything together.

She loved yard work and housework.  She also did some home remodeling.  I would come home from work and she would have re-tiled a floor or painted a room.

She enjoyed going to Wendover for a quick getaway.

She was as excited as a child on Christmas eve when we were taking the kids to Disneyland and the San Diego Zoo. 

Mary and I went roller skating 3-4 times a week.  We even bought books to learn the waltz, fox trot and collegiate and danced together at the skating rink.

Mary came camping with my family to Logan Canyon when we were 15 or 16 and we even found a way to go roller skating then.

Her father was an engineer for Union Pacific Railroad and got us tickets twice to go to California.  The first time we stayed a week and even skated there.  The second time while we were 18 or 19, we stayed on the beach and ate hamburgers for breakfast, lunch and dinner since there were hamburger stands all around us.

We did not want to come home after our week was up so we got jobs at Manning's Cafe in order to pay for our extended stay.

We were even able to see Frankie Lane in concert while we were there.

We lived across the street from each other and shared several classes together.  We were inseparable.  We always shopped together and got the same things in different colors.

We loved to go to Saltair and ride the roller coaster but we would always wait until we could ride in the first (the scariest) car or the last (the bumpiest) car.  We did not want to ride in any other cars.

Mary would like to get her fathers car and drive us to Black Rock beach.  She did enjoy the sun.

One New Years Eve we went to a dance at Coconut Grove were the man Mary was dancing with got a hold of her coat check key and he and his friend stole our coats and purses with our money and Mary's glasses, everything we had with us.  That was quite a night.

One day Mary's father was home and we pushed his car down the street and started it to go to the drive in where we were car hops.  He knew where we had gone and came after us.

At the drive in during the winter, we would stay inside behind the counter.  One night some friends drove up in a jeep and someone jumped out and opened up the double doors and the jeep drove right into the building up to the counter and they said "we want Mary and Elaine to wait on us".  We had to run to the bathroom were we laughed so hard we could not stop.

We always had boyfriends at the same time.  When I would meet a boy, I would tell him he had to have a friend for Mary.  That's how she met Don.

One day I was sitting at the table writing out my wedding invitations when Mary came in and told me her and Don had eloped.  She had told her parents they were going fishing and ran off to Elco, Nevada and got married.

For Easter 1949, Mary and I decided to make the biggest Easter baskets we could for our boyfriends who would soon be our husbands.  We got the biggest baskets we could find and put the Easter grass in them.  Then we ran all over town to get every kind of candy we could find.  The baskets were overflowing.  We even decorated the handles with a mouth organ and bows then wrapped the whole thing in cellophane.  We put our hearts and souls into making those baskets and making that Easter special. 

My Dearest Mary,

Today is a day for honoring you and for knowing the world is a better place because you contributed so much while you were here.  I could always count on you.  That may sound like a simple thing but it isn't.  You were always there, letting me know in all sorts of ways that I was important to you.  That's  why today I want to make sure that you know how important you had become to me and how much I love you.  If I could pick a Mother-in-Law it would have been you.  You were so much more to me.  Both you and Don feel more like parents to me than in-laws.  You opened your hearts to me and made me feel like a daughter.  I thank God that he let you stay here long enough to allow me a chance to get to know you.

As we grieve and feel this terrible feeling of loss inside, I know that little by little we will begin to remember not just that you died, but that you lived.  We will realize that your life gave us memories too beautiful to forget. 

I love you Mom,

Sue