SSince I am the only one of Aline’s siblings remaining on this side of the great divide, I thought I should say something about her as a sister. As you all know, my mother and father had four children, spaced at the usual intervals, then had me about fifteen years later. By the time I was old enough to remember things, all my brothers and sisters were married except Bob. So I missed most of the family life shared by my older brothers and sisters. But there were compensations. To say that I was “spoiled” as a child growing up doesn’t begin to do justice to the situation. I received ALL the attention, not just from my mother, but from everyone around me, ALL the time. I have often said that, as a child growing up, I had not one loving mother, but three. My sisters, Aline and Madeline, loved me to distraction, took me everywhere with them, and spent hours and hours of quality time with me. They often included me in outings with their own children. It’s true that they had different styles. Aline wasn’t as overtly effusive as her sister, but she loved me as much, and did as much for me in her way as did her sister and our mother. What I discovered as I grew older was that Aline was very widely read and very much culturally aware. As I went through high school and college, reading and taking courses, and as I discovered classical music through my band experiences, I found that it was Aline who understood what I was involved in with my studies, and with whom I could talk about it. She knew about literature and music, in a way my mother, for example, despite her unconditional love for me, did not. She also knew about current trends in fashion and popular culture. I was too poor to worry much about what I wore in college, which I got through on scholarships and loans. But there was a time (believe it or not) when corduroy suits were the latest in masculine fashion. I remember well coming home for a college vacation and finding a brand-new corduroy suit waiting for me in my room, courtesy of my sister Aline. God knows where she found the money to buy it… She was a great sister, with her own kind of love and understanding for a younger brother.

I would also like to say a few words about my perception of Aline as a parent. As Ginny has mentioned, there was a period of time when my parents and all five children were living not far from each other in the project here in Charlestown. So I spent a lot of time at Aline’s house, particularly when her three oldest children were young. I was always impressed with the energy and enthusiasm that she devoted to her children. She may not have had the best of relationships with her husband, but I thought she was a terrific mother. She knew what a mother was supposed to do, and she tried to do it. Children had to be bathed every night, for example. I remember seeing her line up all three children, getting each one in and out of the bath, dressed in fresh nightclothes, and put to bed—night after night, without fail. And despite her limited financial resources, she always made sure that every child was well-dressed, in the latest fashions, and that each one had whatever he or she needed for school and social functions. If a child needed a costume for a school play, or material for a science project, she made sure it was there, even if she had to make it herself. But she also spent a lot of time and effort on extra-curricular activities. After moving back to Louisville, for example, I remember her taking the kids on excursions in the evening. She would get dressed up, get the children dressed appropriately, then get everyone out to the bus stop, and take her family to the movies, to a show, or to a program of some kind. Only those of you who were her children really know, of course, what kind of a mother she was. But it always made me feel good to see my sister with her children…