Aline was my father’s oldest sister. She, like my dad, was an avid reader from an early age. She was an intelligent woman and a product of her times. She never shirked from her duties as housewife and mother. She did these things because, in her eyes, they were the right thing to do. She made the best out of what ever trials life presented her. 

Of course I’ve known Aline my whole life, but it wasn’t till just a few years ago that we became friends. Some time after returning from California Aline took an apartment in Charlestown. The building was for Senior Citizens. My friend Mario was living there at the time and so he and I kind of took Aline under our wings.

She settled in nicely and was well liked by the residents of the High Rise. Her special friend was a lady we all called Miss Daisy. The four of us went on outings. One of the pictures Ginny brought is of Aline, Miss Daisy and Mario at the Overlook restaurant in Indiana. Mario and I tried to do something with Aline at least once a week even if it was just a trip to the Market with a stop on the way home to buy a fish sandwich for her dinner. She did love her fish sandwich.

She also loved cats and her apartment showed that. It was filled with cat pictures, knick knacks and figurines. Any chance meeting with a cat or a dog never failed to bring a smile to her face. Animals could be depended on in ways human beings could not.

Mario is in Portugal right now. He told me to be sure I mention our trips to The Boat. The three of us went as often as we could afford. I think Ginny will attest to Aline spending more than she could afford. I think the only thing that gave Aline greater pleasure than an afternoon gambling was an afternoon watching a baseball game in Dodger Stadium.

Spending time with Aline I found that she and I had very similar world views. We agreed on most issues. We even had quite a few likes in common. One of these was a love for movie musicals. Our learning of a mutual love for Jeannette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy musicals probably was the beginning of our friendship. We discovered that we both loved and lived by a certain poem. Ginny might talk about that later. I’ll finish by saying that Aline had one trait common to many Bettlers: to use the cliché she ‘Did not suffer fools gladly’.