For years, my aunt Anna was the pharmacist at my uncle Louis Cleages clinic. When we went to the doctor’s, my sister, mother and I would stop in the back for a visit with her. Sometimes she would give us things that I guess were trinkets from the drug salesman. The only one I remember was a pile of what looked like pennies painted a gold color and glued to look like a heap.
Many year later, when I was grown and living in Idlewild with a family of my own, I would always stop by and visit my aunt and uncle, Anna and Winslow in Detroit. They both had great memories and a wealth of family stories. I would drink tea and eat cookies or something while they told me tales of the family’s past.
Anna had a distinctive laugh and my daughter Ife sometimes laughs in the same way. I do miss them still and wonder what stories we never got around to.
Other posts about Anna
Skating Champions
Anna, Gladys and the Dog
The Cleage Sisters at Home
Three Sisters
I really appreciate you and this blog. Nikki
Thanks Nikki. Good to see a comment from you hear.
What a beautiful (and intelligent!) woman, and how lucky you were to have had those times with stories with her.
I even got her on tape once at a family gathering. The quality isn’t good because so much was going on at the same time, but I captured a very touching story about my grandfather and his brother, in her own word.
What a lovely tribute to your aunt. Your comment about how you “wonder what stories we never got around to” really resonated with me. The older I get, the more I ponder the stories that I never got around to talking about with my relatives.
I think we would look for different stories now that we’re older. But how do you know when you’re young what you will need?
I am haunted by the stories we never get around to. You are so wise to collect them with intention.
The story tellers of the last generation are gone and now it’s a matter of sharing memories with my generation.
Yes, we collect the stories we can .
I suspect we recieve the ones we need the most?
We receive the ones we need the most at the time we receive them, I think. I also believe we may need different stories as we age and by then the story tellers are gone.