Rita & Bob Were Extraordinarily Lucky
By Jeremy Weld
Grandma Rita loved to laugh. She enjoyed it whether the joke was on her or on someone else. She laughed every year through the skits her kids and grandkids made up to help her and Bob celebrate their anniversary which were largely based around silly things she and Grandpa Bob did. She thought they were so funny she sent recordings of them so we could all laugh too. Not only was she quick to laugh, but she was very game and up to a challenge.
One only needs to read her book to see how challenging living in the Foreign Service is. And think of her piling into a car to head north to Alaska with you all camping the whole way. And although we sometimes laugh remembering the giant king salmon she caught -- it is well known in Alaska that the treacherous Klutina River, where she caught it, is one of the hardest rivers in the state to actually bring a salmon to shore on.
She was lucky to have a sharp mind right up to the end of her life. Furthermore, Rita and Bob were extraordinarily lucky to have kids who devoted so many years to helping her and Bob land softly. I have often said that the best we can hope for is to have someone on this side to comfort us as we go and someone waiting on the other to greet us as we arrive. I know Bob is as grateful to Susan, Bobby, John and Mary for the extraordinary effort you have made to make her comfortable and secure in her final years - as are Linda and I.
July 27, 2019
- Jeremy Weld
- Jeremy Weld
