This is my aunt Evelyn.                                                            She died Wednesday night, in Boca Raton Florida. They say Death is a natural part of it all and that we shouldn’t be afraid of it. Zamboni famously has revealed that death is a lot like Las Vegas,which of course is comforting. Nevertheless when people in your life and family die, it gets you thinking.

My mother’s side of the family is rich in women. Her mother had two sisters, Evelyn and Anne, and two brothers (one dying young) and they came to this country with their mother, and grandmother.

As you can imagine, visiting these folks in Florida when I was a kid, I was fawned over, petted and patted quite a bit. But when you’re ten, you want to be James Bond or Terry Bradshaw and not so much to hear, “what beautiful curls he has! Such adorable eyes!”

But Evelyn was special to me from the start. I feel trapped in a cliche right now, because there really was something angelic about her voice. I never heard it agitated or bothered. It was always sweeet, smoothed, patient and as comforting as… I honestly can’t think what. I wish you could have heard it.

This sweetness may have come from her being the spoiled, protected one..I don’t know. Her sister Anne had to be the driven business woman, in the garment business supporting a husband who couldn’t contribute, but I don’t know all the history. I  curse myself for not getting that voice on a tape recorder.

She lived a long time. She leaves behind two daughters, Arlene and Lana. Her husband, Bob,  passed away a while ago. He was a funny guy who for a time had a business immortalizing peoples baby shoes in porcelain.

If you died today, what would people say about you? Personally, I think about it all the time.

And I hope when I die, Evelyn and I can go see Barry Manilow at Cesar’s, I’m sure he’ll still be there.