Sunday, June 4, 2017
Learning of my cousin Nanette’s sudden passing yesterday caused me to reflect on our years together—growing up together in the Bronx and, later, as mothers raising our young children in Bergen County, New Jersey. As I look back now, I realize that she was probably my “first best friend.” When our family returned from Atlanta following WWII, we lived for quite a while with Nanette, her sister Frances and her parents Helen & Louis in a very small Bronx apartment. Our evenings were filled with lots of laughter, and Monopoly and Chinese Checkers games. Children were often labelled with “nicknames” during that period. Nanette was called “Toni” and I, “Mike.” Nanette was a stunningly beautiful young woman and, as I recall, sought after by so many of the boys in our crowd. During the years when our parents took us camping in the forests of Harriman Park, Nanette and I would often sit in the evenings at Tiorati Circle smoking cigarettes and playing “padiddle” and “spin the bottle” with the young people in our crowd. She was a kind person and a loving mother, although dogmatic, opinionated and sometimes quite stubborn. But we loved one another and I will miss her terribly. My love and prayers go out to her children, Jean Carol, Maureen and Jamie, and to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Maureen Dill, The Highlands, Morris NY
