Passing thoughts on my precious Aunty B:

- She had a whimsical way with words-not only was I her "neiceling", I was also Mother Goose--as were others, both men and women.  She said things like "that's neater than 3 beans" and "we're off ... like a herd of turtles."

- She laughed easily and had a wonderful sense of humor, which she passed along to her sons, Kyle and Gary.  She told me that once she and Kyle were driving somewhere and apparently Kyle was feeling vexed with her and leaned out the car window, yelling "Help, I need a new mother!" She got quite a kick out of that!

- Traveling with Aunty B and her sister, Betty Whaley (my Mom) was always interesting and sometimes even fraught with danger! Once she and I were walking along a mountain road above Keystone toward the parking lot of the ski resort.  It was summer and just starting to get dark.  As we walked along the road, a car raced past us; we didn't think much of it, but after we turned around and were walking back down the road (no other cars were around), the car came back down the road and pulled over on a curve a few hundred feet in front of us.  Even tho there was no other traffic around, it wasn't a safe place to pull over.  Aunty B and I were approaching the car on the opposite side of the road and she said (her motherly antenna were up), "That's a strange place for someone to pull over." I replied "oh, they're probably just looking at a map or something" (no antenna here!), but then the lights went out in the car and I DID become alarmed, and said "Start running!" Now I knew that Bev jogged regularly but had no idea how FAST she could run; I learned that evening.  I took out after her, wanting to yell "Wait for me, Aunty B!" but she was too far ahead of me!  The car's driver then gunned the engine and took off. Guess he figured he was no match for two women so fleet of foot.  When we got back to her condo, we told Mom about our near death experience; it was the early 70's and the era of Ted Bundy. We'll never know what could have happened, but we all felt we probably escaped a nasty experience.

- And speaking of her Keystone condo, that find was a result of a botched vacation the three of us took one summer in Steamboat Springs.  We showed up at the resort to find the pool covered with slime and debris and hardly anyone about.  Our suspicions were confirmed that this vacation was not going to turn out as planned when a man we talked to said that the resort was under bankruptcy.  We trotted off (actually we drove) into town to speak with the first attorney we could find about how to get our money back.  He said "Get in line" - apparently we were only three in a long line of creditors. 

Eventually on our drive back to Denver we stopped at Keystone where Aunty B spotted the cozy condo that later would serve as base camp for many ski weekends; not only did I have a place to lay my head, but go to enjoy the scrumptious meals Aunty B prepared.  Those wonderful meals continued at her home in Kansas City where our families spent many a Thanksgiving (cheese broilers, anyone?).

- Aunty B was generous, fun loving and loving and took such pride in her sons and grandchildren.  John told me how her face lit up with joy and her beautiful smile when he came into her home one Thanksgiving to announce that Gary had sold his first Christmas tree grown on her property.

- Other memories of Aunty B flood my mind, but suffice it to say she was beautiful inside and out; we'll miss her dearly.