Dear Eugene and William and your children,
I met Gladys more than 50 years ago, when she and I were young teenagers at Hunter College High School, so perhaps I am the one of all who've written who knew her "longest ago."
Gladys and I were very different then, being so young, but we were sure of one thing during a time when we were unsure of so much--and that was our close friendship.
She visited my crowded apartment near school, and I spent time with her and her parents in Queens. Our familes were, again, so different (mine spoke Hungarian!) and yet, or because of our difference, our bond strengthened. We studied together, laughed a lot, and tried to figure out who we were in the restrictive 1950's, while attending a school in which everyone was so divergent from the friends we'd had in our sheltered homes and neighborhoods.
In later years we attended each others weddings, so long ago. To this day, my daughter Rebecca loves the gift Gladys bought for Paul's and my new home, a beautiful large blue casserole with a lid and Asian- themed glaze, that still goes into our oven and onto our table after 48 years ! Yes, I still do think of Gladys every time we use it, and Rebecca has heard stories of Linda and Gladys as teenagers since Rebecca, now nearly forty old, was a teenager. Some day Rebecca will have the casserole, and pass those stories on.
Though we have kept in touch, not frequently enough, over the years, it was not until the HCHS 50th reunion this summer that I learned your Mom was not there as she has been sick. Her death comes as a very big saddness in my life, and I know how huge a loss this is for you, her family, and friends.
I will always remember, so fondly, those adventures and endless talks that Gladys and I had that led us both to become teachers, "worldly wise", and very much people who have put the importance of personal relationships above all.
With my deepest expressions of sadness to you all, and profoundly beautiful memories of my best buddy for so may years, Gladys Krum Li, I will be always grateful to have been in her path.
Linda
Linda Weiss Spiegler
3020 Cortland Place NW
Washington DC 20008
(202) 234-5883
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