'Mrs. M' Dead At 84

Long-time followers of this blog may remember occasional posts about 'Mrs. M', a neighbor, born German, naturalized American after escaping Hitler's Germany during before W.W. II, volunteer hospital worker in her retirement years, and... a devoted Democrat in her political views. I have just learned that Mrs. M died in mid-February, of lung cancer (though she had quit smoking 27 years earlier), a couple months short of her 85th birthday. We had spoken briefly by phone within the month before her death; she lived upstairs and I can no longer climb a flight of stairs, so face-to-face visits were no longer an option.

Her real given name, which I can now speak without fear of her being harassed, was Margarete. We had some wonderful discussions about political matters. She was less than enthusiastic about the changes in the Democratic Party over the last decade, but continued to vote in all primaries and regular elections... sometimes I think our naturalized citizens take their civic responsibilities more seriously than many of the rest of us. Margarete is survived by a couple of adult children and a world of friends. I shall miss her greatly.