Bill & Madge Shelby

When I started working for Bank of America in 1995, I worked in the tax department and every year, Madge would temp for us during tax season. Her job was to mail out all of the tax forms we prepared... a temp job she'd been doing for probably the past 20+ years!

I adored Madge - other than her gray hair, you'd never know she was in her 60s! She moved fast and hated to sit still. She was sweet and fun and she took me to/from the airports whenever I was going home and always had a stash of Hershey Kisses close by! I ate lunch with her almost every Friday of her temporary assignment - some 10+ years!!!

In 1997, she was diagnosed with cancer, but had radiation and went into remission. She & Bill attended my wedding in 1999 and my surprise 30th birthday party in March 2002! She was SO excited when I got pregnant with Henry four months later. In what was one of the saddest days of my pregnancy (or even this decade), her cancer came back and she died in November of 2002. When I went to her funeral, her husband Bill turned to me and said, "She wanted so badly to meet your baby." I think of her often - especially when college basketball starts because she loved ACC teams and every year when we pull out the Christmas decorations, I unpack an empty Hershey Kiss tin that she gave me... I just can't part with it.

After her death, I kept in touch with Bill... at first with phone calls to see how he was doing, then just birth announcements and Christmas cards. I sent him one last month like I always do and today, I received in the mail a note from his dauther, who told me that Bill passed away last October - he had a rough time at the end and she was glad he was now in peace. She was sorry I didn't know, but thanked me for my friendship with her Dad.

So I'm writing this post tonight, through tears I can not stop, in memory of two very special people - Bill & Madge Shelby.