April 2006                                                        The Megaphone                                                             Page 5

Memories of a Friend

by Karen (Stine) Hollies

  Memories of a Friend
We would sit and sun, hour after hour.
She would talk.
Of her home in a mining area outside of Prague,
Of her family and her childhood friends.

She talked of the German troops who came.
She talked of the harsh changes they made.
Things were never again the same.
And she was German.

She talked of losing her father and brother-in-law.
She talked about her sister, his widow, and the two babies.
Of the Russians,
And of the concentration camp.

She told me of the group being freed.
She talked of the eleven.
There were six old ladies, the three young sisters, the two babies--
And of the hunger and the fear as they traveled west.

In the United States she and her husband settled where it was warm and sunny..
She loved to cook and clean, tossing the feather bed over the railing to
air it while she attacked the floors with a scrub brush and a pail of water.
"First we work, and then we play" she would say.

She did not drive so I would take her to the grocery with me.
She would tell me how to cook things like celery root, and meat loaf
with pickles or hard boiled eggs in the center.
She was the essence of German frugality.
 
When we were leaving there, she sent her husband to get "the kids."
She wanted us to spend our last night with them.
At 4 a.m. he washed our car.
She fried chicken for us to picnic while she cooked breakfast for us.
 
All of these years have passed and I have held her close in my heart.
My mentor, my dear friend.
It was not to be that we would meet again, but her job was done.

She taught me her lessons learned.
She taught me that things of value have little to do with material gain.
She taught me that one can not only survive but thrive.
She taught me that you love those you befriend unconditionally.

Karen (Stine) Hollies '54

Virginia Beach, VA

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