Lorretta was good friends with my grandparents on my mother's side; I never knew them, because they died in a car accident in the 1950s. Lorretta was our only link to them.
Lorretta introduced my Aunt to her later husband (something I'm sometimes not so sure was a blessing... but I digress.). When I was first diagnosed with MS, Lorretta suggested to one of her nephews, a fellow-sufferer, to call me. Lorretta herself called me often to get both our spirits up.
Her later years weren't pleasant: she had cancer, and due to her ailing health could no longer leave her home to do anything. I don't remember ever seeing her, but she told me her health had changed her dramatically.
I feel both sad and bad at her passing (not that death isn't an inevitable part of life); sad, because she was so alone for a long time, and probably died alone, with no one she loved nearby. Bad, because she always wanted to meet with me, and that never happened.
Good-bye Lorretta. Wherever you are now, if there is some form of an Afterlife, know that you did touch my life and many others... and that I'll never forget you.
