Eleanor Vance

Sunday mornings the kitchen was full before anyone was properly awake. She'd have the radio on low, flour on her apron, and she'd hand you a job before you'd got your coat off. "Idle hands," she'd say, but she was smiling. I'd give anything for one more of those mornings.

— Margaret

She taught me to paddle on the lake behind the cabin. No life jacket, just "keep your weight low and don't be foolish." We'd go out at dawn for the mist. She never once let me tip us, though I tried.

— Tom

Nan let me crack the eggs for the grunt before I could really be trusted with eggs. There was shell in everything for about three years. She never minded. "We'll call it crunch," she said.

— Sarah

Eleanor took twelve dollars off me at cards most Fridays for the better part of four decades. I'd like it noted, for the record, that I let her win exactly none of them. She was just better.

— Doug