Ellie's Sense of Style

Ellie was classy, as everyone would attest. Not just the hair and the pearls, but the whole ensemble, the whole package that was her life. This became vivid to me as she and I embarked on what turned out to be about a 3 month project, "decorating the house," meaning somehow assimilating a huge trove of her precious things -- you know, porcelin ducks and a chicken made in Italy, that sort of thing.

It took us a couple of weeks just to get all her stuff unpacked. What amazed me was that for hundreds of items, she had a story-- where she bought it, and the circumstances, how much she paid(!), or who gave it to her and when. No memory loss there! She also knew her own mind, and didn't need or heed my suggestions about furniture placement, art on the walls, etc. Once I learned to just do what she said, we were fine-- "No, put that picture over here.." "The ducks belong on their stools." "Why is the bango clock on the floor in the garage?" .. followed by the story of Ellie and Harry at a clock factory in South Bend, IN She loved her stories, as everyone knows, and loved to tell them again and again. And in truth, sometimes they accumulated drama and flair with the telling.

Yes, Ellie had style-- it wasn't mine, nor would have pink sofas been my first choice-- but she had style-- a sense of color combos, proportion, layout design, etc. I learned a lot by coming to understand the "look" she wanted. Alexis remembers how I used to tease Ellie by moving things around in the living room and breakfast nook at night to see if she noticed in the morning. She always did. No memory loss there-- sharp as a tack!

Ellie went out in style, too-- peacefully, in her own bed, in a lovely, secure environment, with her family around her. What more could one ask?