When I returned to Children's Services to work, 18 years ago, I was still a smoker and at the time we had a smoking room just down the hall from my desk. I soon befriended two women who were smokers and co-workers. The three of us got together a lot for lunch or dinner or for a visit to a casino in Tacoma. We always spent each of our birthdays together with dinner and gifts.
About 8 or 9 years ago, one of the women, Bernice, retired from the state. From that moment on, she wrote, the other woman, Diane and I off completely. We never knew what we had done. She still stayed in contact with several people in the office, and I never changed my work phone number, but she never contacted me. I ran into Bernice once, about five years ago. She was all hugs and kisses, and said that we needed to get together soon for dinner. I never saw her again.
Last week, one of my former co-workers called and told me that she had seen Bernice's name listed in the Vital Stats Death Notices, and she wanted to know if I knew anything about it. I tracked down the Death Certificate, found out what funeral home was handling the body, and found out that the memorial service was scheduled for tomorrow. Since then I have watched repeatedly for an obituary in the paper, but nothing. Her son is a member of the Puyallup Tribe, so he and his daughter get lots of money from the casino each month, so it isn't a matter of money. Her son has an unlisted phone number so no one has been able to reach him. Several of us decided that we were going to go tomorrow, regardless of hte strange circumstances.
Just now, they said on the news that it is supposed to snow here in Tacoma tomorrow morning. One of my co-workers called me just now and said that maybe Bernice really didn't want us to go to the service. She may now get her wish.
