Family Sadness - The Loss of a Favorite Aunt

This weekend - which was supposed to be light and cheery - has taken on a somber aspect. I just received a call from my sister to advise me that my mother's oldest sister (pictured at far right in the family passport photo above - my mother is sitting in my grandfather's lap) died last night. As a child growing up, she was a favorite of mine as we summered at the family lake house on Brantingham Lake in the Adirondack Mountains. Like my mother, my aunt, Mary Alice Phelps Isachsen, but always known as "Mickie" within the family, had a long and adventurous life having been born in Panama, lived in Honduras, traveled on United Fruit Company's "Greet White Fleet" ships, and then went on to have a long career in the medical field.

*

I had not talked to her in a while and wish I'd had the chance to speak one last time. Among other things, I wanted to tell her about a cruise the boyfriend and I will be doing in the fall in the Mediterranean. She and her late husband cruised regularly (my cousins sometimes stayed with us so that my aunt and uncle could have an adult get away) and first stirred my interest in ships and the sea. One of the last treasured vacations my dad had before his illness confined him from traveling was with my aunt Mickie and her husband and my mom down at the quaint village of Ocracoke in the Outer Banks where they had a wonderful time.
*
I will miss her greatly and my heart goes out to my cousins in this time of grief and loss.