Marjorie and I met in 1978 when we were both on Principia College's England Abroad. I can still see her laughing face with scrunched-up eyes and big, flyaway 1970s hair as we went through England, Scotland, and Wales. She was joy! We had so much in common. I had never enjoyed PE class in grade school and high school, and I told her that I was so grateful that Prin didn't count PE against our GPA, as PE was a GPA-killer, as far as I was concerned. And she made ME scrunch up my eyes and laugh at the following story. I can still hear her voice telling it: "Oh, I was sooooo bad at PE. I was always the last one picked for a team." Yes, that was me, too. She went on: "When our team was in the field in softball, I'd go waaaaaaay out in the outfield where no one could hit it, and I'd make daisy chains." Oh, man, that was me! How many daisy chains had I made? Many, many! She continued: "But the teacher figured out what I was doing, so she made me come in and play third base." Marjorie was all nerves, and if I remember, her classmates were all grumbling that the teacher had put her in such a key position. The game wore on, and then someone made a big hit, one that might be a home run if the batter ran fast enough. The girls on her team started screaming, "Run! Run! Run!... Run! Run! Run!" So Marjorie ran home... even though she was on the other team! I can still see her laughing and laughing about that... and it sounded so much like me that I was laughing almost to tears. I learned from Marjorie to laugh easily at my foibles. It has helped me so many times.... We stayed in touch, and she continued to help. She published a beautiful article about praying her way through the passing of her brother in a tragic situation -- I had known him, too. This article meant so much to me as a reporter when a little girl in our county passed on too soon in a horrible situation. In order to write the article about it, I mentally went straight to Marjorie's article and followed her lead in how to pray about the tragic loss.... Over the years I had two sons, and the older one was one of Marjorie's interns in the Book Review section of the Monitor. He got the job without me around, and boy, was I surprised when he mentioned his boss's name... and then he was surprised that I knew her! I think he walked all the way from Asher house to her house for dinner one night, quite a number of miles. That job by nature lasted one summer, but when my son graduated, Marjorie had another beautiful article. I e-mailed to thank her and mentioned what my son was up to -- he was casting about for what to do with his new degree. She replied, "I have a job for Wes if he wants one." Did he! Oh, the joy! Weston LOVED that job. It was such a delight -- this year-long job as a reporter-intern was the key to him launching into Chicago on his own. (We loved him having that job, too!).... I'm an author, and Marjorie was so personable and helpful when I would send my books to the Monitor for review. She had no power to "order" a review, but her kindness and helpfulness meant the world, even though the books weren't picked up for review. My latest book came out last summer, and I tried one more time. In her usual kind way, Marjorie said the book likely wouldn't be reviewed, but it wasn't up to her.... However, the reviewer LOVED it! And he wrote a terrific review! Marjorie delivered the good news. She said she told the would-be reviewer, "This book is by an old friend and the mother of one of our favorite interns, but that shouldn't influence you. And he didn't! He said the book had lots of merit!" It was such a Marjorie answer, to compliment me AND my son. Once again, I could "see" Marjorie's scrunched-up-eyes smile, even though I couldn't literally see her -- it was all by e-mail. And once again, I had that big of a smile myself. I take some comfort in that story now. I can't literally see her, but I can still see that scrunched-up-eyes smile. I can still feel her joy.