Jack, 69 yrs and 33 days

by Ann
(Monroeville PA)

Jack took pleasure in simple things. One of those was our collection of state quarters. Tonight I was preparing to clean out the bedroom to get ready to paint. There was a pile of coins on the nightstand that I hadn't touched since the night he died. In that pile of coins, I found an Alaska quarter, the last one we needed to complete the collection.

We had hard times before, but he always came through for the family. This quarter will always symbolize that to me. In turn, I will tend to the tomato plants that he started from seed. We often pondered whether growing vegetables and canning them was cost effective, but we did it anyway.

I will miss his calls to me to come look at the sunset, but every time I see a beautiful sunset, I will remember the times we spent standing on the porch watching the sky, and I will remember our wedding day when we watched the sun setting over the James River.