Letter from Sheila Cole (5/11/04)

Dear Emil, Gidi, Liat, and Michael,

I have been thinking about your mother ever since I heard the news of her death. I am having a hard time believing that Shirley is no longer here and that I will never see her again. How can it be? She wasn’t that old (or at least not that much older than me) and she was such a vibrant person—alive in every way. If I feel this upset and sad, how must you feel?
I can only imagine your sorrow.

There are no words that can adequately express my sense of loss. She was an important part of my early childhood--the model for how to be a “big girl.” I tried to copy her in everything she did—even her bad habits. When I learned that she bit her nails, I bit mine too. I loved playing pretend games with her and I was honored when I was allowed to sleep over at her house. My desire to be like her in every way even led me to consider becoming a doctor to a leper colony (although I had to look up leper in the dictionary) after she told me about her admiration for Father Damon and his work among lepers.

We didn’t see each other very often after my family moved to California and she and her family moved to New York. But the time we spent with Emil and Shirley in the summer of 1975 was the best part of our stay in Jerusalem. Jenny and Sasha, who were only seven and nine at the time, still remember going out to see Roman ruins in the desert with Shirley and Emil where we splashed each other with water and were scolded by the guard.

What I most remember is being embraced by Shirley’s warmth.
She had a ready wit which always made it fun to be around her.

Please know that Mike and I are thinking of you.
You have all our sympathy. She was a very special person.

With love,
Sheila