Courtesy New York Daily News

I was always very shy…

Always I looked very sad as a kid, very sad. I have these big eyes that still make me look sad. But I was always worrying about something—I was that kind of kid.

School was very difficult, I was always so nervous —always worrying: “What if I came late? What if I didn’t get a good mark?” Every day I’d get sick before school. I threw up every single morning—the teachers were getting tired of it. They suggested I stay home—you know in those days, they didn’t have the nurse or counseling---I had school anxiety disorder! I stayed home the whole year of third grade. That whole year is a blank. I know I was happy not to go to school; that much I remember!

I went to Walton High School, which was all girls. I never really liked my high school, in thinking about it. I was never in a clique somehow. I met my closest friend Barbara on the trolley car. She says, “I saw a skinny thing with big eyes staring up at me who said hello.” But I don’t remember it. That was our third term at Walton High School and we’ve been friends all these years.

When my husband died, I became more outgoing. I had to fend for myself, I had to become a little pushy.