Alene Aly Yarnall

"I just learned today that my friend of 57 years has passed away...You could always tell what time frame of her life you fit into by the name you addressed her. Her name was Alene Leona Yarnall but in the later years of her life, her more recent friends called her "Aly". She will always be Alene to me...

We met in kindergarten. She lived on the same street in Philadelphia, but just two blocks away, so we walked to elementary school together for 7 years. And then later, we walked to high school together... we even walked Europe together when we were 21, for three weeks. I still can't believe my parents let me go but they did so because I went with Alene and they knew she would keep me safe...

She was so smart and witty...she could always make people laugh with her humor. When she was little, people called her Little Miss Sunshine because of her smile and personality which belied a childhood filled with sadness at the loss of a mother at the age of 6...how could we children understand her sorrow. We didn't...and she didn't let on...

She was a devoted friend, the kind everyone wishes for...when the "mean girls" at school singled me out and picked on me, Alene was the only friend who stood by me. Her friendship never waivered...she saved me at a time when children can be so cruel. I was forever grateful and never forgot her loyalty...

Alene set a style...she was the first to wear clogs in the 60's and purchased imported ones from Germany from a little store on 5th St. I soon bought a pair....After high school, she thought it would be cool to ride bikes around the city so we both got bikes with cool baskets on the front...we were early environmentalists. One day she showed up with a fondue set and showed me how to make fondue with Gruyere cheese (I had never heard of it!) Yes, Alene was tuned in to world...and she took me along...

She was there when I met my husband at 17 and was my maid of honor at my wedding...she handmade the dress for herself and for the other bridesmaid. She was there when my first child was born and gave me a very intimate baby shower...that I loved!

There was a period of time when we did do our own thing, as good friends sometimes do...Alene skydived, travelled, lived in Germany for awhile. I married and raised children but we were always in touch through those years...

I was there when her father passed away and she was there when my parents and dear grandmother passed away...My family loved her, she charmed them. That was when we reconnected and she came to work with me in my business. I think we now had a common bond or as she put it, we were now both "orphans". A strange feeling but with her nearby, I felt I still had family...it was comforting. Working along with me, she got to see my children as they grew up into their teens. I was happy about that...

But in her travels, Alene paid many visits to Willilamsburg and professed a desire, a dream to work there some day and she did just that after 1997. She left me and my business to pursue her dream but I also think it was the right time in her life, for whatever personal reasons, for Alene to start a new life with new people...and that, she did...

This is hard for me to believe, but I never saw her again. We had very little communication after that but she was always in my thoughts and I like to think I was in hers...Those who knew her well, will understand what I am talking about...we would get frustrated at times by her "distancing", angry, actually, but I always thought she must have "her reasons"...and who was I to tell her how to live her life...

When I turned 60, I did some "digging", and found an e-mail address for her at Willamsburg...I wrote her, prefacing it by saying, I didn't expect a reply but I just wanted her to know I was thinking about her and how ridiculous it was that I could possibly be turning 60! Her birthday would soon follow mine in October, and we used to kid by saying, I would do something first, and then she would do it...I was shocked and pleasantly surprised when I got an e-mail one day in January from Alene...months after her birthday. I opened it, and all it said was "Now I'm 60, too". It wasn't much but it was something and I knew she was thinking about me, too...it was good.

Later on, I wrote again, telling her about my children, about my son getting married, what my daughter was doing...I sent photos. I knew better than to expect a reply, and I was right. But I didn't care, I just wanted her to know I was thinking about her...and I wanted to share my life with her.

I'm thinking about her a lot today, going all the way back to kindergarten, all the things we did...pajama parties, sharing music, new ideas, stopping at the ice cream store on the way home from school, so many happy times...and I realize she gave me a "gift" by distancing herself from me all these years. In my mind she is still out there somewhere, probably in Williamsburg with her new good friends...my days aren't going to change. I never expect to hear from her, I just always know she is out there...somewhere.

So I will go to sleep tonight and continue to think Alene is out there...somewhere...and I'll let her know I'm thinking about her...somehow...

Goodnight, dear friend.."
xoxo

"I just learned today that my friend of 57 years has passed away...You could always tell what time frame of her life you fit into by the name you addressed her. Her name was Alene Leona Yarnall but in the later years of her life, her more recent friends called her "Aly". She will always be Alene to me...

We met in kindergarten. She lived on the same street in Philadelphia, but just two blocks away, so we walked to elementary school together for 7 years. And then later, we walked to high school together... we even walked Europe together when we were 21, for three weeks. I still can't believe my parents let me go but they did so because I went with Alene and they knew she would keep me safe...

She was so smart and witty...she could always... READ MORE →