Going to Aunt Emma's and Uncle Ted's was always special. Our family usually went there for a holiday party or some other occasion. There was always music, great food, and a house full of people. Aunt Emma was the mover and shaker behind these parties and no one could have asked for a better hostess.
Emma was born Emina Shakan in 1918, in Akron, Ohio, to immigrant parents from Croatia. She grew up in poverty and learned a lesson many such children do, that hard work was the only way to succeed, and succeed she did. Not in a monetary way, perhaps, although her own hard work did lift her from poverty, but in the best way, that of a loving family, a home, and a circle of good friends. She shared her good fortune with others, helping to sponsor other family members to emigrate after World War II, and sending packages of clothing and other goods to family remaining in Europe.
I came to know of these things only much later. Our own lives take up all of our attention and effort so we often don't get to know our slightly distant kin in much depth. That's natural and we should not regret it. At the same time, such family often inhabit the background of our immediate lives in such a way that their loss sharply diminishes the quality of our lives. This is certainly the case with Aunt Emma. Her absence from the world saddens me greatly and makes my own life seems just a little smaller.
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