A year can be a very long time or a very short time. Soon it will be a year since our dear friend, Gale Moore, left us. I can €™t decide if it seems like a long time or a short time but I know I miss her so much! I didn €™t contribute any comments to her memorial at the time of her death as I was not ready, but now, I can share some of my feelings.

Gale was a larger than life kind of person and her presence was everywhere. If she was around, you knew it and I enjoyed running into her as she made her rounds. I would see her downtown making her calls and if I was doing errands at lunch time I had a hard time getting back to work on time as she always wanted to talk. I even ran into her one day at the Alma Grill where she gave me a copy of the Gazette €œhot off the presses. € She hand delivered a copy to my desk at work every issue so I could count on catching up with her at least once a month. We shared a love of thrift shopping and I would see her Saturday mornings at the Habitat store or at various yard sales. She told me that her favorite peanut butter brand was Peter Pan and now I can €™t see a jar of it without missing her and I bought a jar just to see if it truly was €œthe best ever. € She actually told Jim Nennich that he had to keep it stocked at Food Basket because she couldn €™t find it anywhere else in town.

I miss her every day because she touched my life in so many ways. She was a great friend whether we were at the Dutch Oven Cook-off, a CowBelles meeting, sharing a good cup of coffee at Java the Hut or just bumping into each other somewhere around the county.

She was a €œI €™ve got your back € kind of person and I hope she knew I had hers. If you were lucky enough to earn her friendship, you were lucky indeed.

I found this poem after she left us and I would like to share it:

Remember Me

To the living, I am gone
.
To the sorrowful, I will never return.

To the angry, I was cheated,

But to the happy, I am at peace.

And to the faithful, I have never left.

I cannot be seen, but I can be heard.

So as you stand upon a shore,
Gazing at a beautiful sea €”remember me.

As you look in awe at a mighty forest
and its grand majesty €”remember me.

As you look upon a flower and
admire its simplicity €”remember me.

Remember me in your heart,
your thoughts, your memories of
the times we loved,

The times we cried, the times we fought,
the times we laughed.

For if you always think of me,
I will never be gone.
--Anonymous

Forget you, Gale? Hell no!

Pat Hunt

Grant County