I love writing funny articles or stories about the old days, but sometimes, we lose people who need to be honored, and this is the best tool I have.
I received an email on June 4 from Annette Reynolds explaining she had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. I was devastated, and even more so when she died just ten days later. Annette lived in Birmingham, but many in this area got to know her as she spent six years revitalizing Manitou Cave. She saved the pond, which is home to endangered species, rebuilt the welcome center, and had experts come in and decipher the Cherokee writing. We should all be a tad ashamed that we didn’t do this.
But that’s the kind of person Annette was. She was a doer, and she got things done. I was smitten with her from the moment we met, and we spent a lot of time together. She was 19 years older than me, but you would never know it. Not only was she a very beautiful woman, but she also had a youthful spirit. With friends all over the world, especially in India, she was like a magnet, and people were drawn to her. I will always miss her.
A week after we lost Annette, we also lost Sandi Peterson. Many of you know Sandi from the years she worked at Kmart and the years she worked at Big Lots. Sandy hired me at Kmart in 1985, and I was glad that she was in the seniors aerobics class I joined months ago. If you ever met her, you would not forget. She had an infectious laugh, which she shared all the time.
Sandi had a lump pressing on her esophagus and was having trouble breathing. She spent a week at the hospital in Gadsden, awaiting a bed at UAB. She was finally transferred to Birmingham, but there wasn’t a lot the doctors could do. She died on June 21, and it crushed us all.
It happened so fast with both Annette and Sandi. Annette and I had been talking recently about getting together again, and Sandi and I were just taking aerobics together and rehashing old Kmart stories. They were gone in the blink of an eye. I don’t know if that makes it harder or easier, but sometimes it feels like we are robbed of time to prepare.
As the saying goes – tomorrow is promised to no one. Let people know how much they mean to you. I’m sure these two incredible souls, Annette and Sandi, have brightened the streets of Heaven, but their exits have surely darkened our lives here on Earth. RIP. I love you guys.
Neal Wooten is a columnist in the Mountain Valley News and North Jackson Press newspapers. He can be reached at [email protected].
