Oh Aunt Cleone, can I be like you...

On January 2, 2009 Cleone Hubbard Petersen Dalley passed away. She was my great aunt. I didn't really know her until this last couple of years or so but I always knew that I loved her. She was one of those people who drew you in with the sparkle in her eye and the spring in her step. There was nothing quite like being around her. She just made ya feel good. It couldn't be helped.

I first started seeing her on a "regular" basis at the Richmond Black and White Days Parade. Turns out she was friends of the parents of one of my friends. We shared the same front yard to see the parade on. I of course knew who she was because she has that unmistakable Hubbard look about her and I had seen her at many a reunion though I hadn't really talked to her. She's feisty too, did I mention that? I had to go and say hello and she knew who I was immediately. Well I was hooked.

Shortly after David and I got married her husband Don passed away. He was her second husband and the love of her life. They got married in their 50's and all reports say they acted like teenagers in love. David and I started seeing her on and off and he got hooked too. She had such a love for life and a spitfire optimistic spirit. She raised 6 kids on her own after her first husband got back from the war. He turned into an alcoholic and though she still loved him, she had to take care of herself and the kids. She put herself through school and worked the whole time. She still loved her ex-husband till the day he died. She had kindness in her heart despite everything life had thrown at her. Kindness and spunk. I wish I could tell all the stories about her.

I love one of the stories told about her at the funeral. I think it describes her perfectly. Just this last November, her daughter Karen was taking Cleone to a family dinner. As they were driving Karen said, "Hey Mom, what do you say we pull and Thelma and Louise and just keep going." Cleone said that would be alright. They'd put their hands in the air and drive over a cliff. Well Karen got a big kick out of it and when they got with the family she told them the story. One of them asked Cleone who she wanted to be, Thelma or Louise? Cleone got an impish grin on her face and said "whichever one of them slept with Brad Pitt."

I wish I had a better picture of her. She was absolutely beautiful with her white hair.