Everyone in the family is familiar with Aunt Jo’s cookies. Especially her “S” cookies! As delicious as her cookies were, some of the stories of her teaching others how to make them are as funny as the cookies are delicious.
Sadly, she passed away shortly before her 99th birthday. She outlived my Father, her twin brother, by 33 years. I remember visiting her in the fall of 2017 when I drove up to New York with my brother, Richie. We spent the night at Paula and Bill’s and after brunch the next morning, Richie and I drove Aunt Jo back to her house on our way to Mahopac to visit Joanne. We spent about an hour with Aunt Jo and talked about various things. She gave me an armful of Nelson DeMille books that she no longer wanted. Most of them were the big print versions, which were very handy to have.
Just before Richie and I left we were sitting in the living room talking when I complimented her on how good she got around for her age. She shocked me in a way by saying something to the effect, “I don’t know why am I still here?” I don’t remember if I answering her or not, but I’m sure she was asking a question that was on her mind a lot and she wasn’t really looking for an answer.
We left shortly after this to head up to Joanne’s. I recalled something similar to Aunt Jo asking that question that happened almost 50 years earlier. My Grandmother was staying with us in Tarrytown. This was well after my Grandfather died and my Grandmother was staying with Aunt Jo, Aunt Rose or my Father.
