Legacy Writing 365:130

My mother, pictured here in the center, was in her mid-sixties when she volunteered as a Pink Lady (though by then they were called “Auxiliary Volunteers”) in the hospital of the small town where she was living. This might have been the last of decades of her volunteering in hospitals, libraries, schools, and museums.

For many years, she was a Red Cross volunteer. I don’t think I have a photo of her in her Red Cross uniform, but I do have some of her pins, along with other volunteer pins, pictured here:

One time Olivia de Havilland was coming to the town where we lived—I’m not sure if I was in high school or college then. But my mother, knowing how much I love the actress, went to the airport hoping to get her autograph for me. It just so happened to be one of the days Mother worked at the hospital on our nearby Army post, so she was in her Red Cross uniform. Miss de Havilland had been a frequent visitor to hospitals during World War II, plus—a passionate reader—she once recalled that the first book she ever read was written for the benefit of the Red Cross in World War I. So my mother may have been right in her belief that it was her uniform that made Miss de Havilland stop and not only give her an autograph but spend a few minutes in conversation with her.

Sadly, though that autograph was among my most treasured keepsakes, it has been misplaced for years. Maybe one day it’ll turn up tucked into some other papers—but I’ll always appreciate the kind hearts of the two women who gave it to me.