Like many shy people, she had the most radiant smile. It not only curved her lips but it also shone from her hazel eyes. Even her abundant blond curls seemed to dance, especially as she waggled her shoulders in a joyful little gesture when she was really tickled about something.

I want to keep the memory of her smile alive for the rest of my life, to remind me how precious and uncertain life and friendship can be. She was found alone in her large in-ground swimming pool and there are no good answers as to how this 51-year-old mother could be gone from us.

She was an entrepreneur, building her little real-estate empire on rental properties. She was interested in helping lower income families find safe and affordable housing. To hold costs down, she worked on her properties herself, getting contract help only as a last resort. She scraped and painted, roofed and plumbed, mowed and weed-whacked her handful of multi-family units as well as her own large rural home. She allowed late rents a little too easily for her accountant