Judy (Crays) Milligan and my mother were best friends and young mothers together. Our lives became forever entwined over 30 years ago when she brought her baby son Donny over so we could to play together. No matter how many years pass, Don and I will always remain one another’s oldest friend, and Judy a permanent part of those memorable experiences, without which I would not be who I am today. The Crays house was a second home to me as I was growing up--and Judy a constant presence during those decades, always there with a glass of cool-aide after our games in the backyard, a cup of hot chocolate after sledding expeditions in the winter, always willing to let us transform her basement for months at a time into a “haunted house” with which to have fun scaring our friends. She was there, presiding over countless sleepovers, birthday parties, the shared holidays and many other happy times spent with the Crays family. Though my memories of those days are innumerable, I still think often of New Year’s Eve party during the winter of 1979-1980, spent with my family and theirs--which included my first sip of champagne (though in retrospect, it may merely have been Squirt) and my first taste of staying up really late, as we kids played excitedly at our games throughout the house, only to fall asleep by the fire place, far sooner than we had imagined. I can still clearly recall how Judy, at the stroke of midnight, raised her glass and toasted the New Year, the new decade, and us all, saying “Hello 1980.” Though we had long slipped out of regular contact in more recent years, when I lost my father unexpectedly several years ago, she and Andy were the first people at the visitation. I will never forget that show of support during that tragic time. With Judy’s passing I feel almost as if I have lost a member of my own family and an important part of myself. My heart goes out to Don (both Don D. and Don K.) and Andy.##imported-begin##Foley Schuler##imported-end##