would have a house full of people. Every year, there was Barbara, one of my mom's volunteers who was a Vietnam era nurse who was, permanently injured in the war, but still gave her own time to help others who were even less mobile than she was and there was Mildred, a beautiful little elderly southern belle, who had, for reasons I don't recall, ended up in Hawaii all alone, with no family and would travel with Barbara up to our house every year. There were also many friends...sometimes mine, or my sister's, or my mom and dad's...often military people stationed in Hawaii and far away from the rest of their family. We'd come together...my dad would make a gargantuan turkey and all kinds of fixings on themost was that sparkle...the little twinkle in her eye that let you know that even though she might have looked old and sometimes frail, that inside there was the mind and the spirit of a young soul. She was the kind of person who always saw the brighter side in life and who would never let you get down in the dumps about what was going on in your life. It was her outlook on life that amazed and touched me the most...because you see...

Florence had originally come to Hawaii with her husband, John Austin in the 1940's. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor and was assigned to the USS Oklahoma...and was on board the day the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941. Chief Austin went down with