We never met in person, only over Facebook!    I moved from Alabama to NJ in Feb 2016 because my mother had a stroke, and I took care of her for 4 years.   Hence, when I got to NJ, I went to Calvary Chapel Crossfields and “met” you on the Facebook page.   

 My husband, John, and I met your husband (Rich to us) because most of our belongings were stored at  Life Storage….so, between Facebook and Life Storage a connection was formed.
 

Shel, through the years you have provided humor in the midst of trials, courage where times were difficult, education about what you were going through, lots and lots of TMIs and stories that exemplified your humor, wit, intelligence, tenacity, Love for your family and others and most of all…your Love for the Lord!
 

Thank you for the privilege to pray for you and your family and I will continue to pray the Lord take away all pain and bring you sweetly home.   Soon and very soon, you will have a brand new body, no more pain, and all the food you want to eat!    

Love You Shel!   

 

Michelle Palatucci
 

 

 

Bruno

I remember the first thing you said to me when you walked into our dorm room freshman year…. ‘Well, I guess we won’t be sharing clothes and shoes anytime soon!’

Our experience as roommates and then as suite mates had some ups and downs (‘ya think?), but it was a great introduction to life (and adulthood), right?  What a group we were!  You, me, Jill, Pam, Lee Anne and Faith (and our extended friends and family).  Always getting in some kind of trouble….

I went digging through my photos and found one that includes most of us that will make you smile and bring back memories.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 47 years since we first met.  I’m so glad that I was able to reconnect with you in recent years and appreciate having had Facebook as a way to get a glimpse into each other’s families and lives.  

As a fellow cancer patient, I loved your kick-🤬, no nonsense way to find the humor in all of this and am confident that using your “voice” to share your experience helped many others along the way.

My only words of advice:  Be selfish as you transition.  Grab every ounce of joy and love that your family has to share and eat the 🤬 chocolate!

Till we meet again….

Andrea

Andrea (Greber) Levenson

A large company was conducting an in-house investigation of complaints regarding inappropriate behaviors and sexual harassment among its employees. Outside counsel had been retained to investigate, report, and make recommendations.  A report was produced similar to that done in the Andrew Cuomo investigation but this report remains private. As you can imagine, the stories were quite salacious and graphic. The employees did not hold back in describing what was done (cartoons, photos, joke telling, etc.) and what was said. Think about some recent news stories and you will have the flavor of what was happening.

One late night (there are always late nights at Big Law Firm (Tyrant and Legree)) while finalizing the report Shelly asked for my input. I read it through and found it well written, detailed, and unbiased. However, one word jumped out at me. I pointed out to Shelley that the plural of it was “s” only. Shelley had written it as ending in “ies”.  Grammar rules state if the word ends in a consonant + y, change “y” to “i” and add “es” and if the word ends in a vowel + y, add “s” to the word.

In New York, however, grammar rules are somethings subject to borough rules. I’m from the Bronx and Shelly is from Brooklyn. New Yorkers know that this is like being from Venus and Mars. We’re in the same solar system but worlds apart. Or in this case, separated by a bridge. 

As only a girl from the Bronx could do, I explained that the word ended in “s”, not “ies”. Shelley came back at me like only a girl from Brooklyn could do, “No, it’s “ies””. Like a jury, we were deadlocked. 

Most of you are probably wondering we just didn’t Google it.  Remember we worked at Tyrant and Legree where every keystroke was assessed and data mined by Big Brother. Looking up this word would have summoned the Politically Correct police faster than the speed of light. 

I’m not sure if we resorted to rock, paper, scissors (again subject to Bronx v. Brooklyn rules) to resolve the spelling. But it certainly made for a fun time (and a few billable minutes). To this day, we recognize that there are two plural forms. Which one you use is based on the borough of your birth. Finally, we did not go to our male friends because they can’t possibly know how to spell what they don’t have. 

To my friend Shelley, I will miss you. Next time when you bring the orange juice, don’t forget the vodka!

 

PS. If any rules of grammar were violated, it was intentional.