Aunt Vallie had such a spirit of fun and adventure. Throughout her life, she loved to travel and meet new people and see new things. She had a natural sense of joy that could charm most anyone into smiling. Although I didn’t see her often since she lived in Washington and I lived in Oklahoma, I looked forward to all visits and always had plenty of stories to tell about our adventures. Once, when I visited her in Longview, we went to a garage sale, and she bought a full set of darkroom equipment to set up in her bathroom to process photos. And that’s what we did … took off on a photo shoot of Longview, then processed our film and printed our own pictures. She was about 70 then but still had a great sense of curiosity about learning new things. She was truly a special person and a special aunt. She grew up during tough times on a farm, but that never seemed to dim her outlook on life. She was a standout in our family and would have been a standout in any family.