This past July my Memere, Beatrice, passed away at the age of 98. Last week, just three months later, my Pepere, Leo, passed away at the age of 97. They were married for 72 years. It has been incredibly heartbreaking to loose both of them in such a short period of time, but as much as they loved their family, we always knew after that many years, they would not be apart for very long.
I shared the story of how they met in 1935. Shortly after they started dating, Pepere earned his degree in mechanical engineering and was Valedictorian of his class of 1938 at Wentworth Institute in Boston. They got married in 1940, went to the World's Fair in New York City for their honeymoon, and lived in Dover, New Hampshire. Pepere was a Mechanical Engineer, P.E. at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and Memere raised their four daughters (my mom being the youngest).
My Pepere was always building and fixing things. He built his family a summer camp in Milton, New Hampshire. His greatest pride and joy was watching his family enjoy every summer there for over two decades.
In the early 1970s he built a beautiful home on Dover Point on the Piscataqua River, where he and my Memere lived for over 40 years. This was the home my whole family would gather in almost every Sunday where Memere would fill us good food and plenty of dessert. A meal was not a meal without tea and dessert for Memere!
My sister and I were so fortunate to be a part of those Sunday gatherings, only living an hour away. We would spend special weekends with Memere and Pepere where they took us everywhere, from the Hilton Park to York Beach in Maine; The Woodman Institute to Chuck E. Cheese's; as well as their condo in Florida, where they wintered for almost 20 years. One of our favorite things to do was walk down to their dock and watch the boats go by.
Memere and Pepere were there for all of their grandchilren's weddings. Seven weddings over 19 years!
I am going to miss them so much, but I know how lucky I am to have had such amazing granparents for 30 years, and take comfort in knowing they are together once again.