It has taken 2 1/2 months to find the elusive napkin holder. From the photo it looks sort of thrashed, something that would need to be replaced because it's obviously been used. While we have replaced several things that we couldn't find (and unearthed them exactly after we had used the replacements so they couldn't be returned), I was adamantly unwilling to purchase a replacement for my napkin holder. It would simply be wrong and I put my foot down...hard.
My brother made this in high school wood shop. Shortly after he gave it to my mother, he died in a terrible accident. Chuck and I shared one class together that year, one of the few that had both juniors and seniors, Chemistry. It was a difficult class for me and when I returned to school after the funeral I was terrified of going to Chemistry class because his seat would be empty and we had been lab partners.
Chuck and I had always been close; both of us were shy and didn't make friends easily. This was a new school and neither of us were "joiners", most of the kids had grown up in the Claremont school system. We were new.
I remember walking into the class and was surprised because Lorna was sitting in Chuck's seat. She was one of the outcasts in the school, I didn't know her but I knew that she was an outcast. She had been assigned to the other side of the room but moved her seat before I got to class. I think she saved my sanity that year as I struggled to find my footing after loosing my best friend. We had moved to Claremont during the summer of 1967; this was February 1968. I never went to a HS reunion after graduation and have lost track of Lorna, but I have never forgotten her or her incredible kindness. She taught me a valuable lesson that day.
At some point one of my other brothers made the same napkin holder and gave it to Mom. I asked for Chuck's and have had it ever since. It doesn't look like something I'd obsess over, but it is. February 12th will be the 50th anniversary of his death. I miss him still.
