In Loving Memory of
Cynthia Michele
 Phipps

Generous. Funny. Full of life. Just some of the qualities Michele H had. I had never met her in the flesh, but felt I had known her for years, thanks to emails and phone calls. She had offered to have my 20 year old son, Mike, stay with her for five days, while he was visiting another hoser, Michele G, in Texas, in the early months of 2001. She was worried I would have concerns about sending Mike to a complete stranger, and put my mind at rest very quickly, in her long newsy emails. I still laugh at the one describing cooking for three visitors at Thanksgiving , She made enough food for twenty, but that's the way she was taught - to cook for twenty. So, she and Greg and Scarlett would be eating turkey for days!

Mike had an incredible time. Michele and her partner, Greg, dragged Mike around the sights of Seattle, happily posing for photos and generally having a great time. He came home with many happy memories, not knowing the friendship would be tragically, and prematurely, cut short.

Michele was born in Fort Worth, Texas. She met Greg, and they moved to Seattle, where she worked in a doctor's office. She had a voracious zest for life; she adored Greg, and their little dog, Scarlett, completed their family. She talked of visiting Scotland to see where Jamie and Claire met. Her main goal was to see a real kilted Scot! Also in the plans were children, probably in five years, she told me, but first she was going to make an honest man of Greg.

That, of course, will not happen now. Her life was cut short by sepsis on November 23rd, 2001. She died far too young, but packed a hell of a lot of living into her 32 years.

I'll always remember her with love and laughter and treasure the zany emails, full of news, recipes, and silly jokes, asking what happened in Coronation Street because the US was so far behind the UK, and telling me about her family.

We miss you, Michele, but we'll never forget you.

Sylvia