My dear friend, Beverly Sigal, died this past week, and she has left a great hole in her family's and friends' lives. It is still hard to accept that I won't hear her voice again or be a recipient of her down-to-earth-no-nonsense comments / advice. I can't quite accept that this vibrant, energetic lady has died. She was too busy to die.

We had a walking group for almost 40 years; she was part of a biweekly exercise group with a diverse group of ladies; she played cards and baked cookies with her grandchildren; she knitted beautiful items; we were learning to play mah jongg. She had monthly lunches with Cynthia and Susan for over 50 years, had monthly coffee klatches with her Herzliya friends, went on the organized trips of the Open University and then 'Catedra', she was a volunteer mailman for ESRA MAGAZINE from its inception and she walked with an elderly blind woman for years. She raised Emma, a Labrador puppy, so that she could be trained to guide a blind person. For three years she worked with the 'Techuson' children in Neve Amal, she took care of her family - which included just about everybody. We greatly enjoyed the summer concerts that Herzliya has provided for many years - trying hard not to miss any of them. People in Herzliya remember her as running the first 2^nd hand shop that the city had. She had friends spread all over Israel and all over America, and she made each one of us feel as if we were special, as her friend Susan said when she eulogized her at the funeral.

Dear Friend - you left us before we were ready to let you go.