Joseph & Irene’s love created 5 amazing children. My mom, Donna was the middle child. I heard a lot of stories about when they were young, mom talked about Grandma saving kittens, Hillandale Ave and moving on up to North Stamford as if she was there yesterday. She had a lot of memories of her childhood and reminisced often of her siblings. She missed her mother more than words can express. She idolized her Dad for his exceptional business mind, respect for all people and his enormous love of his family. Mom was a very compassionate person, she had a lot of patience, grace and style. She loved to cook and could rival some real gourmet chefs. I remember her feeding us at holidays with new recipes she would learn from cook books she purchased from around the world in her travels. I can remember live lobsters on Grandma and Grandpas kitchen floor. Filling all the available pots in the house with 22 stuffed artichokes. She had me peel 99 shrimp once and she said I cannot believe he didn’t give me last 1 to make it 100. She loved to feed people and entertain. Part of job career was to throw lavish parties and she was good at it. Her career started when I was very young. She blazed the way into breaking that glass ceiling as a travelling woman in education and sales. She made me see the world very differently than most moms of her time. She publicly spoke at international events and gave Awards to celebrities and prestigious award winners. She developed an American Libraries Association Award that is honored still to this day. Her passion was in education and writing. She started out selling NEWSBANK and Sirs's textbooks out of New Canaan Connecticut for a tiny little company. She travelled a lot and was always happy to come home after a long trip and cook for the family. She dedicated herself to that career. She then moved on to Chronicle of Higher Education and Ultimately wound up at Diverse for higher education. It kind of sums up where she ended is where she started. Which was providing Diversity Equity and Inclusion to libraries and colleges in the 80’s. She used to share stories with me of flying from place to place covering the whole country and even going to places like Indonesia, Vietnam, Cabo and Malaysia. There was never a time I really knew exactly where she was. I just knew she was probably on a plane somewhere being successful. She showed me why it is so important to be kind to people and to build and establish reliable relationships. Her inbox showed me that she kept in touch with 1000s of people sending them Jackie Lawson cards holiday wishes and acknowledging people's personal accomplishments on a routine basis. My mother was truly a connector. She's going to be missed by many people including me who talk to her multiple hours a day almost every day. After battling multiple cancers, she fought hard to continue working and entertaining family, neighbors and friends. She stayed strong through it all and taught me to stay strong now. It's important that we all embrace each other and tell each other how much we love one another as often as possible. The meaning of life to my mom was living in this magical, ebb and flow with wonder and enthusiasm. This warm calming peaceful feeling enriches me to know that my mother’s time here with all of us made a difference in our lives.