Our mother was born and raised on a farm in Vineland New Jersey. She was a very good student and skipped two grades in school. She lost her first husband Wade Silvers to cancer in 1956. In 1958 she met and married our step father Randolph Arthur. At that time in history a marriage between a white woman and a black man was pretty much unheard of and we were forced to leave our small town in New Jersey for San Francisco and the projects of Hunters Point. Within a couple years though they were able to buy our first house on Apollo street. A big leap from Hilltop road. She was never a housewife but always worked throughout her life, mostly as a secretary. (She could type as fast as you can talk ) Before retiring she worked at IF Schnier, a company that made corks champagne tops and machines for the wine industry She started there as a secretary but ended up as Vice President of the company In 1975 she lost our stepfather to cancer. She once shared with me that she always felt somehow to blame that both of her husbands succumbed to the disease. She never remarried. Although she appeared to be this shy and innocent woman, she is probably the toughest person I ever knew. There were the hard financial days in the projects, then having to deal with the prejudice of the times which extended even to her own family as our grandparents refused to speak to her. She kept on writing them letters which remained unanswered though for several years until one day she finally received a reply. They came out to visit us in California and after meeting our father things were fine from that point on. After the death of each husband she had to raise her children alone. Over the last years of her life she dealt with diabetes, a heart attack, several strokes, a broken hip and life in a wheel chair and she eventually lost her sight. Like the willows in a storm she always seemed to bend but never break. We will always miss her