I meet Marilyn

I have yet to find a picture of Marilyn as I first met her. This one is of her in her college days, before I met her. Many of my entries will have pertinent pictures, but I didn't want to have this first "memory" not to have any.

It wasn’t long after I told my middle sister that I didn’t have any idea about how I was going to meet anyone, let alone someone special, that I walked into the local executive’s secretary’s office to get change for a vending machine and saw Marilyn. She was dressed in a black pantsuit with a white blouse and a black ribbon loosely tied in a bow as a tie. She was the one who actually gave me the change as she was being trained to temporarily replace the boss’ secretary the following week.

I don’t think I said more than thanks. This was not the “meeting,” this was just the first time in my life that I saw her. She obviously made an impression. The meeting happened a week later at the end of her temporary assignment.

I did something I rarely did and to my recollection never did after this time during my whole life with Marilyn, I went to an after work-socializing event. She was there. This time we talked. We talked the whole time we were there. I can’t remember what I said or what she said but I know I really liked what I heard. I was even more impressed when a friend of hers, who also worked at Xerox with me, couldn't pull her away. She gave Marilyn an out but Marilyn stayed talking with me.

Part of the reason for my faulty memory of the details is undoubtedly because we were drinking. It was a bar, well T. G. I. Friday’s, after all. I can’t remember what I was drinking but it was probably beer or something like rum and coke. I wasn't and still am not much of a drinker. She drank peppermint schnapps with beer chasers. Since we "met" in a bar, this made a good story whenever I could work it into the conversation, which often went like this: "How did you two meet?" "Marilyn and I met in a bar."

While our drinks were spread over a long time of talking, there was an effect. So much so that even though I did not get her phone number or address, I convinced her that she should allow me to follow her home to make sure she got there safely. She took off in her VW Beetle with me following behind in my 280Z. I followed her all the way to her parent’s house, watched her pull in, and drove on to my own apartment.

If she hadn’t come back to temp for another secretary, this time for a month, I would never been able to take it to the next step: actually dating.

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Marilyn lost her life to cancer but was able to truly "live" until the very end due to a lymphedema garment from Don Kellogg, inventor and founder of Telesto-Medtech. It is due to the "living" he provided Marilyn and through his suggestion and connection with Saskia Thiadens of the National Lymphedema Network that the Marilyn Westbrook Garment Fund exists. It needs other people's help to remain a living memorial of Marilyn. Please help other people receive the gift of living by donating to the Marilyn Westbrook Garment Fund. Thank you.