McINNES         GOODBYE DOLLY

My beloved cousin, Lydia “Dolly” Brown, 89 passed recently and she will be sorely missed.  One of the funniest ladies that I’ve ever known, she was my Mom’s best friend as well as her cousin and she was my pal.  Thelma and Dolly came out here together many times and Judy and I were able to take them everywhere & show them a great time, they loved CA and all the glamour.  I was able to introduce them to Jack Oakie, Christine Jorgenson, Fifi D’Orsay , Joel McCrea, Frances Dee, and as Louella used to say a host of others.  We traveled to Las Vegas where Phyllis Diller made fun of them in the audience, to  San Francisco which was a hysterical scene.  We drove up with Judy, Mom, Dolly and Lauren, did the usual tourist bits. On the  last night we took a cable car back to our motel.  It was chilly so I sat inside.  My ladies didn’t want to miss a moment of the cable car experience so they sat outside and kept asking very loudly Dickie (well that was what they used to call me) is this our stop..Dickie are we almost there, etc. 

 I kept trying to pretend that I wasn’t Dickie  but when we got off, I turned to the laughing passengers  and said, Say goodnight Dick.

 As the cable call continued down the hill,  all aboard took turns saying  Good night Dick!! We were laughing so hard listening to this that one of us peed ourpants…(Dolly).  It was a memory that we never forgot and always laughed about.  She was an independent soul and took good care of herself and made lots of friends in the retirement apartments where she lived.  6 months ago, she began to fade and it was decided that she should move to Wisconsin to live with her daughter Debi and her husband Max.  God bless them! That’s what they  do back home. they take care of  each other   

I called her several times in the last months and we laughed about the good old days and honey, those were the good old days.  I sometimes look up at the sky at night and hear Thelma and Dolly laughing!!!

Goodbye Dear Dolly…..thanks the memories!