Mrs. Mabey is buried without a marker. She is buried in the same grave above her husband Judson Tyler Mabey. There are two schoolteachers in my life that I will never forget, my first grade teacher, and Mrs. Mabey, my sixth grade teacher. Mrs. Mabey was teaching at Victoria Avenue Elementary School in 1955, the year I graduated from her class. That summer my family moved a few blocks east and to the other side of Tweedy Blvd. As it turned out we moved into the house right across the street from one of the other teachers at Victoria. Her son Lee and I became best friends that endless summer. Fifty years have past and his mother still refers to me as one of her sons. It would be through her that I was able to stay in contact with Mrs. Mabey. I would see her at Lee's mother's retirement party and again at her Seventieth Birthday Celebration. The year is 1964 and by then I had put High School and a two-year stint in the military behind me. It was sometime during that year, while paying my respects to the old South Gate neighborhood, that I decided to drive by Victoria Avenue School. Suddenly I visualized Mrs. Mabey standing in front of her desk reading to the class, and I wondered whether or not she was still teaching at Victoria. Right then I made up my mind that I would stop and check out the old classroom. I remember taking the stairs two at time to where the old classroom used to be. I hadn't forgotten - first door to the right at the top of the stairs. There stood Mrs. Mabey in front of her class reading from a book – exactly as I remembered her. I stood quietly in the doorway not wanting to disturb her reading, or my being taken suddenly back – back to 1955. It was like getting that sudden whiff of Jasmine, which always takes me back to those warm summer nights when all the kids on the block would play hide-and-seek until midnight. I was jolted back to reality when I noticed that her entire class had fixed their eyes on me. Following her pupils gaze Mrs. Mabey noticed me peering around the doorway and motioned for me to come in. "Do you remember me Mrs. Mabey", I said as I walked in. I don't remember her exact words but I do remember she didn't hesitate a second before mentioning my name. I couldn't believe that she actually remembered and recognized me. She introduced me to her class as one of her former students. Later as I made my way slowly down the stairs I thought - Mrs. Mabey never forgot me after all that time. Twenty plus years after Lee's mother's seventieth birthday celebration, a frail lovely lady and I sat in her living room and reminisced about her former students, and the class of 1955. That's when I realized she never forgot any of her students. Probably most, like myself, never forgot her. The year is now 2002 and I receive a disheartening phone call from Mrs. Mabey's daughter. She said that there was an envelope that was to be opened upon her mother's death. It contained a special request- a request that I be one her pallbearers.