Sometimes in your life, if you're very good and very lucky, you get to have a friend like Meryl. We were literally friends from birth--her mother and mine were elementary school classmates, and shortly after our births in 1952, the two former classmates found themselves living on opposite sides of the same building on Schenectady Avenue.
Until her untimely death, shortly before her 39th birthday, she was the closest thing I've ever had to a sister, and I don't have a single memory before that day that didn't include her, nor has a single day gone by since her death, that I don't think of her.
Although her time on Earth was short, she was such a positive influence on so many people--so kind, giving and supporting. The world is a bleaker place without her in it, and I do and will continue to miss her presence in my life, every day for the rest of my life.
My daughter's 6th birthday party was just ending in 1991 when I received the call from Meryl's sister in law telling me about Meryl's sudden death. I was devastated. Meryl was one of my closest friends through high school and the early years at Hunter and we spent summers together, with Donna, at a camp for disabled children and adults. Meryl was one of the most gentle, compassionate, and genuine people i've ever known. We shared many, many, many laughs. Her funeral was heartwrenching and her death still haunts me. The world lost a good soul when Meryl died.
Donna Bayar (Repsher) (1969)
Sometimes in your life, if you're very good and very lucky, you get to have a friend like Meryl. We were literally friends from birth--her mother and mine were elementary school classmates, and shortly after our births in 1952, the two former classmates found themselves living on opposite sides of the same building on Schenectady Avenue.Until her untimely death, shortly before her 39th birthday, she was the closest thing I've ever had to a sister, and I don't have a single memory before that day that didn't include her, nor has a single day gone by since her death, that I don't think of her.
Although her time on Earth was short, she was such a positive influence on so many people--so kind, giving and supporting. The world is a bleaker place without her in it, and I do and will continue to miss her presence in my life, every day for the rest of my life.
Joan Butler (1969)
My daughter's 6th birthday party was just ending in 1991 when I received the call from Meryl's sister in law telling me about Meryl's sudden death. I was devastated. Meryl was one of my closest friends through high school and the early years at Hunter and we spent summers together, with Donna, at a camp for disabled children and adults. Meryl was one of the most gentle, compassionate, and genuine people i've ever known. We shared many, many, many laughs. Her funeral was heartwrenching and her death still haunts me. The world lost a good soul when Meryl died.