My Sister Betsy

Today is my sister Betsy’s birthday. She was born on December 9, 1947, in Canton, China.

In 1949, my parents and two sisters left China and returned to New York.

When I was born, my sister Betsy was twelve years old.

By the time I entered kindergarten, Betsy was graduating high school and was like a second mother to me.

Soon after she graduated high school, Betsy was diagnosed with Lupus. At the time, doctors didn’t know a lot about lupus, and her life expectancy was not expected to be very long.

In spite of her illness, we had wonderful times together. A lot of the best times of my childhood were spent with her.

In 1967, Betsy and I got on a bus and went to the Expo in Montreal. This was my first trip without my parents, and it was fabulous.

I remember afternoons when it was time for her to get off work, I would walk a mile up to the main road to meet her and she would look for me as she drove home. She would pick me up and I would get to tell her all about my day.

Green was her favorite color and the Christmas song Greensleeves was one of her favorite songs.

In the summer of 1974, she passed away. My best friend was gone. I would always miss her.

Today she would have been 73 years old.

Happy birthday in heaven dear sister!

Tribute to My Sister

My sister, Betsy, was born December 9, 1947. She was my parent’s oldest child and was born in Canton, China. When she was almost 2 years old, my parents brought her and my middle sister back to the United States where my mother was born and raised. She grew up in New York and when she was about 14 years old, my parents moved all three of us girls to Long Island.

When my sister graduated high school, she was diagnosed with Lupus Erythematosis. She was pretty sick and since this was an unknown disease, her prognosis was not very good. But she was so brave and refused to give up on life. I spent a lot of time with her even though she was 12 years older than I was and we were very close. When I was 14, she passed away in 1974 at the age of 26.

Even though it was so long ago, there are times that I still miss her. Today would have been her 68^th birthday!